Academics
Honors College
The Advanced Academy is administratively housed in the University’s Honors College, and Academy students are automatically qualified for and encouraged to enroll in at least one Honors course each semester. Benefits of the Honors College include:
- smaller classes taught seminar style
- specialized instruction
- exceptional undergraduate research opportunities
- mentoring relationships with faculty
- another peer group of academically-oriented students
- leadership opportunities with the Honors Council
Course Scheduling
Most, but not all, of The Advanced Academy students continue to be dually-enrolled with their home high school and the University of West Georgia. The coursework Academy students complete at the University of West Georgia serves to complete high school graduation requirements. Classes are taken exclusively at the college level, but the high school diploma is issued by the high school.
Those Academy students who plan to earn a high school diploma must meet graduation requirements established by the Georgia Board of Education and their own local system Boards of Education. This means that Academy students must complete the same number of English, science, math, social science, foreign language, physical education and health, and elective credits (Carnegie Units) as all other Georgia public high school students. University semester credit hours are converted to Carnegie Units in a 5 to 1 ratio: five semester hours equal one Carnegie Unit.
Laura Lamb, Student Services Professional, is the academic advisor for The Advanced Academy of Georgia. She states, “Once a student is accepted to The Advanced Academy, I work very closely with the home high school counselor to make sure the student stays on track for graduation. Our first priority in determining a schedule of courses is to make sure the student will graduate from high school. After ensuring that the student is taking classes to meet graduation requirements, the second priority is to either prepare the student for a chosen major or career, or to choose classes that will expose an undecided student to a variety of disciplines. Finally, if there is room in the student’s schedule for an extra elective, then we can look at topics in which the student is particularly interested and that will be of benefit to the student in the future. Students have a great deal of input in the decisions, with personal preferences taken into consideration every step of the way.”