<p>I am an incoming UF student and I have jsut one thing to say about that… If you can’t fit all the students on campus at one time don’t admit them! I know this sounds a bit harsh but seriously if it is that much of a hassle why bother? there are plenty of other high learning institutions availible not everyone can belong to the gator nation!! then it’d be just the nation!</p>
<p>The University of Florida has a name for the group of students that will only be allowed to take on-campus classes during the spring and summer semesters. UF Provost Joe Glover said during a trustees meeting Thursday that the group of students will be called the Innovation Academy:</p>
<p>[UF</a> plans for students kept out of fall semester – The Chalkboard - Gainesville Sun - Gainesville, FL - Archive](<a href=“http://chalkboard.blogs.gainesville.com/2011/06/uf-plans-for-students-kept-out-of-fall-semester/]UF”>http://chalkboard.blogs.gainesville.com/2011/06/uf-plans-for-students-kept-out-of-fall-semester/)</p>
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<p>The more I learn about this program, the more I like it. This is a win/win for the University and incoming students.</p>
<p>Just found this article about the program.</p>
<p>[To</a> Expand Access, UF Prepares to Roll Out a No-Fall-Semester Option International College Counselors](<a href=“To Expand Access, UF Prepares to Roll Out a No-Fall-Semester Option - International College Counselors”>To Expand Access, UF Prepares to Roll Out a No-Fall-Semester Option - International College Counselors)</p>
<p>It basically says that only kids who expressed interest in the program would be considered for it. So no worries cherryhillmom if your son decides to apply to UF!</p>
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<p>This is a new “option” at UF called Innovation Academy. There was a box on the application to check if you were interested in the program. It stated that it was a spring summer program allowing for internships and research in Fall semester. Those jobs and internships could be in Gainesville if you wanted to stay in Gainesville for Fall. This was an OPTION to apply for. My daughter did NOT check the IA box as she was not interested in it. Review your applications carefully before submitting! There are cases of regular application kids getting bumped to a semester they did not apply for such as applying Fall but being accepted Spring. My son applied Summer B and was accepted Fall. In those cases where IA was not checked you can get it changed. There is a process, no guarantee and it takes about 4 weeks to hear if change was approved. My son’s was changed. They had moved all kids who qualified for Honors to Fall. He really wanted the advantage of starting in the summer. It is a great way to acclimate to the campus and college life. I don’t know if you can change if you did check the IA box. Call admissions on Monday. Again, review all apps carefully before submitting!</p>
<p>Personally I don’t see anything wrong with going to UF spring/Summer, especially if it means that I would have more access to my adviser. Don’t get me wrong, its not the traditional approach to college, but there isn’t really anything wrong with it.</p>
<p>If I had to go just spring and summer…I will not be going at all. That is just my two cents.</p>
<p>That makes no sense @florida1on1…the opportunities are the same, the education is the exact same that all other UF students get, and there are no limitations on social life. All clubs can be joined, all events attended, year-long…and to top it off, is a nice minor that gives some extra education. The only restriction is no PHYSICAL fall classes…but even then, Fall online classes are still possible and one can stay for the Fall to participate in all of the Fall activities if they wish. And even then, the new minor has some exclusive classes/resources that evens it out. Plus, the reason there’s no Fall term also is so internships and co-ops which are more accessible and possible in the Fall, can be done without having your curriculum mess up.</p>
<p>I can see problems in getting the classes you want. I don’t know about other programs, but in my major some classes are usually only offered once per year. If that course is only offered in the fall you would be SOL. There might be alternatives, but I hate getting screwed out of classes I’m interested in because the scheduling doesn’t work out, which happens often enough when I’m not restricted from taking classes in any given semester.</p>
<p>Actually that wouldn’t be a problem because whatever is offered ONLY in the Fall is now being offered in Spring/Summer for the participating majors. Basically, all resources and classes offered in the Fall, are now being offered in the Spring/Summer and as the program grows, more majors will be doing this. Majors in the program have no limitations, literally all Fall resources are available year long along with the Spring and Summer resources. It is actually for the reason of enabling Fall resources to Spring and Summer that not ALL majors are offered in the program YET…again, as more majors enable Fall resources to be available year long, they will be added to the program.</p>
<p>This is because UF is trying to be a 12-month calendar university, and the school is transitioning to that so that the campus is always active. UF has also always been about innovation and all that good stuff but now they are really starting to embrace it and spread it.</p>
