Jumpstart Bama Bound: What to Know
Before Your Go
Dr. Robert Hayes and Cindy Channell
Student Services Center
Good evening, everyone, and on behalf of the College of Arts and Sciences, welcome to the
webinar for first-year students on your way to Bama Bound. We’re so glad that you joined us this
evening. We will be recording tonight’s presentation, and we will share that with you as a later
time as well. I am Dr. Robert Hayes. I’m Assistant Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences. I’m
glad that you’re with us tonight.
I’m Cindy Channell. I’m an academic advisor with the College of Arts and Sciences, and I will be
with you tonight as well. Thank you, and welcome.
The College’s first-year advising center has developed this training to help you gain the
information necessary to make informed decisions about course selection when you come to
Bama Bound Orientation. Often, our first-year students feel overwhelmed by all the information
they receive during Bama Bound, and we hope to alleviate some of the pressure that you may feel
to make decisions that can impact your college career. We hope that you’ll gain valuable
information from this brief training, so please feel free to chat questions at any point during the
presentation. Now, let’s get this party started.
Before you come to Bama Bound, there are several steps you want to take to make the registration
process go as smoothly as possible. Go ahead and update your emergency contact information on
myBama. Make sure that you have requested College Board and IB organization to send AP and
IB scores directly to UA. The University will not pick up these exam scores from your high school
transcript. Also, if you participated in dual enrollment, you will need an official transcript from the
college you attended. Your high school counselor is not responsible for having this sent. These are
considered transfer credits and will not be picked up on the high school transcript at all. Keep in
mind you can earn up to 60 hours from AP, IP, CLEP or dual enrollment credits if you have good
scores. If you plan to participate in any special programs like the ones listed, make sure you
complete the applications for those. They can often be found on the UA website, so in the interest
of time, we will not talk about those now. If you require academic accommodations because of a
disability, please register with the Office of Disability Services. Our faculty are happy to provide
accommodations, but they can only do so if you provide communication from ODS. Freshmen
are required to live on campus with a few exceptions, and you should have already set that up. But
if you haven’t, go ahead and do that as soon as possible and certainly before you come to Bama
Bound. Not having proof of immunization may prevent you from registering, so make sure you
have that with you.
Take any necessary placement assessments before you come. UA places students in their first
mathematics course based on either prior math, ACT/SAT scores, or the online math skills
assessment. If you are unhappy with your placement, you can choose to the math skills
assessment. Otherwise, you don’t need that. If you want to take a math skills assessment, you must
take it online at least a week prior to orientation. Just visit http://www.testing.ua.edu for details
on that. We do highly recommend taking math your first semester, but if you choose not to do
that, assessments are valid for one year from the completion date. If you have more than two high
school units of French, German, Spanish, or Latin, you should plan to take a foreign language
assessment. Placement in advanced-level courses can get you sometimes up to 10 hours of credit
depending what you place into. You can see the online undergraduate catalog for details at
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Jumpstart Bama Bound: What to Know
Before Your Go
Dr. Robert Hayes and Cindy Channell
Student Services Center
https://catalog.ua.edu/. Please do not try to take a lower class than your score places you into
regardless of how you feel about those results. The placement test accurately measures your
current knowledge of that language, and taking a lower level course quite frankly might make you
a little frustrated, which then can lead to poor performance, and we certainly don’t want that. If
you have prior credit in a foreign language and want to keep studying that language, talk to your
advisor about placement. You can also visit the website for modern languages and classics for
more information, and you can see the address listed there.
If you’re planning to participate in musical theatre, dance, or music programs, you must be
admitted to those majors through an audition process. The Department of Theatre and Dance
conducts the dance auditions, the musical theatre auditions, and the acting, design, and technical
theatre scholarship auditions. The School of Music holds auditions for the music major and minor
programs. If you have missed these auditions, please contact the School of Music or the
Department of Theatre and Dance. Those are some things to do to make sure everything goes
smoothly before you come to orientation. More than likely, you’ve already had some information
from Admissions or other campus offices about these processes, but we just wanted to remind
you of those.
