If orientation is in person there are many orientation dates and if you can’t make it to one during the summer, they have one right before classes begin in August. There is no benefit to going to the first date or the last date either as they only open up the same % of spots for a class on each date. So for instance if there are 10 orientation dates and 100 spots in Basket Weaving 101, then each date there will only be 10 spots open in that class. So your chances of getting into it is the same at each orientation date.
But, they do keep you busy during orientation, you stay at Jester, if you’re in an honors program you actually get a slightly nicer room, and you’re not allowed to leave. You also have to stay there unless there is some extenuating reason, so yeah if your son has a class 5-9 that would be a problem. They do those ice breaker games etc. They group you by major for rooms also so it’s a great way to meet people. My daughter met one really good friend. You then don’t meet up with your kid again until the last day for the bbq. The parent meetings are also fabulous. Between my husband and I, we have been to way to 5 different college orientations and UT by far is has been the best! I hope they’re able to do an in person one. Another thing that kids love, but mine was not interested in it is Camp Texas that runs in August. Same thing, if in person they will have it.
@antiquedealermom I think her son is an orientation leader so she will have some better info I’m sure.
My LHS is part of the orientation advisor leadership team. You pretty much got it all right. Last year was virtual and they worked really to make it as much like in person as possible (lol as much as it can be like in person on a zoom). The school still has not definitively said if orientation will be virtual or in person. If y’all have any more specific questions, feel free to ask. If I don’t know, I’ll ask my kid.
Not CS, but Physics, polymathic scholar with interests in math and CS. If your kid might be interested in living in Honors housing, they might be a fit. Also not on social media. At all.
I really hope that they are able to do orientation in person but if not, I hope they get to do all the beginning of the year stuff. Even more than that, I hope CLASSES are in person.
My son is a current student, he should be UT23 but he is going to graduate in December 21 or May 22. He at least got a normal orientation and fall semester. I hope my incoming Longhorn will get to have the traditional experience.
That is so disappointing to hear that they are already planning for a virtual orientation, 5 months from now. I wonder what this means for the prospect of UT having mostly virtual classes again this upcoming Fall : -(
UT has already told faculty that they have to be in residence for the fall, so I’m hopeful that they’ll be back on campus. My freshman has made the most of it this year, but college is too short to not get to experience it fully!
Unfortunately it’s only 3 months until orientations usually start and tons of planning so they probably had to make a decision now to make those arrangements. Orientation in person is a huge undertaking with thousands of people that come in so it is understandable albeit unfortunate that it’s not going to be in person.
@ eliorsinclair, I don’t know if my son can stay in honor housing since he didn’t get accepted by honor programs. I will call admission office to see if that is possible. If so, that will be great! My son is all state XC runner, he likes to read, eat healthy, programming, and exercise.
I hate that my incoming Longhorn won’t get the full orientation experience but at this point I just hope they have in-person classes instead of the online experience that my son has had this year.
Does anyone know the AP credit transfer process and timeline? My senior is currently signing up for AP exams and he can take it late May or early June with score release date being mid-July and August respectively, and I suspect both will be too late for the class registration. Or can he send in the score afterwards or does he need the official AP score in order to register/skip certain classes? Can anyone shed some insight? Thanks!
Yes they generally take 3’s or better but their process is that you need to “claim” your credits and pay for them. They charge $10/hour you claim. If doesn’t matter for orientation because freshman basically register together but for second semester you want to have claimed them because you register based on the number of hours you have. Make sure your student goes through it with their advisor during orientation though. As it turned out my daughter had either 6 or 10 hours of AP Spanish credit (can’t remember how many) that she didn’t need so he told her not to bother claiming them because it would just be a waste of money. Also if you earn a certain score on the ACT/SAT English (or it may be the writing) you can get credit for the first English class also. Make sure all dual credit and AP scores are sent. Scores for tests taken this year aren’t available until mid July usually so if you go through orientation beforehand you’re just making a prediction for those classes. Ok the UT website you can see the claim credit process and on your own Ut direct page you can find the info unique to yourself.
My son is on the leadership team for Orientation Advisors and they have NOT made the decision yet if orientation will be virtual or in person. I told him what you posted about Plan II and he said maybe that was for their orientation or their part of orientation. Who knows? If the past year has taught us anything, it is to be adaptive bc things can change in an instant…
Can you claim them at any time? So let’s say, hypothetically, your daughter had changed majors after freshman year and the new major required foreign language, could she then opt to claim the AP credits?
They said it was just decided. They said it twice. Maybe it hasn’t trickled down to your son yet but we were told we would be meeting with advisors virtually. My DC has a zoom meeting for CNS Deans/HSS/PS on Friday. I will ask him/her to ask if it’s in person and see what they say and post if he/she remembers to ask.