<p>I thought there was priority registration for Honors students as well but I could have been mistaken. It wouldn’t have mattered for my son anyway, when we went into the Preview to pick the date we were only offered one. Because he’s a HS/AA (high schooler who already has his AA degree) they have created a “hybrid orientation” for them only with “special advising” and such because of his class situation I guess. We HAVE to attend that one session, no other option. So he wouldn’t be able to do the Honors advising anyway I guess? I wonder if him being a HS/AA kid has anything to do with him not getting into the Honors program? Technically he’s coming in with as many credits as a Junior. Do you think it could?</p>
<p>I’ve got around 24 credits already, so I’m not sure it matters…</p>
<p>@nickirows - He will have over 60 credits plus the AP courses from his senior year. He’s already met all his Gen Ed’s, etc. He had more than enough to be a transfer student (Junior) but I’m glad they accepted him as a Freshman. I was reading about the Honors program to see if he may be interested in trying for the lateral admission in November. From what I read it seemed like you could only early register for Honors classes and not regular classes. Does anyone know if this is so?</p>
<p>That’s what I’ve heard; that you can only early register for Honors classes. I says this in the acceptance email: </p>
<p>“Sometime in May you will receive another email that will provide instructions on how to reserve a space in an Honors course for the fall semester. Be sure to check your inbox regularly.”</p>
<p>It suggests that I can only pre-register for Honors courses.</p>
<p>yeah, you only have priority registration for the honors classes. you don’t get to register early for your other classes.</p>
<p>there probably have spots reserved for incoming freshman, but I know for current students the honors classes were reserved to honors students for like 2 days, then they opened up for anyone else to sign up for the spots that were left.</p>
<p>After the first semester honor students have first day registration for all classes and priority registration for honor’s classes. But at preview as an incoming freshman you sign up with everyone else on your preview date.
A certain number of spots in required classes are held for each preview date. If you don’t get what you want then, spots may come available (keep close to your computer!)</p>
<p>Last freshman preview is July 25-26. They will release remaining spots for all the classes after that. Check for open spots daily btw July 27 and August 28 (last day of drop/add week). Last fall there were suddenly lots of openings on honors classes week before the classes started.</p>
<p>@FLnative28,
You mentioned that you were glad your child got accepted as a freshman even with 60 credit hours. Can you tell more about why you felt it beneficial to be accepted as a freshman and what that really means? Did you have a choice? Did they accept the credits, but still allow the freshman status? There is so much to learn about how to deal with the college system! </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>@shoboemom - My son attended the local community college at the same time he attended high school. So while he has accumulated the credits for his AA he’s still just graduating high school this fall as well. Yes, UF has accepted all his credits. UF asked that since he is just graduating high school that he apply 1st as a Freshman then if they didn’t accept him as a Freshman they would have considered him again as a transfer student. The problem with that would have been that he wouldn’t have met all the prerequisites required for his major (as a transfer student is required to do) because they didn’t offer them at the local cc. The benefit is that by them accepting him as a Freshman he will still be treated as a high schooler just entering college rather than a Junior level transfer student. He hasn’t been on his own before and all of this will be very new to him. He’ll also have the 4 years a Freshman would typically have. He has decided to double major so I’m sure he’ll take up those 4 years no problem. And I agree there is SO much to learn!</p>
<p>One shortcoming coming in as a freshman with a lot of college credits is that Federal Financial Aid guidelines count the credits already earned while in high school toward your son’s Satisfactory Academic Progress maximum allowable credits numbers. So if your son wants to do 4 years of undergraduate studies, he may not be able to get Fed financial aid later on if he exceeds SAP max credits cap. Bright Futures I don’t think uses credits earned while in high school though, so he should be okay with BF if at UF 4 years.</p>
<p>actually that is not true. you are guaranteed your 4 years if you come in as a freshman. if you end up above that max, your advisor just like justifies with the federal office or something like that. As long as you don’t finish all the requirements for your major, you just need a legitimate reason to be there, like picking up a second major or a minor.I asked my advisor specifically about this last year, and that is what she told me.</p>
<p>It actually happened to one of my friends, he now has like 3 minors and I think is trying for one of the certificates.</p>
<p>Thank you for the info. We do not qualify (at least for the time being) for Financial Aid but we will make use of the offered loan perhaps. I do know that Bright Futures will only cover enough credits for a total of 1 major no matter how long you’re there. My son has his AA already…I had originally thought Bright Futures would cover 4 years at the college regardless. I called the state and asked and they said no. They will only pay for him to earn 1 major, if you choose to do more you’re on your own. So really for my son, they’ll only be paying for two years instead of four. I know Bright Futures is different from the Financial Aid but I thought I’d mention it in case others were in the same position.</p>
<p>It is important to keep an eye on the SAP max credit caps; the federal aid faucet can be turned off!</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sfa.ufl.edu/additional/academic-progress/[/url]”>http://www.sfa.ufl.edu/additional/academic-progress/</a></p>
<p>Well I don’t know. My friend is probably already over 150, he came in really close to getting his A.A. and has been taking 15 or 16 credits a semester, and I have never heard him say anything about not getting bright futures or financial aid. </p>
<p>You might want to ask your financial aid advisor about that when you get here in fall, so you can get whatever info you need for your particular situation, even if you called the state office.</p>
<p>@glasswright - I hope you are right. Who knows, maybe the person I spoke with was wrong, that can happen when you’re dealing with a bureaucracy. It’s not like he’ll turn it down if they continue to offer it. </p>
<p>@lizard - I read the link and it was a bit confusing for me. I’m not sure where he falls into all that since we aren’t getting financial aid. I wonder if that includes loans and Bright Futures? Ugh. Hopefully UF will be able to address our questions at Preview. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the input. :)</p>
<p>Yeah, financial aid and scholarships can be confusing. I’m at USF, but the same federal guidelines are in place at USF for fed fin aid. I finished high school in 2008 with about 50 college credits from dual enrollment. I graduate this spring with exactly 200 semester hrs and 2 bachelor’s degrees. I was able to keep federal aid 'til the end and still will have 10 unused Bright Future cr hrs because many of my 200 credits were from high school and summer enrollment that BF didn’t cover. Only this last spring semester did I have to petition for FA when I was over the 180 which was granted because of “extenuating” circumstances.</p>
<p>I don’t get where UF gets the 150 credit cap in its rules; 150% of a typical 120 cr hr requirement degree is 180 cr hrs! I didn’t have to petition at USF until after I finished fall semester 2011 after passing the 180 credit hr threshold. Too, BF rules may have changed, but state BF scholarship for me was not part of Federal SAP max. stuff.</p>
<p>@lizard - Wow, my son is in a very similar situation to yours credit wise. He is also looking to graduate UF with 2 Bachelor degrees. So unless they changed Bright Futures since you started (which is very possible I guess, they are looking every which way to give less) it sounds like he may get 4 years of Bright Futures IF he can maintain the new 3.5 average they are requiring. He should be able to, but we’ll see. Thanks again :)</p>