Many of you are children of alumni and know all about UA and how it works, but we’re going to
assume for just a moment that you’re brand new and know very little. You need to know we’re
part of the University of Alabama System Office, which is governed by the University of Alabama
Board of Trustees. The system is headed by a chancellor, currently Dr. Robert Witt, who is a
former UA president. The UA system is comprised of three separate institutions that have own
curriculum and each have their own administration. It includes the University of Alabama at
Birmingham, commonly referred to as UAB; the University of Alabama in Huntsville, sometimes
referred to as UAH; and then there’s us, The University of Alabama, sometimes referred to as
“the Capstone” but never as UAT. You will notice that the proper spelling of The University of
Alabama has a capital T in the word the. That’s because it’s the state’s flagship university, or the
first university. The Capstone is actually a nickname for UA that was coined by a former
president, G.H. Denny, when in 1913 he referred to the University as “the capstone of the public
school system of the state.”
You’re enrolling in the College of Arts and Sciences, which is one of eight undergraduate
divisions, or colleges, at UA, and we have seven different types of degrees. They’re listed here and
abbreviated, but the BA is the Bachelor of Arts. You’re got the BS, the Bachelor of Science. The
BFA, the Bachelor of Fine Arts. The BM, the Bachelor of Music. You’ve got the BCH, which is
the Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. You have the Bachelor of Science in Geology, the BSG.
And lastly here, the Bachelor of Science in Microbiology, the BMB.
The College has 22 academic departments and 40 majors, including an interdisciplinary major that
allows you to design your own curriculum through New College. If you can’t find a major that
suits your needs, you submit a proposal to the faculty in New College, and you design your own.
There are 75 different minor options available, and again, we have an option for students who
want to design their perfect minor, the student designed minor through New College. Some of the
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Jumpstart Bama Bound: What to Know
Before Your Go
Dr. Robert Hayes and Cindy Channell
Student Services Center
minors are outside of the College, but all of that works together. You can find complete
information on all of our departments on our website at as.ua.edu.
All new students are required to go through Bama Bound Orientation, which is a one-stop shop to
become prepared to start your college journey. You registered for either a one-day express
orientation or a two-day full orientation session. Now whether you come to a one-day or a twoday orientation, you’ll have two college visits as a part of your itinerary, and you must attend both.
There will be many activities on your agenda, and because the plate is so full, you may be tempted
to skip one here or there, but let me tell give you the inside scoop: you must attend the academic
sessions because these are the important pieces, after which you will have a schedule and truly be a
student at The University of Alabama.
Let’s talk a little bit about College visit #1. College visit #1 is open to you, your parents, your
siblings, and your guests that come with you to orientation. Pay close attention to all the
information that’s presented through the video and the advising packet that will be distributed to
you upon your arrival. An advisor will help the group complete the registration worksheet and
give instructions on how to develop a course schedule for the summer or fall semester. After the
advisor gives instructions for planning the schedule, you’ll have to meet with some of the staff.
There will be plenty Avantis that are milling around the room.
Now, Avantis are orientation student staff assigned to the College of Arts and Sciences. You’ll be
with someone from this group throughout the day when you’re at Bama Bound. They’re the
people to ask about general information. They can help you with the orientation itinerary, the
schedule of events that are happening that day, where to turn in your different forms like
immunization forms, where to get your parking pass for parking on campus, etc. They can also
help with scheduling classes by helping you find your meeting times and building locations,
describing their experiences with course content, those types of things.
There will be another type of student assistant there. They’re called peer advisors. They are
students in the College of Arts and Sciences who are trained to answer basic questions about our
general education and course content. They help all the Bama Bounders, just like yourself, with
developing a suitable schedule and help direct you to the appropriate academic advisor.
Now neither of these first two that we’ve mentioned, the Avantis or the peer advisors, are experts
in curriculum, but that’s where we get to the fun part: your academic advisors. They’ll be available
to you during orientation. These personnel are full-time professional advisors employed by the
College that help students with questions about general education, the major, the minor, and core
requirements. They are the experts in our curriculum. Pre-health students, pre-law and general
advisors will all be available to answer any questions you may have regarding general requirements
and pre-requisites, so if you’re heading to law school or medical school, you’ll be able to network
and engage with our advisors who support those programs directly. And for those of you who are
majoring in specific fields or are maybe undecided, you’ll also be able to have access to personnel
who are trained and equipped to help you get on the right foot and make it through your college
experience at Alabama.
