<p>What percentage of UHP students fail to meet the required 3.3 GPA and do not graduate with honors?</p>
<p>Riggo, I’m so glad you brought this up! You know, I was so focused on son keeping the 3.0 for his scholarship, I totally forgot that there was a higher GPA for graduating with honors. And I need to get clarification on the required GPA for CBH as well.</p>
<p>Need to keep this in mind as we do son’s schedule for the fall.</p>
<p>Maybe we can get a concise chart with required GPAs from the veterans on this board.</p>
<p>UHP, IHP, CBH, and yes, even those fantastic Fellows! And let’s not forget the GPA to keep the different scholarships: Presidential, NMF, Engineering!</p>
<p>Anyone want to list the required GPAs for each of these?</p>
<p>I seem to recall that IHP only requires a 3.0. I too would like to know the numbers of those that don’t graduate from UHP/IHP/CBHP/UFE due to a low GPA.</p>
<p>Glad you pointed this out. Definitely information to compile and have handy, with so much coming at us from different directions. Although I know our kids have shown their worth, college is a new experience and requires a focus point to keep in mind.</p>
<p>From the Honors College page…</p>
<p>All UHP students must maintain a 3.3 GPA to graduate from the UHP. IHP students and CBHP students must maintain a 3.0 GPA to graduate from those programs. The remaining requirements for each program are different, so visit the programs’ webpages to learn more. Your diploma will indicate “With Honors” upon your successful completion of the Honors Programs’ requirements.</p>
<p>I understand the requirements to graduate with honors, but am trying to get a better handle on what percentage of kids fail to maintain the 3.3 GPA in the UHP program.</p>
<p>3.3 seems like a difficult requirement, especially if you are competing for grades in many classes against other honors students.</p>
<p>It’s great to get into the program, but if the school washes a lot of students out, that would be of concern.</p>
<p>Rigggo check out the info on grading scale:</p>
<p>At Alabama a student can get additional GPA points for Pluses!
For example an A+ at UA is worth 4.33 points.</p>
<p>We were told by someone in honors to try to accumulate as many +s as possible; then when you came up against a challenging course you had a “bumper” from past course work.</p>
<p>At graduation you can only graduate with a 4.0; but by getting those pluses you can give yourself a “bit of breating room”!</p>
<p>but am trying to get a better handle on what percentage of kids fail to maintain the 3.3 GPA in the UHP program.</p>
<p>I don’t know if the Honors College tracks this. If they do, I haven’t seen it published anywhere. I doubt a lot of kids wash out of the program. The honors college is very forgiving. If a student drops below a 3.3 at the end of a semester, then they are given a warning. The next semester if they get a 3.3, then no problem. The overall avg doesn’t have to be a 3.3, just that most recent semester. </p>
<p>Whatever the numbers are, it really has no bearing on any individual. Maintaining a 3.3 is not that hard - especially if one manages his schedule by not taking on too much or taking on too many hard classes within the same semester.</p>
<p>I’ve said many times on this forum, if you’re not a natural “early riser” do not sign up for 8 am classes. Neither of my kids have ever taken an 8 am class. </p>
<p>Also, I don’t recommend trying to load all your classes onto 3 days (or worse, 2 days). Doing so can mean having too many tests or homework assignments due on the same day.</p>
<p>Riggo has a good point. When touring the campus on our own one weekend, we met lots of very bright engineering students at the Rogers library and in some of the engineering buildings. None of them were honors students. But all were doing quite well and had internships/coops and even job offers lined up. </p>
<p>I know when we were looking at midwest private schools, we did not apply to the honors programs, as we felt the engineering curriculum would be difficult enough. However, because of the size of Alabama, and of course, the automatic admission, son did want to do the honors program, although I don’t think Bama’s engineering program will be any less difficult than those expensive private schools. </p>
<p>I wonder if many students who would obviously qualify for honors choose not to pursue honors because their plate is full enough with their intended major. I know I did not pursue the honors program when I was in college because I was required to keep a 3.5 for my scholarship, and being a double science major was difficult enough, I didn’t need to add more rigorous classes to my schedule and risk losing my scholarship.</p>
<p>I don’t think honors classes at Alabama are more difficult. If you look over the courses, they are very LAC-like. Really just mind-broadening to make you a more well-rounded individual. </p>
