<p>"Dear NICOLA, </p>
<p>Congratulations on being admitted to the University of Florida. In light of your superior academic achievements, I would like to take this opportunity to encourage you to apply to the UF Honors Program."</p>
<p>Wahoo! Has anyone else gotten this? Is anyone else going to apply? Any future Hume-Hall classmates here with me?</p>
<p>Also, any advice for applying? Things I should or shouldn't mention? Any help is appreciated. Thanks! :)</p>
<p>My daughter missed the SAT criteria by around 30 points, but the other stuff is good. We were not expecting a letter, and haven’t received one yet. However, I just went through the posted form putting holders in the boxes so I could get to the “finalize” box, and there was NOT a request for a petition letter. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Have her petition, bet she gets in. </p>
<p>Just my .02 David</p>
<p>I forgot to say “congrats” to Nicola and I also offer best wishes for the application process.</p>
<p>After the two essay prompts there is a prompt for Haiku. Do you thing that is the petition for non qualifying students?</p>
<p>CLARIFICATION</p>
<p>Thanks for the encouragement. I just read my original post and realize that I missed a critical word. There was NOT request for a petition essay, but as I mention below a request for a Haiku explaining why you want to go.</p>
<p>Haha, thank you! 
And I think you should petition as well. I didn’t think I would be invited, so I was already planning on petitioning.</p>
<p>And the Haiku might be! I can’t look to check, as I have to answer the two essay prompts first. :)</p>
<p>You may not want to do this, but you can just place one word in each of the essay prompts - I used HOLDER, to scoot through and see what is coming.</p>
<p>Haha, I would, but I don’t want to accidently finalize my application with only the words “holder”! The essay questions are a bit funky, aren’t they? :D</p>
<p>Its probably something to do with my age but I like them. The worst one’s I’ve seen were for the Penn State’s Schreyer Honors</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, I like them. I just don’t know how to answer them. I mean, do they want serious answers? Or just equally silly responses? =/</p>
<p>What are the essay questions?</p>
<p>A question about community building, and then we had the choice to choose one of the following: </p>
<ol>
<li>Tell the story of Chester C. Cluckington, the first chicken to cross the road.</li>
<li>Are we alone? </li>
<li>Who was the better tree climber, Napoleon or Attila the Hun?</li>
</ol>
<p>Is the AP Scholar thing under scholarships the same thing as the regular AP scholar non-monetary award you get for passing AP exams?</p>
<p>I put down that it was. It’s just an oddly worded question.</p>
<p>If you don’t get in to the UF Honors Program, you can apply during the fall semester for Lateral Admissions… It’s pretty easy.</p>
<p>Is it? I’ll have to remember that. I’m really, really hoping I’ll get into UF Honors first try though. :)</p>
<p>Honestly, the Honors program is a joke. The only people who like it are the people who tell everyone they are in Honors… (I can attest to this as I am in the honors program) Don’t get to hung up over it.</p>
<p>How is it a joke? Just curious.</p>
<p>A lot of the classes are either fairly worthless or stronger math/science classes that anyone can sign up for. If you look through the list and find yourself interested in a lot of the classes then go for it, but I believe whatever early registration benefit is outweighed by being forced to take classes from a certain subset. Also these classes are usually just one off classes so it is difficult to tell exactly what you are getting into in course selection research.</p>
<p>I don’t think it will make that much of a difference on the resume. Certainly graduating with Honors/high GPA/ actually accomplishing something will help more. A lot of honors kids feel like they are more special than they are here . </p>
<p>I would only do it for the fun of it if you think you’ll like small classes in strange subjects. It was definitely not for me.</p>
<p>^^^ Please understand… You can still graduate with “HONORS” (Magna Cum Laude, etc.) without having been a participant. Just wanted to make sure that is clear. </p>
<p>It’s a joke because unless you just want to tell every single person you are in the Honors Program, it’s nothing really. The “special” classes I have to take don’t count because my Gen Eds were done by my Freshman year. Let’s be real… If you are smart enough to be in the Honors program, you have allllll of your gen Eds done… I know plenty of people who are paying for classes to maintain their requirement but could care less.</p>