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Jumpstart Bama Bound: What to Know
Before Your Go
Dr. Robert Hayes and Cindy Channell
Student Services Center
Now, some departments will also send a few faculty advisors to join us and join the fun with
College visit #1. These faculty advisors will be available to answer specific questions about your
intended major. You should transition to a faculty advisor after your first year at Alabama, and we
will help you and facilitate that process. After the video presentation during the first visit and after
we complete the worksheet to get us in line and get us ready for registration, at the following visit,
you’ll be able to talk with an advisor one-on-one, and they’ll answer any questions that you still
may have after that time.
During College visit #2, students meet in a large computer lab. Only students are allowed in the
lab, so you should have any conversations with your family about courses before you get to
College visit #2. The more prepared you are before you get to the lab, the better because you
cannot use your cellphone in the lab. Sorry about that. You will schedule your own courses
through your myBama account with the assistance of peer advisors and Avantis. 12 hours is full
time. Extra tuition is charged per hour for any hours over 15, so just remember 12-15. You need
to take at least 15, maybe 16 hours per semester if you want to graduate in four years. Believe me,
you can absolutely graduate in four years and not go to summer school if you take the right
courses and pass them, of course, and take the 15-16 hours. We often hear students say, “I’m
rushing, so I want to take a light load. I don’t want to take 15 hours.” Well, okay, that’s fine, but
realize that if you want to graduate in 4 years, you’re setting yourself up to have to attend summer
school if you only take 12 hours. Otherwise, you will be here more than four years. Do the math.
120 hours minimum are required. If you attend just fall and spring for four years, that’s 8
semesters, so that’s 15 hours per semester. Students can register for up to 18 hours per semester
without special permission if they’re willing to pay extra, but we do not recommend that for firstyear students. Some students may need to because they’re in special programs, but otherwise,
don’t do that. After you register with the help of Avantis and peer advisors, you will check out
with an advisor to make sure you are registered for at least 12, maybe up to 16 hours. You may or
may not see your assigned College advisor this time, but that’s okay. If you are not registered full
time or if you have scheduled some inappropriate courses, the advisor will send you back out to
the computer lab to make some changes before you leave the facilities.
There will be advisors there to help you, but you want to have an idea of what to take before you
come to Bama Bound. If you know your major, you can go to the majors website and see a
schedule for fall. If you don’t have a major yet, you will focus on core requirements, which we will
discuss in greater detail when you’re here. If you’re on a pre-health track, you need to visit the prehealth website at http://www.prehealth.ua.eduand view the pathway guides to see the courses you
need. But in general, I recommend a plan as follows: Freshman Composition, whatever math you
placed into, a natural science or foreign language, but only because you want to get in 16 hours if
you can. Most of the foreign languages are four hours, and all of the natural sciences have a lab,
which means they will be four hours, but before taking math or a language or even a natural
science, check out the ancillary courses for your major to see if it requires specific courses for
those categories. And then you want to schedule a fine arts or humanities course and maybe a
social behavioral science course. Now, you want to take a course in your major instead one of the
fine arts, humanities, or social behavioral science if you know what your major is. So your primary
concern if you know what your major is is to take a major course. Otherwise, you’re focusing on
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Jumpstart Bama Bound: What to Know
Before Your Go
Dr. Robert Hayes and Cindy Channell
Student Services Center
core. A lot of courses can count in the major and for the core, so you kill two birds with one stone
as they say.
You register for your first semester at UA during Bama Bound, but during future semesters, you
will need to knowhow and when to register after an appointment with an advisor. Your advisor
will have to clear your alternate PIN or advising hold every semester, so you’ll have to see an
advisor every semester. You will receive an email from us telling you it’s time to make an
appointment. Please don’t put this off. Your time to register is predetermined, but try to see your
advisor as early as possible because appointments fill up really fast, and you don’t want to have to
be rushed through that process. The time that you register is based on the hours that you’ve
earned, so seniors always register before freshmen. You know all those hours of AP credit that
you have, and I know you guys are out there. You have all kinds of AP credit. Those credits are
going to allow you to register a little earlier than other freshmen, so that’s a really good thing. Be
sure to pay attention during Bama Bound when you have Avantis, peer advisors, and advisors
helping you register because, after that, you’re expected to register on your own for future
semesters. Advisors of course will advise you on the courses you need to select, but the actual
registration where you sit down at the computer, that’s all going to be on you.
