I’m interested the the University Scholars Program, which allows students to begin graduate courses during their undergraduate junior and seniors years. I understand that the Presidential Scholarship can be used to pay for these courses with remaining tuition scholarship semesters. Unfortunately, I did meet the criteria for Presidential, I meet the criteria for UA Scholar w/ College of Engineering Scholarship Program.
Does the 2 scholarships still cover 100% tuition of the University Scholars Program? If so, will it be limited to only engineering graduate programs?
Japers, my oldest son at UA is in the University Scholars program. He came in with quite a few AP and Clep credits so he had the required 90 credits to apply after the 2nd semester his second year. Of course the requirements for different majors are different, but my son will be able to finish his undergraduate and graduate degree in Computer Science in the four years given with the scholarship. However, he could not take classes as a graduate student IF he finished all his requirements for his undergraduate degree, so he has to be careful to leave one class unfinished. This may be different for the scholarships they are giving out now. I agree with mom2 though to retake the SAT and ACT to see if your scores go up. My other son now at UA was able able to raise his ACT the required 2 points to get the Presidential on his October ACT try.
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If so, will it be limited to only engineering graduate programs?
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I highly doubt that the Col of Eng’g is going to pay 1/3 tuition for semesters/years that you’re not taking any undergrad eng’g courses. You may need to ask if you can “hold back” an undergrad eng’g class to take during those last semesters to keep that 1/3.
I also don’t know if UA Scholar can be used for grad level classes. Maybe if in University Scholars? I don’t know. That’s a question for the Scholarships dept.
But…really…you have Oct, Nov and Dec chances to bring up your ACT and SAT…take advantage of those so that there is NO issue.
@mom2collegekids
Thank you for the reply. I will consider retaking the SAT again, but I have already sent in my scores to UA for my application. Say I send in an SAT score later in November or December, will I still be able to obtain the presidential scholarship?
If anything, the Engineering scholarship is likely administered under the old rules where one has to still be working on their undergraduate degree to get the scholarship. University Scholars satisfies that requirement; students usually leave one undergraduate class to take their final semester to be sure.
UA scholarships tend to be even more generous in rules than UA advertises. I would think that students would be allowed to complete any University Scholars program with an engineering scholarship, especially since certain non-engineering departments have heavily recruited talented engineering students in the past. The engineering masters programs tend to be over a year in duration as it is, so many students have to bank on an extra year of funding.
My understanding is that the engineering scholarships are to help pay the tuition of top students majoring in engineering at the undergraduate level, which the OP certainly would be.
As others have mentioned, if you want to go to UA or want better chances of admission at other schools as well, retake the ACT and SAT in hopes of getting the score required for the Presidential.
UA will upgrade the scholarship. DD improved her score Sept and then Dec of senior year. They sent her a letter indicating the higher scholarship she was able to have based on her last ACT score.
OP - if you know you are better doing SAT again. Both my DDs improved their scores on ACT easier than SAT. Do some practice testing and also work to improve your strong sections which can help pull up your overall score on ACT.
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I have already sent in my scores to UA for my application. Say I send in an SAT score later in November or December, will I still be able to obtain the presidential scholarship?
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Yes!!! Absolutely. If your scores go up to be Presidential minimums, then you will get the new award…even if you’re already accepted by UA by then.
Japers, to answer your question I believe he came in with 45 credits, most which were applied and used to satisfy a class requirement. I think he only took 7-9 AP classes (not sure) but he ended up satisfying a 2 course requirement - for his CS degree - by taking the Clep test in Spanish. (Of course different majors have different requirements). Also this son routinely took anywhere from 18-21 credits per semester which helped too.
My younger son came in with quite a few engineering type credits but most of them were coded as 197 so did not take the place of an actual class needed. (It did help, though, to make him a sophomore quicker giving him the opportunity to register earlier.)
Assuming a student needs the full four years at UA to complete the requirements for the bachelor’s degree, does anybody know how much it would cost to complete the University Scholars program, i.e, the fifth year?
Also, my understanding was that the student is INVITED to be part of the program, but it sounds like there’s also a way for a student to APPLY to the program. Can the student initiate the process?
^My son talked to his counselor and applied for the CS degree. Not sure about the other departments, but I cannot see why the student can’t take control and ask the dean how he/she can get into this program.
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Also, my understanding was that the student is INVITED to be part of the program, but it sounds like there’s also a way for a student to APPLY to the program. Can the student initiate the process?
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Absolutely the student can initiate. I doubt many in the program didn’t initiate. I wouldn’t wait for an invite…go for it. I would talk to the “right person” during soph year to see what is needed to get into the program
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Assuming a student needs the full four years at UA to complete the requirements for the bachelor's degree, does anybody know how much it would cost to complete the University Scholars program, i.e, the fifth year?
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If the student has OOS status at that time, the cost would be a lot. That’s probably why many either try to finish in 4 years…or do what they can (even if only half completed), and then use that to apply to funded PhD programs.
I’ve only heard of one department formally inviting students to its University Scholars program and am not sure if it still sends out the invitations. Interested students can ask about the program and are then told how to apply; any invitation would be verbal.
Unlike California, Alabama generally does not make residency requirements easier for graduate students. The students I see continuing the master’s degree they started as a University Scholar will typically have funding arranged through the department. Unlike many Universities, UA does offer some funding for master’s degrees in a variety of STEM and non-STEM fields.
Does anyone know if a student has to have finished their UG gen ed requirements before taking the grad level in major courses or can they take them simultaneously? (Say they have completed all UG in-major course offerings.)
I can say from our discussions with the B-school, they do offer concurrent enrollment with UG and graduate courses (that is basically the whole point of University Scholars anyway). In some majors if your BS and MS are the same/similar degrees, you can actually “double count” some courses for both degrees.
In the example of my DS (Operations Management BS/MS), he can take 5 graduate courses as substitutes for the UG equivalent (5xx instead of 4xx) and they will also count towards his MS. The tentative degree plan provided by his advisor shows him as concurrently earning both BS and MS in his discipline in NINE semesters (without any AP/DE/CLEP applied).
DS is doing US in Biology. Working UG and Grad at the same time and counting some Grad levels classes towards UG degree. I am not sure how many he can “double dip”. He had over 40 hours of AP credit going in to UA so will graduate in 4 with UG in ChemE and Biology and a Masters in Biology.