How important is it to take a full schedule

J

Justin HELPmomStocksPosts

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I completed NSI and orientation for UF. Next is NSO in late August. At school orientation I finalized my schedule. Right now this is my schedule.

-Chem 1 with lab (4 credits)
-Calc 2 (4 credits)
-Good life(required humanities class)(3 credits)
-SLS (Intro to college class)(1 credit)
-First naval science class (2 credits)

So that’s 14 credits which is in the clear. The UF NROTC website says you need to take at-least 12 credits NOT counting NROTC classes a semester. Now here is my concern. General chemistry 1 is regarded as one of the hardest classes at UF with a very high failure rate. I took chem honors in high school but never a college level Chem class. UF offers an intro to Chem class that is 3 credits because it doesn’t have a lab. I tested right into general Chem 1 but they said it was my choice to skip intro to Chem or not. Also the test to skip intro to Chem was a joke because it was just some algebra questions with no Chem questions so I don’t think that accurately portrayed my knowledge.

I figure I’ll just skip it and do my best because they let you fall back into intro to Chem after the first test. If I fail the first test or find that I’m really struggling I could drop down to intro to Chem but then I would only be at 13 credits , 11 not including NROTC.

Could I count some of the college classes I passed in high school for my first semester. I would still graduate on time taking 13 credits.

I’m going into college with ENC1101, ENC1102 and Calc 1 completed. Plus some other random college classes and I already have 15-20 credits. Is their flexibility? I just want to plan for the worst Incase I need to drop down to intro to Chem.
 
This is a question for your chain of command, not random folks on SAF who may or may not know anything about UF ROTC. This is important enough for you to have a direct discussion with the people who matter.
 
FYI, universities require 12 credits to be considered full time. Anything less than 12, you are in jeopardy of losing ANY aid that is offered to you. My DD learned the hard way to not take the bare minimum because if you decide to drop a class that takes you below the 12, you have to run around trying to find something to get you over that 12 threshold.
 
Don't overload but take as heavy a load as you can. Hopefully this will drop the number of credit hours you need to take later when you have significant NROTC leadership duties that require your scarcest resource... TIME.
 
jaglvr said:
FYI, universities require 12 credits to be considered full time. Anything less than 12, you are in jeopardy of losing ANY aid that is offered to you. My DD learned the hard way to not take the bare minimum because if you decide to drop a class that takes you below the 12, you have to run around trying to find something to get you over that 12 threshold.
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But I’m pretty sure ROTC classes count towards total credits in the eyes of schools and financial aid.
 
Per our guidelines from Naval Service Training Command, Midshipmen are required to take 15-18 credit hours which includes Naval Science Courses. Typically in any semester, a Mid is taking one NavSCI Class which is either 3 credits on its own or it is 2 credits and then a leadership lab counts as 1 credit.

There are allowances for taking fewer, which includes a formal Degree Completion Plan signed off by your Freshman NROTC advisor. As others have stated, this is not something you should be basing financial aid or scholarship decisions on the internet forums, although the folks here are certainly experienced and know what they are saying.

At the end of the day, you have an advisor who is duty bound to look out for your interests and keep you in fair water for your scholarship.
 
GWU PNS said:
At the end of the day, you have an advisor who is duty bound to look out for your interests and keep you in fair water for your scholarship.
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Follow the advice of someone in an actual position of authority, such as @GWU PNS. 😉

Also consider this: ROTC scholarships are meant to cover, at most, four full years. That means eight semesters or 12 quarters. So if you don’t carry an adequate number of units, you may find yourself graduating — and commissioning — behind schedule, and paying for any extra terms out of your own pocket, e.g. summer school.

There are exceptions to this, as DS has experience of. He worked with his ROTC academic advisor and chain of command to plot his STEM degree’s requirements. It’s a very demanding load. They approved an extra quarter for him (I believe, covered by campus-based funds) so he knows he has some buffer if necessary. But he’s still loading up, and he’s taking a course this summer that we’re paying for. I would NOT count on this exception.
 
Just a forewarning. I've had 2 DS go through this. Depending on your major, as mentioned above, between 15 to 18 credit hours minimum. Because of labs, both my sons with Engineering degrees had semesters with overload approvals carrying 21 credit hours. They only needed 12 credit hours last semester senior year but carried the 15 anyway and picked up a class that interested them.
 
Justin HELPmomStocksPosts said:
I completed NSI and orientation for UF. Next is NSO in late August. At school orientation I finalized my schedule. Right now this is my schedule.

-Chem 1 with lab (4 credits)
-Calc 2 (4 credits)
-Good life(required humanities class)(3 credits)
-SLS (Intro to college class)(1 credit)
-First naval science class (2 credits)

So that’s 14 credits which is in the clear. The UF NROTC website says you need to take at-least 12 credits NOT counting NROTC classes a semester. Now here is my concern. General chemistry 1 is regarded as one of the hardest classes at UF with a very high failure rate. I took chem honors in high school but never a college level Chem class. UF offers an intro to Chem class that is 3 credits because it doesn’t have a lab. I tested right into general Chem 1 but they said it was my choice to skip intro to Chem or not. Also the test to skip intro to Chem was a joke because it was just some algebra questions with no Chem questions so I don’t think that accurately portrayed my knowledge.

I figure I’ll just skip it and do my best because they let you fall back into intro to Chem after the first test. If I fail the first test or find that I’m really struggling I could drop down to intro to Chem but then I would only be at 13 credits , 11 not including NROTC.

Could I count some of the college classes I passed in high school for my first semester. I would still graduate on time taking 13 credits.

I’m going into college with ENC1101, ENC1102 and Calc 1 completed. Plus some other random college classes and I already have 15-20 credits. Is their flexibility? I just want to plan for the worst Incase I need to drop down to intro to Chem.
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Are you sure that the naval science class is only two credits? Do you have a lab for an additional credit with that class?
 
If memory serves me correctly, Freshman year naval class might have been 2 credits, but all others were 3 credit hrs.
 
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