All right, so one thing that’s really important is knowing your advisor. Going into college, you
really need to know the difference and think about the transition from a high school guidance
counselor and a college academic advisor. We’re going to talk a little bit about that at the time just
to help you be prepared. Guidance counselors communicate with you and your parents about
academic and other issues. Now academic advisors at the college level expect to communicate
directly with you, so it’s more advisor to student than advisor to parent. And we’re limited by
FERPA, which is a law regulating what information we can share with anyone other than you.
That’s something important to keep in mind. The more you keep the lines open with
communication with your parents the better, but if you want them to talk directly with your
advisor, then you’ll have to sign a FERPA waiver allowing them to do so and allowing our
advisors to share information directly about your academic record.
High school guidance counselors take care of the registration for you. In most cases, they register
you for your classes. Academic advisors only select the classes for which you will register for in
myBama. High school guidance counselors they counsel students for social and behavioral
problems. They conduct student aptitude assessment, and they help students complete scholarship
applications. Your FAFSA for financial aid. They help you with resumes and things like that.
Academic advisors, they can offer tips for increasing academic success. They can refer you to
other offices for assistance with applications and career counseling and personal counseling. In
short, the big transition piece is the responsibility factor, and a big portion of that shifts to you.
One other benefit of coming to a large institution like UA, we have different offices that cover
different things. So the career services office, also disability support services, and some of the
things that may have been kept in house in one guidance counselor’s office in high school, you’ll
notice that’s very different at Alabama. So you’ll become familiar with that process of referral.
A college advisor is a professional advisor assigned to you throughout your first year in the
College of Arts and Sciences. This college advisor helps you with registration during that freshman
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Jumpstart Bama Bound: What to Know
Before Your Go
Dr. Robert Hayes and Cindy Channell
Student Services Center
year and helps you become familiar with the policies, UA procedures and degree requirements.
The College advisor can also be a resource throughout your time at UA. Now we mentioned
before that we’ll have faculty advisors with us at orientation. One good thing about that is it will
give you a glimpse into your experience beyond the first year because once you define your major,
or once you move beyond that first year at Alabama, you’ll transition to working with your major
advisor, and your major advisor is a faculty member working within your department assigned to
you after that first year when you declare your major. The major or faculty advisor, however you
refer to them, will help you with registration beyond that first year and help you with degree
planning, grad school preparation, internships, referrals, undergraduate research and the like.
So, more about knowing your advisor: You need to know when to see an advisor and how to
connect with him or her. Find your advisor anytime you need assistance or are having difficulties
that you experience in your classes or just having trouble in general. Or if you need to know who
to go to for help with matters that aren’t academic. Again, our advisors are specialists in referring
students to the appropriate areas on campus for support. So come into the advising office to
discuss academic difficulty or issues with your courses, get advice from an advisor about dropping
a course before the deadline, especially if you’re endanger of involuntary separation, which is also
known as academic suspension, or if you have a lower GPA that pops up after the first term, and
so forth. Come to the office if you need to take care of different record keeping issues such as
adding a course or auditing a course, which is observing a course and participating without
receiving a grade at the end. We advise first year students for registration practically all semester.
We prefer to see you by appointment and have an online appointment system that allows you to
make them several weeks in advance, but things that cannot wait for an appointment, we also
offer Ask an Advisor hours everyday. So make a habit of reviewing DegreeWorks to see what
progress you’re making toward your degree. Also check DegreeWorks for any errors and come in
and see an advisor when you need support along your way.
We cannot express enough the fact that you are responsible for your own progress toward your
degree, so you need to become very familiar with your degree program and requirements. Don’t
freak out if these seem like a lot of rules. You don’t have to remember right not. Just know that
they exist, and you can look them up in the catalog and on DegreeWorks. The undergraduate
catalog is online at https://catalog.ua.edu/. First of all, make sure you know the type of degree
you are getting. We’ve talked about those already. Know the requirements for your division, which
is Arts and Sciences. If you change out of Arts and Sciences, be aware that a new school means
new rules, so keep that in mind. In general, all of our degrees require a minimum of 120 hours.
You must have 90 hours in Arts and Sciences discipline courses. There is a list in the catalog, but
most students meet this without even knowing it. 36 hours at the upper level. These are the 300or 400-level courses that you take including the ones that you take for the major and minor. You
have residency requirements you have to meet, residency meaning on the UA campus and not
transferred in. Advisors can answer questions you have about any of these rules, so don’t fret
about that. Just know they do exist.
