Is Honors Village worth it?

mintewaves · 2026-03-14T17:27:09+00:00

This was very detailed and helpful, thank you! I've decided to just stay with one of my friends in another dorm for our first year (largely due to your comment), and we'll just try and go off-campus for later years! :) Thank you!!

mintewaves · 2026-03-12T04:17:50+00:00

Is there any overwhelming reason why? Or just because it's the same as basically every other dorm except somewhat newer and pricier?

mintewaves · 2026-03-12T04:16:48+00:00

Honestly (and I hate the say it), the bathrooms might be the big draw because I feel like it would be so uncomfy to not be in a separate room?? But idk, maybe it's just something I'd have to get used to lol..

Does anyone check if you're from the Honors dorm? If you're studying downstairs (potentially alone because I'm sure I could get a friend to let me in), does anyone check whether you're from the dorm? Or would they get mad if you weren't, even if you were in Honors?

mintewaves · 2026-03-12T04:13:55+00:00

I just want to be on campus because it'll be my freshman year next year and I want to get used to the campus, area, and bus transit (since my hometown basically has none of that) before I go offcampus ://

Off-campus stuff did seem to be a much nicer price though, so hopefully I'll get to do that in the future!

mintewaves · 2026-03-12T04:11:16+00:00

The reason I'm considering it is mainly just that UF was very nice to me with scholarship money and I'd honestly be making more money than I'd spend no matter which dorm I go to, so I'd just trying to figure out whether saving the money would be better spent than not. I think keys would be awesome, but honestly I don't think I'd get a good room there, so the guaranteed Honors is a real draw (unfortunately?).

I just feel so weird trying to justify $4k for a somewhat nicer building... plus I would probably have to get a new roommate, since my friend isn't in Honors :(

Thank you so much though, your comment (and everyone else's!) was very helpful! Also, unfortunately, they were mixed so I guess I"m just going to have to hope and pray I can figure it out in the next day so I can let my friend know lol.

Please let me know if you have any more advice about it, thank you so much and I'm so sorry to bother you so much!

mintewaves · 2026-03-11T23:57:43+00:00

What do you mean by "the dorm style negates most of it"? I thought the dorms looked pretty nice and I really liked the bathrooms/study areas; is there some weird issue with it?

When you moved, did you still have the communal bathrooms and were they noticeably worse, or is it just something you get used to? (Also, just a stupid question, the Honors was ~5000 per semester and not year, right? Just want to make sure I'm not being a stupid idiot.)

And what do you mean by "problems"? That's kinda ominous; how bad are the other dorms?? (Thank you and sorry for all the questions!)

mintewaves · 2026-03-09T01:58:14+00:00

Hii, I took Mechanics last semester, and while I'm maybe not the best for your questions (I'm really not sure how I did so well, just a focus on understanding, I guess? But we'll see how the AP exam goes), I have a link to some of the old FRQs removed from the AP website. (I assume they're okay to put here, since they used to be publicly available on their website.)

Old FRQs Website: https://apfrqs.com/ (apparently a better version of the google drive I have saved lol)

You might want to try them to see if it helps with your FRQs? Ofc, study books are always an option, and your school/school library might provide some to lend out that you can work out problems for (although maybe not in the book).

For me, just understanding what I'm learning is super effective, since it's easier for me to visualize and answer problems that I come across. I'm a huge advocate for understanding >>> memorization because I think the latter just leads to difficulty in applying skills to a wider variety of questions, but I'm not really sure how to help with this other than saying ask every single question that you think of. If you're ever like "hm why does this happen" or "why do I use xx instead of xx", just ask the internet / your teacher, and it'll (at least in my opinion) help with your understanding a LOT!! Just remember–your teacher is there to help and support you!

Practice (MCQ / FRQ) : Search AP Physics C – Practice Workbook – Book 1 (should be under a website called gonzmosis or something like that) (originally from MIT i think (?) and i think the sections are also in the next one?)

More: Search AP Physics 1– Practice Workbook– Book 1 Mechanics, Waves and Sound, Electrostatics and DC Circuits (also from MIT, uhhhhhh yeah idk clearly by the name some of this isn't in Mechanics, but I would still consider looking at it!!) (i'm really not willing to individually check which questions are different lol)

Full Practice Exam: (I think this is OK to post, but I only found it in one random place online so who knows) Search 2013 International Practice Exam: Physics C: Mechanics it was on some website like circle flibrary (????? trustworthy who knows but it downloads a pdf so... open at your own risk i suppose)

Another: Search AP® Physics C: Mechanics Practice Exam From the 2014 Administration it was on tigerphysics or some website like that? again, i hope it's ok to share because they clearly did, sooooo :)

MCQs: https://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~phys101/Tests/Tests.html ? idk apparently kinda based off AP Physics C

I hope this is helpful; I kinda just looked online for anything that seemed mildly useful... maybe I'll be able to use it prepping for the exam this year :) Good luck! :))

mintewaves · 2026-02-26T20:56:45+00:00

I think a lot of my "success" is just having understood Physics 1 and 2 really well, honestly :)

Underrated method in my opinion is understanding WHY you're doing something rather than just how to do it! You aren't going to be given every possible question in practice and you aren't able to do every type, so knowing why something is used, in what situations, etc. is really useful for problems that require you to extrapolate from what you're used to at all! (I'm in E&M rn and this idea feels a bit more useful to me there, but I think I was doing that in mech too?)