<p>The IA students will have limited opportunities during the summer. Even during Summer C, the longest summer term, there are less classes/sections than in the fall. Also, they have smaller list of majors to choose from, but the most common ones are still available. I personally would not want to be an IA student for that reason, and because I would graduate 1 semester later than the rest of my classmates and friends. However, there is an advantage to having the fall semester free, as it presents one with an opportunity to pursue extracurriculars without having to work around a class schedule. This would be good for students who need these experiences to enhance their resumes for grad school. </p>
<p>In addition, I would encourage people to actually learn about the IA before marking that they are interested in it on their application. I have a friend who got accepted into the IA because he marked it on his application without even knowing what it was. He tried to switch to a normal Fall-Spring academic year, but his request was denied. He still chose to enroll at UF, as it was the best of all the colleges he was accepted to. Also, as result of him not starting college until January he got a nice, long 7 month vacation after high school, much of which he spent working and traveling. </p>
<p>As for treating the IA students as “second-class”…it somewhat rings true. I, as a typical Fall-Spring student, can take classes during any semester (including any of the 3 summer terms) and live anywhere on campus (at least after freshman year). IA students however, are not allowed to take classes in the fall, and, if they choose to live on campus, they are restricted to Beaty East (which is not a bad dorm, but I still believe that they should be able to live in anywhere, so long as space is available).</p>
<p>EDIT: Warning: I thought I’d put this at the top of the post. I wrote like a book here lol…I don’t know why I wrote this much; I guess that’s my way of procrastinating from studying heh</p>
<p>@rs0525: You are incorrect when talking about summer. UF has been “expanding” so to speak on their Summer. What is currently happening is a transition to a 12 month calendar. Meaning the Summer will become as meaty as Fall and Spring. Currently, all classes (and variations of those classes) necessary for university, major, and college requirements for all majors included in IA will be there; in addition, classes normally not in summer are now being added to summer. If you in fact look at recommended schedules for IA in comparison to a traditional schedule recommended, it’s identical (however the IA one has the IA minor streamlined throughout). In other words, it’s not how you say it is. Yes, there might be let’s say, 3 Calculus courses in the Summer as opposed to 7 in the Fall (I’m making up the numbers here); however, that’s logical granted that there’s only 25,000 students on campus, it’d make no sense to have resources wasted on providing 7 classes and a bunch of sections when only half the students are on campus; what matters is that the students can still get the UF education and opportunities they are seeking, with choice to their schedules; the summer achieves that albeit not having like a thousand chemistry courses like in fall lol. One big plus is the faculty-student ratio is more balanced out.</p>
<p>There is a smaller list of majors, yes, HOWEVER, you pick IA if you’re interested and PROSPECTIVE. Key word is prospective. Eventually IA will offer all majors the university have, however for now, it’s something ONLY prospective students should do. Meaning they should know what they want to do in their life.</p>
<p>Ehhh…I don’t see how graduating 1 semester later is exactly a big deal. It really isn’t; the class of 2016 collectively, will not all graduate in 2016. As a matter of fact, a large number of us will end up graduating 2015 or even in 2017 depending on major or how our college career goes. I understand that “oh yeah class of 2012! Yeah now class of 2016” type of thing where in high school you see people your freshman year and all of you go through high school together then graduate in 2012, however, college is different. Most students are at least a semester or two ahead (even those in IA apparantly are like a year or two ahead so this wouldn’t be a problem for them). And here’s an IMPORTANT saying: “Do not follow your friends.” Now that doesn’t mean not to just completely abandon your friends or disagree with everything they do, but it means, don’t gear your life just so you can “hang out” or be with them. Gear your life and make your decisions BASED OFF the opportunities you see. If you see an opportunity you want or you’re interested in, don’t go “man maybe I should just pass it so that I can continue to hang out with all of my friends” or something. Saying “I don’t want to be in IA because I will (given that no credits are incoming AND that no online classes are taken in Fall Connection or future falls) graduate a semester ahead of my classmates and friends” is extremely unwise decision making. You can’t stick with all of your friends forever; at least that’s usually the case. But to hear this as a “reason” is just…I don’t consider it a reason, seriously, I really just call it “bad, unhealthy thinking.” Non-adult thinking really.</p>
<p>And yeah, I know UF with the IA and admissions teams have begun their recruitement focuses. I know someone else THIS year that applied to UF and they told me it was no box to check, it was like a separate section and etc. etc. The website for the program has now been developed and expanded on. I will say this, I don’t get why your friend would just indicate interest for a program he doesn’t know about…even if they thought it WOULD be in the fall-spring, what if it was a program they ended up not liking it? I do know one person who got into IA, they wanted to do it however the schedule conflicted with some health thing they had to take care of in the summers or something like that, so their term change was granted from IA to fall/spring. I will say this for future reference, again: PICK THE TERM YOU WANT, for all of you future applicants. Term change requests aren’t granted so easily, it’s only for reasons like the ones I mentioned they are usually granted. SOMETIMES they are granted just because you “want to switch” since you changed your mind but it’s not often. Someone I knew had this once in a lifetime research thing in the Summer but they were admitted in the Summer (this was a while back)…they requested a term change to fall and it got denied.</p>