If you end up making bad grades your first semester, that is below a 2.0, make sure you know the
scholastic progress standard so you can avoid involuntary separation. There are two types. The
first is first term suspension. In this case, you will have to sit out for one semester. The next type
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Jumpstart Bama Bound: What to Know
Before Your Go
Dr. Robert Hayes and Cindy Channell
Student Services Center
of involuntary separation is indefinite. This means you are out for good. You can plead your case
to come back after you have been out for a whole year, but chances are, you will not win the
appeal without extreme extenuating circumstances. Just make sure that you keep up with things
and that you do the best that you can, and I know that you will.
I mentioned this when we talked about scheduling with a promise to come back to it, but all UA
students must meet general education, also known as core curriculum requirements. In the College
of Arts and Sciences, students must meet the following: 6 hours of freshman composition. Most
students will start in English 101 in the fall and take English 102 in the spring. Some students will
have AP, IB, or dual enrollment credit for EN 101 and can skip English the first semester. Some
will place into English 103 based on their ACT or SAT scores. If you have a high ACT or SAT
score, please let your advisor know about this. Some will take English 104 if they’re in the Blount
program, and you find more information about the Blount program online as well. Students who
do well in 103 or 104 will receive placement credit for English 101 when they finish that first
English, so you practically end up getting 6 hours if you start out in English 103 or English 104. 48 hours in foreign language or computer science are required. UA requires 1-year proficiency in a
single foreign language, which is technically 8 hours for most languages or, unless your major
requires foreign language, you can substitute computer science. Students can either take a full year,
101 and 102, of a single foreign language. Some may be eligible to take 103 of a language or a
higher placement. If you decide to substitute the computer science, you will earn more than 8
hours because you’ll take CS 102, plus 6 more hours in C designated courses. If you are proficient
in computers, ask your advisor about possibly bypassing the CS 102 because there is an
assessment exam for that class, and you can skip over it if you do really well. Some majors require
one over the other, either foreign language or computer science, so again, check the requirements
for your major to be sure of your options. For example, if you plan to major in international
studies or art history, you want to take the foreign language for sure. If you plan to major in math
or maybe you’re thinking of transferring to the business school, you want to take the computer
science route.
Students need 12 hours from the categories humanities, literature, or fine arts. Three of those
hours must be from fine arts. Three must be from literature, and of course, the literature you take
after you’ve had English 102. The remaining 6 hours must be humanities, literature, or fine arts.
Keep in mind that 201 and 202 of some of the languages count as humanities, so if you plan to
minor in a foreign language or if you place high in a foreign language, you may not need to plan
other humanities courses. Your advisor can help you with that. Oh, and by the way, if you score 4
on both the English language and the literature AP (some of you take both of those AP tests),
you’re credited with something called HU, which is a humanities credit and not literature. UA
doesn’t actually grant literature credit by examination, so just keep that in mind. You need 12
hours from the categories of history and social behavioral sciences, and three of these hours must
be from the history list. The remaining 9 hours must be chose from history and social behavioral
sciences. For those of you bringing in 12 hours of AP history, you need to know that a maximum
of 6 hours from history can count for core. The rest, of course, will count as electives. Of the 24
hours that I’ve just described, you must have a six-hour sequence in history or literature. Thus,
you will either take one literature and two histories or one history and two literatures. Those of
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Jumpstart Bama Bound: What to Know
Before Your Go
Dr. Robert Hayes and Cindy Channell
Student Services Center
you majoring in history, you’re going to meet that automatically. Those of you majoring in
English, you’re going to meet that sequence automatically, so nothing to worry about there.
The next category is natural sciences and mathematics. You need 11 hours total. Eight of these are
from natural sciences. That basically amounts to 2 natural sciences with labs. Most of our natural
sciences have labs built in, but others, like astronomy 101 and 102, have labs that must be
scheduled as a separate course. Each natural science will be 4 hours counting the lab. In general,
students do not have to complete a sequence in the natural sciences, so if you take geography one
semester, and you want to take biology the next, that’s okay as long as you know what your major
requires and your major doesn’t require a specific natural science. For example, psychology
requires biology, chemistry, or physics. Communicative disorders requires 1 biology core and
another from either chemistry or physics, so just be sure you check your major requirements to
avoid taking more natural sciences than you actually need. Now, if you’re on a pre-health track, we
advise that you will probably take more than one natural science at a time depending on your math
placement, if not in your first semester then in your semesters down the road. If you have AP
credit for sciences and you’re pre-health, talk with the pre-health advisor about the next course
you should take because there are certain rules related to that as well. Three hours of maths above
math 100 is required, so you might take Math 110 or Math 112 or higher to fulfill the core. It all
depends on your math placement. Keep in mind that some majors have specific math courses that
are required, so choose your math accordingly. If you’re getting a BS degree, you definitely are
going to need calculus, so you may have to take Math 112 and Math 113. It just depends on where
you start.
