Hi, I am attending UA in Fall 2024 as a recruited athlete. I am still looking for academic rigor and majoring in Computer Science.
I was thinking about applying for UFE among other programs within the Honors College but am torn due to not knowing what the time commitment will look like when I will already have a large portion of my time taken up for my sport.
Does anyone have experience in UFE or Randall Research with opinions and can help me gauge how much time out of a week I would spending for said program?
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Don’t have experience with UF program but son is an EPIC scholar, in freshman forum and just got accepted into emerging research scholars program.
Being a recruited athlete and CS major are already two pretty heavy commitments. My suggestion would be to see how things play out 1-2 semesters before loading your plate with more. I recommend Freshman Forum as a pretty low key activity. EPIC and Randall (@Gatormama) require formal coursework and essays etc.
There is plenty of academic rigor in CS and associated coursework.
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Congrats to your kid, @1dadinNC - that’s awesome!!!
I can’t speak to UF or EPIC - can speak to Blount. It’s a heavy-duty commitment with weekly essays that require a lot of time. That lessens after freshman year, I have read.
My kid is flat out. He has 16 credit hours (4 of which are Blount courses), no “easy” courses at all. He is working 25 hours p/week. He’s in a musical thing, a student govt. thing, and a couple of other things. He says the homework load is intense, and despite thinking he was on top of time management, he is discovering that there is more to learn and apply there. He says he’s exhausted all the time.
I’m not sure that’s very reassuring, lol. I think the key is time management, and upping your game on whatever you had figured out in high school. It most certainly can be done, but your recruited athlete status might make things harder, for sure.
My son is part of the UA UFE program and its been fantastic. The time commitment consists of classes (for your minor) which satify all of the Honors credit requirements. He doesn’t have to take any of the traditional Honors corses but still will graduate with Honors via UFE. There are some functions that he has to attend but they are primarily at night and don’t conflict with his classes. He’s on the rowing team as well and has had no issues. It’s a great program and an automatic solid group of friends via his cohort which some UA students struggle to find if not in a frat and don’t hit it off with their roomates. First year has a trip to central Alabama after school in the summer (3 weeks) to do service work and Juniors go to Cuba during the summer before SR year. Other than that, no real time impact.
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You can feel free to message me. My daughter checks several of the same boxes as you - D1 athlete, Randall Research Scholar, and a Computer Science major.
Randall Research was not too much a time commitment freshman year. It was 4 classes per week. Research is optional freshmen year. After freshmen year, the RRS class meets once per week, and there is an expectation of an additional 5-10 hours per week of research. Some students will do more.
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Did you apply? If so did you interview as a semi-finalist? My DS did and he really enjoyed the interview! Curious if anyone else was selected as semi-finalist? Does anyone knows when they will notify about finalists?
My daughter interviewed as a semi-finalist. She really enjoyed the Fellows that she met with. I read that in years past they have been notified in the beginning of February as to whether they are a finalist and invited to the weekend.
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Hi! Son is an UFE Finalist. Finalist Weekend starts tomorrow. Any advice or intel to share? Thanks!
Just tell him to be himself and talk to as many current fellows as possible. Current fellows have a big say in the acceptances. If he’s there he already meets the academic standards and there is nothing to prove in that respect. They want people who fit/ad to their diverse backgrounds and will contribute to their mission. Regardless of your personal beliefs be likeable and respectful of others and genuinely try to connect your host and as many others as possible. He’ll do great.
Any insight on the rest of the timeline?
I know they have their final interview today. So what happens next? How long until they find out if they are a part of the program?
Is there anything they have to do before the fall semester starts? Early move-in?
This is so exciting and so hard not knowing what is going on ;-).
Appreciate any info!
Congrats to all on making it this far!
If I recall, invitations went out my the end of March. Takes a couple weeks for them to make decisions. Don’t expect any scholarship info with those invites. They want to see who accepts then awards went out for academic elite. That’s how it worked for us anyway. Mine accepted and paid the enrollment deposit and then we got the good news about academic elite a couple days later.
Good luck! It’s a tremendous achievement just to be invited to the interview weekend. It’s a fantastic program and a really good group of kids.
Thanks for all this intel! Son LOVED UFE Weekend. Seriously… crazy loved it. I think he would withdraw himself from the only 2 other schools to which he applied if he is chosen for UFE. I wish I could telegraph that to the team.
Also-- wish we’d found this message board months ago!!
And the other 2 schools are Vandy and Davidson… Son loves UFE group so much more than those opportunities. If only we moms could advocate for them!!
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Thank you so much for taking the time to respond!
It’s going to be a long few weeks waiting! 
My son had a such a wonderful experience this past weekend. He was impressed with everyone he met which fueled his desire even more to be a part of this program. I think he was disappointed for the weekend to end. We have had such a great experience with UA, this was just icing on the cake.
Good luck to all!
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Huge thanks to the expert moms on this thread for your advice and counsel!
Echo comments above for son and for us on wonderful experience and being super impressed with UA. My son has had a great high school experience but the re-entry post UFE and RRS Finalist weekends was recognizable. He’s mentally shifting to undergrad already…
Praying and hoping for great news for our son and yours!
PS, we need to follow-up on UA rowing! Son is a varsity sprinter. 6A in Alabama which means he competes against future SEC running backs (to be fair, he’s running same events but not actually competing again them…). Sprinters are largely upper body focused. He might love rowing!! I bet UA, D1 rowing is crazy competitive??
Ignore email above! UA has womens’ rowing team/crew but not mens’. I’m old enough to remember Rob Lowe in “Oxford Blues…”
UA has a club rowing team for the men, but rowing for the women is D1.
My DS just got his emailed acceptance to Fellows!
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Congratulations!