<p>Is anyone familiar with the process of applying to UA’s university scholars program? I’m currently an English major and I would like to apply to the USP in English. Who should I contact or meet with to apply to the program?</p>
<p>Each participating department has a designated person who advises/coordinates the department’s University Scholars program. Call or visit the department’s offices to speak with them about specific requirements. Some departments require GRE/GMAT scores and all appear to require a formal application for admission including a statement of purpose.</p>
<p>If you plan on earning a PhD in English, be aware that you may have to repeat some courses if you attend a PhD program in the US as the first 1-2 years of PhD programs are typically the same as those required for a master’s degree. UK and Canadian universities operate slightly differently in that students who’ve already obtained a master’s degree in the same or a related subject may be able to enter directly into the PhD program without having to take 1-2 years of master’s level courses at that specific university.</p>
<p>Sea_tide, my S is a CS major who was just accepted in the University Scholars Program. I know you have mentioned that in order to keep your undergraduate scholarship, you should make sure that you leave one course for your undergraduate requirement uncompleted. S will have everything for his CS major done after this semester except his capstone senior class. He also had declared a double major in math. If he is double-majoring, do you know if he completes his Capstone class next Fall, he would still be considered an undergraduate because he would still have math classes required. I know he should ask his counselor, but we have had a disagreement about this (he wanted to take that last class this semester but I made him drop it) so I wanted to know what you thought. Thanks for any input you have. (Plus I don’t know if he can complete his double-major when in University scholars so this is a concern too…I don’t want him to lose the scholarship.)</p>
<p>If you plan on earning a PhD in English, be aware that you may have to repeat some courses if you attend a PhD program in the US as the first 1-2 years of PhD programs are typically the same as those required for a master’s degree.</p>
<p>SEA_Tide…is that what you’ve found? We didn’t find that. I don’t know how common that is. Many people get masters and then get a PhD w/o having to repeat courses.</p>
<p>However, I can tell you this…at some univs, they will offer a class with the same name, but it will be such a different course that you will have to retake it. This isn’t super common, but it does happen.</p>
<p>Usually, when you begin a PhD program, you meet individually with a panel and they go over your transcript and discuss what you still need to take or review. I don’t think that they often make you retake courses that are “the same” as what they offer (unless the courses truly aren’t the same or you feel that you need a review).</p>
<p>Do the University Scholars programs ever come with tuition scholarship money to cover the extra year?</p>
<p>^^^
I don’t know, but that would be department-dependent. Usually, depts don’t offer money for masters programs. Money is usually for PhD students. However, I think the STEM to MBA program does offer funding for that extra year.</p>
<p>Please someone explain the reserving 1class issue to keep/use scholarship. I don’t understand.</p>
<p>^^ The scholarship covers 8 semesters of undergrad. If you complete your undergrad studies in 6 or 7 semesters, you can’t use your Presidential Scholarship to fund a semester or two of grad work. However, if you haven’t completed your undergrad yet (i.e., you have an undergrad course left to take to satisfy your requirements and get your diploma), you can take graduate courses as part of the University Scholars program using the scholarship. And you graduate with the bachelors/masters degree at the same time.</p>
<p>Beth’s mom…</p>
<p>do you REALLY have to reserve a REQUIREMENT for each semester…or can you just take ANY undergrad class (an elective, for instance) for those last semesters? </p>
<p>What is the rule? Is the rule that you have to take at least one undergrad class (of any sort) for each semester?</p>
<p>If so, then I would still finish the req’ts, and then either take more classes in the major or take electives.</p>
<p>and where are the rules written?</p>
<p>As it was explained to me a couple years ago, you have to still be an undergraduate. Whether you can put off graduation even though you’ve satisfied all the requirements, I don’t know, but for any other purpose with the scholarship you can. SEA_Tide probably knows this, as he’s been through the program. I haven’t worried about it because my D, if she goes through University Scholars, will still have at least one BS graduation requirement in her 8th semester.</p>
<p>I know Sea_Tide has brought this up that you cannot earn your undergraduate degree or your scholarship does not cover the graduate classes. I remember him saying that he actually walked in the graduation ceremony for his undergrad degree and then a couple hours later walked in the graduation ceremony for his masters degree. Now if you are going for a double degree, I don’t know how the university might handle the scholarship if you finish one but are still working on the other. Also what if you plan to double major but because of the challenges of your graduate degree classes, you end up not getting that second major. I am a little confused but will do whatever we have to to keep that scholarship for all four years.</p>