The last category of the core curriculum is writing. You need six hours or two courses of writing.
Now, as a freshman, you will not be concerned with taking W courses for a while, and don’t
confuse the writing requirement for freshmen composition or English. Writing courses or 300- or
400-level courses, typically taken in either the major or the minor, and each major has a course or
two you can choose from to fulfill the writing requirement. They’re not all English. All of the
general education courses, the attribute or the category, like humanities or fine arts or things like
that, that will be listed on the class schedule when you register so you can tell what those are.
You need to be familiar with your major and minor requirements. Most of our majors require 1012 courses. Minors typically require 6-7 courses. Almost all of our majors require a minor or
maybe a second major with a few exceptions, like biology and musical performance, for example.
There are some courses you must take in most majors, and some of the majors will let you choose
from ancillary courses or electives within the department. If you have an idea about your major,
you can sometimes choose ancillary courses for the general ed requirement. Don’t forget about
that. Ancillary courses that I just mentioned are required courses that support the objectives of the
major, but they’re not actually included in the major courses. They’re necessary for the degree, but
they’re not computed in the major GPA. For instance, the American studies major, it requires a
sequence in American history as ancillary, but those courses are not actually competed with the
American studies courses, and by the way, they would count for ancillary in American studies and
they would count for your humanities sequence, so that’s a good deal. Of course, you want to
have as high of a GPA as possible, but in order to graduate, you must have a 2.0 GPA.
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Jumpstart Bama Bound: What to Know
Before Your Go
Dr. Robert Hayes and Cindy Channell
Student Services Center
Then some majors have special requirements. For example, the criminal justice major and the
geography major require students to earn a C- or higher in all courses, so make sure you read the
catalog for your major. If you haven’t already, you need to declare a major soon, or you may not
have time to complete it and graduate in 4 years. You can do this on the student tab of your
myBama or one of our advisors can assist you. Now, don’t fret. It is common for students to
change their majors. If you’ve already changed yours, you know, I wouldn’t worry about that, but
you can’t change it or declare it during Bama Bound. So you want to go ahead and do that. Visit
the Admissions site and then follow the instructions for changing the major. You can declare a
minor later when you know what that is, but just realize that you need to declare that as well.
Now, please don’t try to work the system and you know what your major is but you don’t want to
tell your advisor because you don’t want to be locked into something. We often have students that
know they’re going to go into the business school, but they won’t tell their advisor. And then we
tell them to take things that they probably don’t necessarily need because they get the core
requirements in the major or sometimes the minor, so just be up front with your advisor and let
them know what you’re planning to do in the future. Be sure to allow room in your schedule for
any courses needed for specialized programs. For instance, if you’re in the honors program, plan
to take more hours per semester, and be aware that you can use some of those honors courses to
fulfill general ed requirements. Consult the honors college website for complete details about this.
The GBA courses required for the STEM program also count toward the honors requirement. So
keep that in mind. The BUI courses in the Blount program lead to a minor, as do the UFE
courses in the University Fellows program. Depending on the scholarship that you might have,
you will be covered for as many hours as you wish to take, so participating in any of these
programs pushes you over that 16 hours limit, but it probably is not going to cost you any more
tuition. Just check with your scholarship coordinator and find out for sure.
Your myBama account is going to give you access to all the information that’s in the UA system.
Through myBama, you can make changes to your major or minor after you register. You can view
or order a transcript to be sent to another school if you’re going to do transiency as a student
there for a brief period before you transfer back to Alabama. You can add or drop courses, update
personal information, do all of that fun stuff. You also have the ability to assign a proxy to your
account, which gives another person, such as a parent, the ability to see and make changes to your
information. myBama is also where one day, that glorious day, you will find the graduation
application, so when you’re ready to graduate, you will apply from myBama. Be aware that
graduation does not happen automatically. You have to submit an application just like you did for
admission. You can also find information concerning your student receivables bill, financial aid,
and scholarships. Schedule Builder is another fun thing in myBama that makes registration easy, so
explore Schedule Builder in the time you have now before you come to orientation. Put courses in
your cart for future semesters. Check it out. It’s fun. So, myBama also gives you access to
DegreeWorks and the tutorial videos that detail the features of DegreeWorks, such as the advising
worksheet, the planner, the GPA calculator, and one of my personal favorites, the What If feature.
