<p>3.3 GPA to stay in honors…altho they allow you a semester to bring your GPA back up…so if you have a 3.1 semester, then if you get a 3.3 the next semester, you’re fine. The combined avg doesn’t have to be 3.3 …</p>
<p>As for maintaining GPA…be very firm with your child - before he even starts college - that he is to balance his schedule each semester and not take too many hard/demanding courses in any one semester. THAT is what generally causes kids to have problems with their GPAs. Kids get excited and load up their schedules. </p>
<p>Also…unless your child is a natural early riser…no 8 am classes if possible…at least for the first semester or two. LOL (Looks like my senior will graduate this May without ever taking an 8 am class!)</p>
<p>I don’t anticipate my S will want to take more than 16 or so credits in any event. I was thinking that a 3.0 was easier than the 3.3 I anticipated. Yes, I am full aware that a 3.0 is a struggle for some and not because they take too many classes(older S and joining a frat)! It shouldn’t be a problem for kids with the stats for Presidential, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be.<br>
“A natrual early riser” ha ha- S would prefer no classes before noon, never mind 8 am- I would be surprised if he never took an 8 am classs as well.<br>
I think the struggle with S will be if he decides to try the pre-med track, I can see the sciences being tough for a kid who didn’t take them as APs in HS and/or if he does IHP in Spanish which he has said he probably wants, but language has not been his best subject, but he has interest. You want to explore in college and not always focus on-
this class is going to kill my gpa. A 3.0 gives a little more flexibility I think. I have told him 3.3 because he needs to stay in Honors. I saw that departmental honors requires a 3.3 as well I think and that would be nice.</p>
<p>Congrats to all. It looks like a new patch a freshman parents is taking shape.</p>
<p>BamaMom- Thanks for the info on the honors band. I’m not sure if my son will try and audition that weekend. That is a lot of time to take off school and we are Virginia residents so traveling could be dicey. I also think it might be the same weekend as a competition. Is there any benefit to auditioning that weekend other than scholarship consideration? </p>
<p>It is great that everyone here shares so much information. A special thank you to or more ‘experienced’ parents.</p>
<p>Because of factors out of my control, I ended up with an 8 am Spanish class this semester. I’ve already slept through it twice (once I was sick) and can only miss it one more time all semester before it affects my grade. Stinko.</p>
<p>M2CK is right about the early classes. They are not for everyone. The earliest class my son has had was 9 a.m. He made the decision to take later classes based on what he did in high school. For the final 2.5 years, he did not have a first block class. Well, he did, but it was online so there was some flexibility. He does need to take one 8 a.m. class, probably as a junior, because it’s required for his major.</p>
<p>I haven’t checked the Alabama board for a while and just saw the great news that many of you are receiving about your kids and their scholarship opportunities. Just wanted to say Congratulations to all of you! :)</p>
<p>Congratulations to all who’ve earned these marvelous scholarships. Well done!</p>
<p>Regarding 8am classes, my son got saddled with 3 this semester. Fortunately, he spent his high school career getting up at 5:30am in order to get on the road in time to fight massive traffic on his way to classes that sometimes began at 7:30, sometimes 8:30.</p>
<p>Now he rolls out of bed at 7ish, grabs a bite in his super-suite dorm, and strolls casually down to class. He thinks he’s sleeping in. Shhhh, don’t tell him otherwise. :)</p>
<p>Sounds like you son adjusted to the time change just fine, Malanai!</p>
<p>On the flip side of class times - late classes can be a bummer. D has a Friday class from 5 - 7p.m. and she has to drag herself there. She feels like her weekends always start late because of it.</p>
<p>Congrats to all on the scholarships I hope you choose to attend Bama - you won’t regret it!</p>
<p>Hokiefan, the only benefit to auditioning that particular weekend is that they make it easy to do everything all at once, and they actually announce the scholarships then.</p>
<p>They have other scheduled auditions later in the year and summer for the Million Dollar Band. I think the band auditions may be only at the scheduled times. I think you can arrange to have a wind ensemble audition and/or a music school audition (music or minor) at the same time. You probably won’t be informed of scholarships during your visit, though, other than maybe a band scholarship.</p>
<p>My DD will play piccolo in the band. Unfortunately, there are so many picc players that it seems scholarships are pretty hard to come by. Last year they seemed to need a lot of brass players, because there were lots of scholarships for trombone and mellophone/tuba.</p>
<p>As far as choosing Bama, my DD won’t even look anywhere else! I wanted to go on a campus visit tour and at least see Vandy (I went there for two years until scholarship money didn’t keep up with tuition; then finished here at UAHuntsville), USC Columbia (where my sister is a prof), UNC Chapel Hill (where my sister received her Ph.D.), and Duke (aunt and uncle live in Durham). </p>
<p>But she’s adamant. The one campus visit to Bama last spring, plus the times her band has gone to competitions on campus, plus her attendance at Crimson Music Camp last summer, have all been enough to convince her that Bama is the only place for her. Which does make my life a lot easier, I must say!</p>
<p>^ I think it’s fantastic that your D is so happy with this school that she knows EXACTLY where she wants to go! Pressure’s off. No more frantic college trips. Sounds good to me. (However, I will confess, I’d be the same way if I were her parent – “Are you SURE you don’t want to just look at Duke, UNC, Vandy, etc.?” Silly parents.)</p>
<p>My son got his Presidential Scholarship letter in the mail today. Woo hoo! We are lucky, lucky peeps.</p>
<p>Another parent here with a 2013 hs grad looking quite favorably at UA…since my D wants to go OOS!!</p>
<p>And BamaMama2B, I understand where you’re coming from. My S (hs '09/college '13) was set on LSU from 7th grade on. I couldn’t convince him otherwise. Then in the fall of his senior year, my DH and I practically forced him to check out our alma mater, Univ of La-Lafayette. (basically so we could get free tix to a football game…LOL!)… </p>
<p>LSU is a good school, but we just didn’t think he gave any serious consideration to look anywhere else. I told him whenever you make a big decision in life, you need to comparison “shop”. Anyway, he was impressed with the ol’ alma mater, classes were smaller and gave him more hands on opportunities, and scholarship money was better. So he’s there now.</p>
<p>However, I wasn’t into CC yet and I’m kicking myself for not looking at UA…two of his classmates are 'Bama sophs now and I realize now that had he gone there, too, he would have even more of a scholarship than he got at LSU or ULL!!</p>
<p>My consolation is that my S is very happy where he is and it’s a good fit for him and that’s all we can ask for. Now to find a good fit for my D…</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard, the MDB scholarships are more what I’d consider in the “token” amount. Around $400-$1,000. An MDB scholarship would be for fall semester only. I THINK the wind ensemble scholarships could possibly cover spring semester, but I’m really not sure.</p>
<p>To get the really good music scholarships, you have to be a music major. </p>
<p>This is all just word-of-mouth stuff, and nothing I’ve seen written on the official band or music websites or anything.</p>
<p>My son got his acceptance today (that was fast). I was expecting the financial info to come along with the acceptance, but I gather from this thread that they are separate mailings. How long did it take to get the scholarship info after all the student received the acceptance? Thanks–I know there will be many more questions from our family!</p>
I hope you choose to attend Bama - you won’t regret it!</p>