<p>The 7 month break period can be REALLY rewarding, as long as the student is productive. They have like this “2 classes online for 600 bucks” deal for the first Fall (THAT IS REALLY FREAKIN’ CHEAP; do it for those future UF IA-ers) and study abroad opportunities (Do that too! Especially if you’re in engineering, it’s REALLY hard to schedule study abroad with this major…and you have an opportunity to do it before you come to UF, that’s amazing); Your friend was quite smart with working and traveling. I can imagine some students just wanting the wait to be over, but the good news is, at least the “wait” is a temporary, one-time thing.</p>
<p>And now to your last paragraph, man I gotta crack my knuckles lol I’m typing so much (which is weird I haven’t been typing that long but aw well); yes IA students for the first year must live at Beaty East. Which is interesting but there’s reason behind it; freshman at UF normally are well, TOGETHER in all of these residence halls. So they start together, more comfortably, the transition is “kinder.” If IA students were scattered throughout, their transition would not be so smooth. They developed a “Living Learning Community” there. That’s reason number 1. Reason number 2 (and this isn’t as big a reason as reason number 1 IMO) is UF housing kicks out the people living where IA will be living for the Spring and Summer (they kick them out because the freshman HAVE to be given spots they were guaranteed). It’s a lot more managable (I’m just using my logic here) and simpler to quick out students from one residence hall and maintain that, rather than to kick them all out from all over the campus and have this widespread campus mess of re-directing to new housing/rooms and etc. Granted, if transitioning issues was no concern, then housing probably wouldn’t have a problem letting IA students pick whatever on campus since in the spring, students from the previous fall graduated early or dropped out thus providing more housing spaces all over each residence hall. Now, in terms of this housing, IA students are restricted for the FIRST year, since that’s the transitioning year so to speak. They can live wherever they want after the first year (of course, like with any other non-freshman, no space or housing is limited). The housing has been chaotic lately, new dorms are getting built to help fix this (they SHOULD be done in 2014). </p>
<p>This is my advice to all students: Learn what IA is. The program is an amazing academic opportunity, enhancing your entire UF experience, giving you extra credentials as “resume candy.” However, it is a program with a different calendar. You must ensure two things: That the program offers your major and you are PROSPECTIVE about it (the program and IA team, according from what I learned, is seeking prospective students) and that the calendar does not conflict with you in any way. The fall physical class and fall physical housing are the two things restricted to IA students. Those are the only two things restricted(football in fall is still allowed, online classes still allowed, club participation is still allowed, etc.). I was with an admissions officer and we were talking about IA and he said it better than I could have, something along the lines of: “The Fall restrictions? Who cares, no one says you have to leave in the Fall you can still do everything else, you still get the education and prestige; why pass up an opportunity like IA?” For you future applicants, when you say IA, make sure you make your decision right. It’s interesting to see third and fourth year students, TODAY, mention how they sorta wish they had the opportunity to do something like IA because it would be easier in terms of interning and studying abroad (since fall is off) and there are more opportunities to do interesting projects/learn interesting things. It’s not like I hear from them everyday talking like that, but every now and then the subject comes up and they’ll mention they would’ve liked to do it; same thing with some alumni I know. I mention this because, picking IA and not picking IA is a big deal…if you don’t pick it and go traditional, you can NEVER get in. The only one time, at the moment, to get into IA is during that freshman application time.</p>
<p>If you are SOCIALLY focused, I’m talking like Social Life>>>>Academic Life, and you’re VERY traditional, you’re very mainstream…you probably won’t like the calendar. While I disagree with the Social>>>>Academic mindset, it’s a mindset nontheless that is prevalant and if you have it, and you really just hate the calendar don’t apply. If you’re Academic>>>>Social, and IA has your major, I don’t see a reason why you should NOT do IA. If you’re in the middle, it really depends. Are you willing to take up a huge academic opportunity with IA in return for POTENTIAL “bumps in the road” for your social life that you’ll have to work around/work out, or are you someone who leans a bit more on the traditional lifestyle? The schedule’s restrictions are what gives the “second-class” treatment IF we disregard the program itself. That “treatment” is made up for with the academically rewarding IA program itself which consists of an exclusive