For those of you who can’t quite pin down your major or just want to see what it would be like to
dream, DegreeWorks can help you finish in four years. We cannot stress enough the importance
of planning your courses for the next four years using DegreeWorks as a tool. You absolutely can
do it in four years with proper planning. We believe in you. Watch the tutorial videos before
coming to Bama Bound. It will help you along the way. There’s no possible way that any info
www.as.ua.edu
www.as.ua.edu/advising
Jumpstart Bama Bound: What to Know
Before Your Go
Dr. Robert Hayes and Cindy Channell
Student Services Center
session or webinar or orientation experience can expose you to all the resources, services, and
programs that UA has to offer you, so spend some time before you come to Bama Bound
researching the various websites, not just the main UA homepage, but our College website, as well
as your department’s website to learn all that you can. I also recommend visiting the Source page
to find information on different clubs and organizations you can join at an event we call Get on
Board Day that we have about a week after you’re here in the fall. There’s something for everyone.
Doing a little research before you come and writing down questions that you have can assist you
in identifying the specific services or programs that you want to know more about so that when
you see people either at orientation or later on at Get on Board Day, you can visit with them
instead of feeling overwhelmed by all that is out there.
Okay, so we’ve talked about what you need to take care of before you come to orientation. We’ve
encouraged you to know what your advisor’s role is, to learn your curriculum and to be familiar
with the services and resources at UA. Above all else, you need to know yourself. Before
registering for courses, identify your favorite subjects. Chances are if you took something in high
school and really loved it, you can find a similar course at the college level. You may even want to
take an introductory course to see if you might like it for a major. The list of general education
courses spans across every curriculum and is a great way to explore a variety of majors. Identify
your weak areas. If you know that you’re not good at math or science, try to avoid majors that
require a lot of math or science. If you know you are not a strong writer, I suggest not taking
Freshman Composition and, say, history at the same time. Spread out those similar courses so you
don’t run into those barriers. Identify your learning style. There are resources at the career center
and in the Center for Academic Success that can help you determine what kind of learner you are.
Knowing what style you prefer can help you adjust to a variety of teaching methods. You may find
that taking a Compass or Study Skills course can help you with these adjustments, and I highly
recommend one of those.
We want you to be ready for challenges. UA is a diverse campus with students and faculty from all
over the world. Be respectful of belief and value systems that differ from yours. You will find that
campus is large and hard to navigate. This will get better with time, so don’t get frustrated the first
couple of weeks you’re here during the first semester. Challenges bring growth and change so
embrace them and move forward. Be ready for independence. With independence comes a lot of
responsibility. The biggest mistake that our freshmen make is thinking that they don’t have to go
to class because attendance may feel like it’s not required. Remember, you are responsible for
getting yourself to class and also for passing the class. And our research shows that attending class
is the quickest way to the A. So be aware also that you may be a little homesick. A little
homesickness is normal, but don’t make the mistake of going home every weekend and neglecting
your studies. Distances don’t mean that your relationships cease to exist. You’ve just got to find
creative ways to grow them as you advance.
If you don’t know anything else before you come to Bama Bound, know your College Wide
Identification Number, or your CWID. Memorize it. Almost everything you do here on this
campus, somebody will say, “What is your College Wide ID?” So please memorize it.
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www.as.ua.edu/advising
Jumpstart Bama Bound: What to Know
Before Your Go
Dr. Robert Hayes and Cindy Channell
Student Services Center
Well, everyone that’s the end of our presentation with you this evening. We hope you don’t feel
too overwhelmed by the information that we shared. We know it’s a lot, but guess what, we
wanted to give you a step in to see a little bit more about the College environment. We want you
to be prepared when you come to orientation. Now we’ll use the rest of our time together for any
questions that you have, and we’ll do our best to answer those through the chat, so thank you all
again for joining us tonight, and if you do care to share some questions, we’re still here to support
you. Just let us know in the chat bar. Best wishes, take care, and by all means, Roll Tide!