<p>I read somewhere a while ago (although I haven’t a clue where it was) that if you weren’t an undergraduate anymore there are some teaching assistant and research assistant positions available that would provide some funding. I’m not sure if that’s the case in all departments - I would have been looking at econ/finance.</p>
<p>* I remember him saying that he actually walked in the graduation ceremony for his undergrad degree and then a couple hours later walked in the graduation ceremony for his masters degree*</p>
<p>I was at his graduation since my son graduated as well at the same ceremony. The above happened because of the evening’s schedule…they had all the grads in the room, they did all the grad degrees first, and then did the undergrads. So, the way his graduation happened was because of the school’s schedule, not because of any rule that had to do with his Univ Scholars program. </p>
<p>It was ONE ceremony that lasted a couple of hours…first grads went up, then undergrads. </p>
<p>I’d like to find out what the rule really is. </p>
<p>One one hand, it may be that you have to always take at least 1 credit of undergrad classes during every semester…regardless of whether that one credit is “needed” for the undergrad degree. </p>
<p>Or, it may be that you have to have a “req’d undergrad class” for every semester that you have a grad class (this seems odd, but may be so.)</p>
<p>Knowing UA, while one might officially need to have at least one course left in any of their declared majors/minors/specializations in order to take graduate classes on an undergraduate scholarship, one can’t graduate with a degree unless they fill out the required paperwork in time. One is an undergraduate until they graduate from an undergraduate degree program or are a really special case such as some MBA students (not at UA) who do not have an undergraduate degree. University Scholars and Stem MBA students are undergraduates until they graduate with a bachelor’s degree, meaning that Stem MBA students may be graduate students during their 5th year if they already graduated with a bachelor’s degree.</p>
<p>One does not need to take an undergraduate class each semester if they have an undergraduate scholarship. University Scholars typically take 5 and 6 courses during their second to last and final semesters, respectively. More and more students are entering the University Scholars program during their junior year and some are entering during their sophomore year, all with senior standing. For very few students with strong aptitude or lots of transfer credits, they could begin taking graduate courses during the second semester of their freshman year. The latter only seems to happen in the math and physics departments however.</p>
<p>As long as one has been admitted into a graduate program at UA as an undergraduate, UA’s merit scholarships will pay for any UA courses for which the department teaching the course will allow the student to enroll. For example, I took an MBA course and could’ve easily took graduate courses in engineering and law. IIRC, both momreads’s son and I were looking to attend UA’s law school part time during our final semesters at UA.</p>
<p>I know someone at UA who is completing the second year of his master’s degree on a UA graduate fellowship after completing the first year as a university scholar and numerous other students who are completing master’s degrees with graduate fellowships.</p>
<p>Having looked at many PhD programs, I was told that I would have to retake most of my master’s level courses if my master’s and PhD were in the same subject as most universities will only transfer a few graduate level courses unless they allow PhD students to take classes at another institution (such dual enrollment programs are commonly offered in Canada and France). UA only accepts 2-3 graduate courses for transfer credit and they transfer on a pass/fail basis. One of my graduate courses was taken during my summer study “abroad” in Reno and transferred fine to UA after an awkward conversation explaining that Nevada is part of the US and that foreign transfer credit requirements do not apply.</p>
<p>As I live close to the Canadian border and spend time in both countries, I’ve spent some time researching Canadian graduate programs. Looking at the websites, it seems that most students apply to a master’s degree program and then apply for the PhD program while master’s degree students. Students with master’s degrees can often apply directly to the PhD programs and are can jointly attend another university, while earning one degree from the Canadian university. The graduate student union contracts at UBC, UToronto, and possibly McGill set higher pay rates for those with master’s degrees. US universities with unionized grad students (the University of California System, the University of Washington, and some other universities) don’t appear to publish pay rates.</p>
<p>As for graduation, UA’s ceremonies start with graduate students. I asked and was permitted to walk twice wearing both undergraduate and graduate attire with a master’s degree robe. If UA permitted flower leis, I would’ve worn one as well. The registrar’s office was not aware that leis are an important graduation tradition in parts of the US.</p>
<p>Officially, all students graduate at 12:00:01 am local time the Saturday after finals end. Graduation ceremonies are scheduled over two days to accommodate the large number of graduates and their guests.</p>