<p>Some may not sign up for honors because they don’t really understand it. They may think that they’ll have to take a bunch of unneeded classes, when really that’s not necessary. Most of the honors courses fulfill a Core Req’t - including the upper division 6 credit W designation req’t that everyone must take.</p>
<p>The nice thing about the honors program is choice. You select what interests you and match it to your strengths. For example, if you are a humanities person, maybe you prefer taking honors American or English literature. A science person may prefer honors biology or chemistry.</p>
<p>My son is a math/science kid who loves to travel. The Alabama Action course to Costa Rica fits him perfectly. He can use his Spanish, experience a new culture, help teach English to schoolchildren and still gain that three-hour honors credit. </p>
<p>AP credit satisfied most of his core requirements, so he can have some fun in selecting honors classes to meet his interests.</p>
<p>M2CK: My son didn’t follow that advice on scheduling. He’s little crazy. He scheduled four of his five classes on two days this fall. Sounds like his mom – twice, she scheduled all her classes in three days.</p>
<p>*My son didn’t follow that advice on scheduling. He’s little crazy. He scheduled four of his five classes on two days this fall. Sounds like his mom – twice, she scheduled all her classes in three days. *</p>
<p>That can be fine for a student who has no fears of maintaining a high GPA. However, for a student who is concerned that he might lose his scholarship because he has a tougher time keeping a highish GPA, I don’t think that is a good idea. </p>
<p>My older son first scheduled this last semester (18 credits) all on 3 days. I pressured him to change it because I knew that grad schools would be closely looking at his 3rd year grades and he’s had perfect grades so far. He may have done as well without changing it, but since there’s no “do-over,” I’m glad he did.</p>
<p>M2CK: I agree. I think it’s crazy to do most of your classes on two or three days, unless it’s the only days the classes are offered.</p>
<p>momreads- Has your son taken the Costa Rica AA or is it in his plans for this year? I was thinking my S would probably enjoy that as well, really wants to experience other places and after 4 years of Spanish could benefit from immersion into conversations, not so much reading and writing. </p>
<p>He’s an engineer major and I’m wondering if this is something he should plan for spring of freshman year before his schedule gets too heavy. Any thoughts from the veterans?</p>
<p>Socal2bama: My son is flying back today after spending 10 days in Costa Rica. When he gets home, gets a shower, some sleep and something to eat, I’ll ask him to send you a PM. He did mention, before he left, that there should be another Alabama Action trip next year, and he already plans to go.</p>
<p>One thing that was done with this class was that its credit varied from one to six hours. If all you could register for was a single credit, then that’s what you did. Some kids had more room in their schedules and were able to do more hours, like my son did. He had a blast with the classroom instruction, too. The professor brought in others to teach the class – for example, Alabama has an excellent history professor who specializes in Latin America, and some of the Spanish professors are from Costa Rica. They also did a traditional Costa Rican meal at his professor’s home.</p>
<p>So, is the Costa Rica class something a student takes during the school year, but then the student actually goes to CR in the summer?</p>
<p>Managing distractions are all part of the transition to college and beyond. As long as the student remembers they are students first and make responsible decisions/time management, they will be able to have “Play Time”.</p>
<p>Sounds great, I can’t wait to hear how he liked it. My S will hopefully have a nice amount of AP credits to open up enough units to take advantage of this. If they can get up to 6 units, does that mean they would sign up for 2 semesters? Or are the units added according to amount of extra time and activities you put in? This is the types of opportunities I think my son was thinking of when he opted to attend UA instead 2 other smaller private schools.</p>
<p>M2CK: The class for Costa Rica was taken during the spring semester. The trip ran May 10-19.</p>
<p>Socal2bama: It was offered only this spring. Varying the credits allowed students not to run over the amount their scholarships would allow. I’m not sure if the assignments were varied, because of credit numbers. I would have to ask my son.</p>
<p>Momreads: was Dr. Bunker the history prof? D met him & absolutely loved talking with him.</p>