UK experience for OOS students

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Kentucky
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My son is seriously considering attending UK for fall of 2018 as an OOS student from upper midwest (in his final three). He has a generous merit offer and we were greatly impressed during our recent visit by the new housing, dining, student center, etc. It seems like it would be a very convenient place to go to school and the weather would be a welcomed change.

It was harder to gauge how he would fit in with the student body. I’ve heard that UK has a large Greek presence but I doubt that would be a track he would take. I assume there are enough students around that one need not be in a fraternity to have a good social experience at UK? He’s a pretty typical 18 year old with sports interests etc and is neither shy nor exceedingly outgoing. Makes friends pretty easily and we would encourage him to sign up for as much as he can handle. Just curious if UK has a reputation for being particularly clique or difficult to break through for OOS students. Hopefully not.

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S is in engineering living in honors housing, here is his take. The first 3 weeks are rough since this is his first live away experience except for camps, luckily the RAs are trained to help and have lots of activities for the freshmen the first few weeks. S is not doing the Greek thing. The food took some getting use to, he still will not try sausage gravy. His friend group is roughly half KY and the rest OOS. He has done a fair amount of church volunteering even though he isn’t religious, they have a lot of late night activities even a club ice hockey team which isn’t very good but it is a sport he played. Football games are a trip since we don’t have any real college teams here. The club sport teams are equivalent of division 2 teams so it wasn’t an option for my son. The academics are challenging in the stem areas, don’t know about others. I recommend that your S live on campus. PM me if you have any other questions.

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@gerryfromNE. Thanks. He is not in honors because our application to UK was very late in the game. He was told he could apply for second term and I hope he does so. Has the honors college been a good experience for your son thus far?

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The boy absolutely loves it, the kids are great, the RAs are great, the dorms are great, he is learning a lot. He likes all of his professors except one. The honors classes really push him, you can’t hide in it since you only have 10 kids in the class with you. His grades have been good, it really helps that the kids in the honors dorm know that bad grades means no scholarship which means you live back at home in the basement or in my kids Case the unheated shed.

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UK without honors if he has honors elsewhere would be a differentiator if not a deal breaker for me.

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He is not considering honors elsewhere but it seems he should strongly pursue the transfer-in option at UK. Thanks to all.

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@rstdane1

We have a student in her second year at UK. She is OOS, Illinois. Although she is in Honors, she says she could take it or leave it (Honors, that is). She has found it’s a bit of a PIA to fit in the honors requirements in her schedule, and she doesn’t feel she is getting that much back in return, especially now that she is deep in her major, has an off-campus job related to her intended field, & is working with one of the professors in her department (research topic).

She was anti-Greek going in as a freshman, but waivered some sophomore year and considered rushing. She says it’s not easy to make female friends and if you’re not Greek, & says the Greek girls will not talk to you if you are not in a sorority. I don’t know if that’s widespread, but that is her opinion. I don’t know how it is for the boys.

Nevertheless, she has a group of friends she made in her orientation group freshman year and that group has expanded — friends of friends, and more friends of friends. She has been to one Greek formal and said it was fun, but says she is managing just fine without being in a sorority. This year, she is involved in a new club and that has expanded her network of friends and is taking up more of her time.

She lived in Honors housing the first year, and moved off campus with a couple female friends her second year and loves it. She is staying in Lexington this summer; she likes it so much and she wants to keep her job year-round.

There is the UG Chellgren Fellowship as an alternative, or addition, to Honors at UK.

https://www.uky.edu/chellgren/student-fellows-program

Motivated students will find plenty of challenging work at UK, regardless of honors.

She has been on some really fun trips with the Rec Center, too. Hiking & whitewater rafting. Ski trip was cancelled due to lack of snow.

Being OOS has been no big deal. She has been enjoying the little differences between herself and her Kentucky friends. Most noticeably, what the definition of “It’s too cold outside” is.

Lexington is awesome. We are in the Chicago area, and it’s easy for her to fly home, or take the Shuttle (charter bus) home on breaks.

Go Cats!

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My son is finishing up his freshmen year at UK and we live 13 hours from the school. He absolutely loves it there and has found plenty of things to get involved in. He is not interested in going Greek and doesn’t feel like thats a problem. He is also in the Honor’s College but satisfies a lot of his Honor’s requirements through his Global Scholars program within the Business School. Being an OOS student has not been a problem for him except for us commenting on the fact that he uses “y’all” in conversation now. He is happy with his decision to attend.

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@MYOS1634

For whatever reason, UK does not have many spots for Honors. The acceptance rate into Honors is very low. Despite that, UK’s COA is competitive, even for OOS students. There are a lot of bright students at UK who are not in Honors.

Not every NMF who took advantage of the automatic Patterson Scholarship gets accepted into Honors. I’d strongly advise people to not let it be a deal breaker.

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My son was told he could apply to Honors during fall semester, which I am strongly encouraging him to do. However, it is good to know that its not the end of the world if he does not go that route.

1 Like
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Everybody should be aware that the honors program at UKY is ultra competitive. They have roughly 400 spots available, assuming most of the NMF’s apply and get accepted (about 100 students or so), that leave 300 seats for the 4,000 applicants, your chances are not great. You actually have better odds getting into an ivy school. If you get an honors spot, it is worth the additional investment of time IMO. The honors program is truly special at UKY, it has been a great experience for my OOS S, I can’t say enough good things about it…

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Thanks to all for this outstanding feedback.

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Adding…our D went in with some AP credit, and on the advice of a CC poster, some CLEP credit.

Her first winter break at home, she took a couple online classes at UK (not covered by the Patterson) and gained sophomore standing.

She has the option of graduating a year early. Not sure what she’ll decide. She could add a minor or double major and stay all four years.