<p>I wasn't accepted to the honors program but would really like to join if I go to UF. Does anyone know how difficult it is to be accepted through lateral admission in the fall?</p>
<p>I was also hoping someone who is currently in the program could provide some more information. My son also wasn’t initially accepted and he may consider applying again in November. But, I’m kind of wondering what the actual benefits are to being into the program now vs. just taking the classes? If you don’t want to live in Hume which it looks like now he doesn’t what’s the benefit? My understanding is that you can still sign up for the Honors classes and they usually have plenty of room and you can still choose a professor to do a thesis with, you can still attend any events where they have special guest speakers…Is it that you get a day early on registration? Or is there more to it? If someone could provide some insight that would be great! Thanks!</p>
<p>Last year I applied by lateral admission and got in, but my advice may not be exactly what you are looking for because I didn’t like it and ended up asking to be removed from it like after a week of spring classes, but I’ll try to help anyway.</p>
<p>The lateral admission process is not too dificult. just try to be involved first semester, and the essays make it seem like they want “individuals.” The topics I had were what historical figure would you like to take a class from, or something like that, and the standard why do you want to join the program. I think there was a GPA requirement, but it didn’t seem that hard to acheive with freshman classes. I think I even got the acceptance email right after finals week, so I think that aspect of the application was just a formality. There was an info session on laterla admission, but I missed it, so I have no idea what was covered there.</p>
<p>@FLnative in case this would help you, I ended up turning it down because the benefits didn’t seem to outweigh the costs. you have to take 4 honors courses, but they are all gen-eds. I was done with gen-eds, so it just would have been a bunch of extra classes that I didn’t need to take. plus, I wasn’t interested in any of the honors classes offered. They all seemed to be needlessly extra dificult, or wishy-washy type classes. I was in the honors russian 2 for drop/add, and the prof emphasized grammar over speaking skills, so I switched to regular russian.</p>
<p>They do have honors advisors, which I think would work out if you are in a liberal arts major, since the liberal arts advisors suck for freshman and sophomores. </p>
<p>I had a lot of friends who were in honors, and most ended up not even trying to continue with it after 1st semester. but they didn’t live in hume, so that may have contributed to them not caring about it as much.</p>
<p>@glasswright - Your advice is exactly what I was looking for and kind of what I had been suspecting so Thank You for your honesty and for posting. My son, just like you, has already completed all of his Gen Ed’s and will be heading straight into his Major when he starts in the Fall. It doesn’t appear there will be much benefit to him in applying laterally to Honors (he doesn’t want to live in Hume anymore) other than being able to say “I’m in Honors” which he could care less about. You mention that the liberal arts advisers aren’t very good. He’ll be polisci/economics in the liberal arts college. But since he’s done with his gen ed’s isn’t it almost like he’s a Junior when it comes to advising? I’m still trying to get a handle on all this because his circumstances are a little different. He’s a HS/AA. We have to go to a “special hybrid orientation” preview weekend where he will get “special advising”. I’m kind of wondering if that’s good or bad? lol</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice! I agree about the classes for Honors…but I was very interested in the advising and other opportunities offered by it. I would also be a liberal arts major. Are the students in that department at a disadvantage because of the advisers? I’m a little worried about not having enough advising at UF because of the large size. I was hoping that the honors program would narrow it down a bit.</p>
<p>there are plenty of advisers for liberal arts students. honors advising isn’t a big deal.</p>
<p>the only thing academic advisers are good for is navigating bureaucratic and dealing with your registration and special cases. they just help you navigate processes and make sure you stay on track to graduate with your major. they are not the people you talk to about for career advice.</p>
<p>@Glasswright thanks for the info. I was accepted to the Honors College and will be starting in Fall. But just to give a different perspective, I have a friend who is in the honors program at UF now and she likes it. She didn’t live in Hume but still says there are many benefits about being in it that enhance the whole undergrad experience. So for anyone thinking about doing lateral admission, I would give it a shot because I have only heard good things about the program and am very excited to start.</p>