Q&A
Someone has asked us if this is going to be repeated. This is our second presentation for the
webinar. We are recording it, so it will be available on the website in the near future, probably in
the next couple of weeks. Another question that we have is where do we take the foreign language
placement exam? That is taken online. Go to http://www.testing.ua.edu, and you’ll find an area
there on the website for placement exams or placement assessments. http://www.testing.ua.edu.
Other questions? The question is for a criminal justice major. Do you have to take foreign
language or a computer science? Criminal justice doesn’t require one over the other, so it’s just
your choice. If you want to take the CS 102 and then two more computer science courses, then
you certainly can do that, or you can take a foreign language. Students that have a background in a
foreign language they can start, especially in Spanish, in Spanish 103 and just take that one class
and meet the core. There’s also a cyber criminology minor. I think Dr. Hayes has mentioned that.
One of the things about the cyber criminology minor is that you can use two of the computer
science courses for that minor, but they’re two specific computer science courses. You won’t be
able to take either one of those until you take CS 102, so we can definitely talk to you about the
cyber criminology minor that’s within the criminal justice major.
Yes, the question is about double majoring. We have a lot of students double major, especially if
they bring in a lot of AP credit. If you have a double major, you don’t have to have a minor. It’s
sort of understood that you have two areas of concentration. You could even double major
outside of the College. We even have students who are getting dual degrees. That’s also an option.
That requires 150 hours, so if you’re not coming in with a lot of AP credit, then I don’t
recommend getting a dual degree, but that is an option too. There are all kinds of options.
Hello, Kayla. Thank you for your question about the cyber criminology minor. My reference there
was in relation to people who have an interest in technology but also perhaps an interest in
criminology, so it’s kind of a neat blend. We have a cyber crime lab on campus that allows
students to get hand-on experience with that world of work and some undergraduate research
opportunity, as well as internships a little further down the line. Cyber criminology is just one of
those different minor options that Ms. Channell talked to us about earlier. The total number of
hours is 18 required, so 18 hours is 6 classes and you’ve knocked out the minor. It’s open to
students in any major, but we do see some of our criminal justice students also minor in
criminology. We just advise them not to double dip because courses can apply in both your major
and your minor.
www.as.ua.edu
www.as.ua.edu/advising
Jumpstart Bama Bound: What to Know
Before Your Go
Dr. Robert Hayes and Cindy Channell
Student Services Center
No problem, are there any other questions from those who are still with us? We’re still with you
tonight.
You can find the course requirements in the Undergraduate Catalog. It’s found online at
courseleaf.ua.edu. You can also find course descriptions there. I highly recommend you sort of
scroll through those before you come to Bama Bound as well. Great question.
Yes, you can go from Math 115 to the Calculus 125 if you need it. If you have credit for math 115,
if that’s what it evaluates to, you would fulfill core, but of course, if you’re pre-med or getting a BS
degree, you do need calculus, so you would have to go on and take Math 125. If you’re getting a
BA degree, Math 115 is all you need. You don’t take anymore math.
Also, once you’ve been admitted, and you have access to DegreeWorks, DegreeWorks is great.
Just go online. You can access it through your myBama. You’ll see a big red icon right there in the
middle that says DegreeWorks. You might want to watch the tutorial before you access it, but you
can see all the core requirements. You can run a What If feature to see you know what you need if
you decide to major in this or that, so I highly recommend that you do that before you come —
http://www.degreeworks.ua.edu.
Also, by the way, your math placement, if it wasn’t clear when we went through, that’s based on
your ACT or SAT score, and for some of you, you may have taken that test during your junior
year, and you’ve had more math since then, and if that’s the case, you know, like this student says,
he already has credit for Math 115, so just talk to your advisor about that placement score if you
think it’s not right or you have questions about that because we can answer those questions. But if
you think that your placement score is not a good reflection of the kind of math you need to be in,
I would take the math placement assessment and see if you can place higher. But if you feel like
the placement is right, don’t worry about taking the math assessment because you don’t need it.
All right, let’s do one last call for questions. If there are any questions and if you’re still with us in
the Blackboard room, we’re happy to take those and help you out. We’ll take those at this time. I
think we may have reached the conclusion on questions, so everyone, please remember to log out.
We’re recording tonight, and it won’t allow us to stop recording until all participants have left the
room. But again, thank you for joining us, and we will see you at Bama Bound. Have a great
evening, you all! Take care.
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www.as.ua.edu/advising