minor and opportunities to give an additional skill set before walking out of college…all for the low low price of FREE. Now this is just ME but if I was choosing, I’d pick IA…it’s an academic opportunity, so what I have a couple social bumps as a result of the schedule? Fact is my social life today will not be the same social life 10 years later so these restrictions mean nothing to me, the academics and rewards of the IA will last much longer and will ACTUALLY MATTER. But again, that’s just me, I’ve always been very “SCHOOL SCHOOL SCHOOL” and freshman applicants consist of 18-19 year old teenagers…some even 17…it’s understandable that quite a number of them place social life today at the level of or higher than that of academics. It’s not exactly, and this is debatable, the smartest thing to do in terms of placing social life above academics but it’s an understandable one because the applicants are still kids.</p>
<p>Make sure if you want IA to be prospective, to want to think outside the box. It’s something meant to help students get shaped to be better leaders or work in teams more efficiently. The website has like a list of “skills” or “desires” so to speak that is being seeked among students. </p>
<p>Also note that if you are interested in the Honors program YOU CAN do it if you are in IA. IA students can apply to Honors and get accepted; the only difference is that you won’t really be able to take Honors classes in Summer so that’s probably 3-4 Honors points you’ll have to make up like in the Spring or Fall (in the Fall, I’m talking making it up by Honors activites, not Honors courses during that time); it’s VERY doable. </p>
<p>Another thing, I’d like to state that I was looking up on UF, just googling about, and I saw that the Director of IA released info. that at this time there are 40% more applications for the program than the year before; this seems to be a result of the recruitement efforts they have been doing and the fact that unlike the year before, they are really starting to get the information out about the program. Very good news.</p>
<p>And finally, to those IA students coming in the Spring…MAKE SURE to pick a meal plan and try it out for two weeks. If you don’t like this, you can switch to declining balance and everything basically “converts” to declining balance. From knowledge and experience, I and many others I know would say to just get declining balance. A lot more flexible if you ask me. Anyways, I gotta get studying (well actually I may as well sleep), I wrote like a book in this post and I tend to do that when Finals time comes around…hmm…bad habit I guess?</p>
<p>Oh man that really is a lot…I won’t blame you if you don’t read it all @rs0525 and/or if you do reply, that you mention something I already addressed. While, if you ARE going to reply, I’d like you to read my whole post, I totally understand if you’re just like “tl;dr” or something lol. Pshhtt, now my insomnia is preventing me from sleeping lol</p>
<p>EDIT: If you want to know what to focus on, you can focus on just where I talk mainly to you as a reply and where I address your third paragraph and explain how it’s not “second-class” and etc. etc.</p>
<p>If you are IA, can you join a sorority? I would think you have to be enrolled for Fall to maintain status in the sorority and participate in events.</p>
<p>Bagirl24, for future reference, get your source and info directly from uf and ask your questions to personnel there. These forums are…sort of a joke when it comes to exchange of info. </p>
<p>But anyways, yeah, IA students can join sororities and even rush in fall (excluding pre enrollment fall)</p>
<p>Sabertooth, what’s the deal with the IA dorm? It says they have 300 slots in one dorm for IA, but there are 500 students in IA, just freshmen, and obviously, a lot of slots in the other dorms are going to be taken up by people who were there starting in the fall. Do many people move out after fall, because they graduated or want to live in a fraternity house or something? Also, are those 300 slots just for freshmen, or are they going to be competing with this year’s IA students who are coming back for the second year? I guess what I’m saying is, is being in IA going to make it harder than usual to get in a dorm? Assuming my daughter actually got in for IA, I would really want her to be in that dorm, for the sense of community. She paid her housing deposit around the UF application deadline.</p>
<p>wow sabertooth, your teeth are pretty sharp!! It was just a question that I thought you would be able to handle since you wrote a book on IA above. I love CC but I surely do not think it replaces rules and regulations of a college handbook.
Thanks for responding to my question, I was just curious.</p>
<p>kylelovespi_ I think I just read that the FL dep of education just made an exception for the Fla IA students and will pay for the summer and spring. FLODE.org</p>
<p>I really like the idea of having a few months off before starting school again. We’ve spend 13 years in school and a break isn’t a bad thing. </p>
<p>Innovation Academy here I come!</p>
<p>Ace23</p>
<p>She will be fine. The past year they were all housed in Beatty (complete floors of IA students). Go to the housing website - - its very thorough. If she already signed up, she should be fine (mine waited until after acceptance).</p>
<p>They are building student housing in the Innovation Hub center, but I do not know the current status. </p>
<p>I agree with Sabertooth that you need to read the official website, but sometimes this site has a parent or student who has last year went through what you are now going through.</p>
<p>BTW, congratulations on your daughter’s acceptance! It must be an exciting week-end for your family.</p>