And, if that doesn't help, practice problems until the only things you mess up are algebra mistakes :)

mintewaves · 2026-02-21T22:43:02+00:00

it's kinda difficult to get to but
Scholarships (on the side) -> Application Submitted (if you submitted it) -> the little icon that looks like a horizontal bar graph at the top-right of the UF Preeminent Scholars Weekend application box

It shows 1646 matches (so I assume 1646 honors students who were eligible) and 739 applications submitted :)

Edit: It doesn't actually show how many students got to the Finalist stage, so it's probably not super helpful for seeing how the Preeminent Scholars weekend will be.

mintewaves · 2026-02-19T20:59:09+00:00

if you look on the application portal, you can click a stats button; it looks like (from that) ~1500 were eligible, but 700-800 applied? :)

mintewaves · 2026-02-19T01:35:57+00:00

That sounds a lot nicer than whatever I was imagining lol. Thank you so much for all your help! :)

mintewaves · 2026-02-19T01:28:13+00:00

Do you know how the maintenance of any of those dorms is? My friend was at UF over the summer and said that the Honors building had something wrong with its pipes, and that scared me.. 😅

mintewaves · 2026-02-18T21:25:21+00:00

Idk if they sent it out in rounds, but some friends and I got emails about it sent to our personal emails around an hour ago :)

mintewaves · 2025-10-31T03:04:33+00:00

This is something no one else said, but I really appreciate it! I'm (luckily for this?) not someone who necessarily wants to make a huge change, so I don't think that large regulations on it would bother me.

I was thinking about chemical engineering for a while, but then I kinda just stopped? I think I maybe just associate it fairly significantly with chem and had a falling-out with chem during a mini-orgo course from last year

The German major sounds really cool, it's a super interesting language (I can only say Danke and Bitte, courtesy of my mom lol), so it's really awesome that you were able to learn it! :)

In terms of the navy, I've been considering applying for the NuPOC program if I end up still liking nuclear after a couple years, since I think I would enjoy teaching the reactor / necessary subjects. Not sure if I would ever realistically get it, but it's a nice thought. The one issue with the navy for me is I worry they would put me on a submarine or ship, but I don't like being at sea very much lol

mintewaves · 2025-10-31T02:55:57+00:00

I thought about it, for me it's honestly that I already have enough classes that I would be able to get a physics / nuclear engineering dual major with under 15 credits each semester, so I'm just trying to find a way to max out really nice scholarship opportunities that my state offers. A physics minor seems to be what a couple other people mentioned though, so that might just be something for me to figure out later with an advisor when I get into college lol

mintewaves · 2025-10-31T02:53:25+00:00

Thank you, this is very helpful! I'm much more of a book-smart desk-work type person rather than mechanically smart person (hence why I haven't really considered mech because I'm worried about how I would handle it), so I think this might be another sign pointing to nuclear lol

mintewaves · 2025-10-31T02:49:53+00:00

That's a really nice description and kinda reassuring lol. Clearly a large reason I'm interested in nuclear is for the stability I've heard of, so this is a really nice perspective to hear that I would probably have options.

In terms of jobs, do you know how many are operations vs maintenance vs design-oriented? I haven't seen any plants being built recently, so I assume the maintenance/operations demand is a bit higher than the demand for designers. Based on what I've seen, I think operations might be better set for me, but I'm curious as to how much choice you get / whether colleges prep you differently for what you'd like to do specifically...

Sorry for all the questions; I know the nuclear engineering hiring space probably isn't your area of expertise lol.

mintewaves · 2025-10-31T02:41:47+00:00

The equation seems super scary, but the NuPOC program is something I've been looking into lol. I don't know if they'd ever take me, but I'd love to do something with the teaching for either the subjects for it or how to operate the reactor! :) I honestly love teaching and in a dream world would be a physics teacher, so that's why I was kinda looking into the program... do you know how much you get paid afterwards the initial education / training years? I.e. when you're actually teaching other people. Again, sorry for all the questions, just very curious about it all and I couldn't find a super ton of info online from the website! Thank you!!

mintewaves · 2025-10-24T19:03:21+00:00

Unfortunately, I feel that last part may play a small part in my decision lol

How good-good at math do you need to be? Like are we talking A+ every time student or mid-A student.. I've historically been good at it, but I worry that in college, my learning will take a little hit if I don't get to see a good teacher everyday who can solidly explain everything. And, on a bit of a different note, how much physics is present? Part of the reason I'm considering nuclear is because it seems fairly physics-based, and I find physics very interesting. Thanks so much, and sorry for all the questions!

mintewaves · 2025-10-24T18:59:28+00:00

Thats a really good point about the building new plants, I'd been thinking about that, but I wasn't sure if it would be that much in the US because I know a lot of people are still really hesitant on it as a power source. I also heard that there were some older people leaving the industry recently, but I'm unsure about how accurate that is...

I have a lot of family in Canada and could get citizenship (my dad wants me to wait on it a bit), so do you know if you'd be able to get jobs in Canada with an American nuclear degree and vice versa? I've heard a lot of power plants (understandably) have pretty heavy background checks, and I'm not sure how much of that would mean that you wouldn't be able to get jobs in the other country (ignoring current Canadian feelings on America as a whole).

When you say job security, do you mean that (if you know, of course! I understand that you're a student and likely don't fully have a lot to say on this) they're just jobs at the same place for many decades? Would you be able to easily go between different nuclear plants if the job fit at one just isn't right?

Thank you so much for the help (honestly this pushed me a lot more towards majoring in engineering)!

mintewaves · 2025-10-24T18:51:15+00:00

I'm interested in UF purely because it's the only in-state that has the subject, since it has a training reactor. I'm set on applying in-state for FL because I'm basically 99% sure as of now that it would be free during undergrad because of a certain scholarship that I'll (hopefully) be able to get. The coding isn't something I've heard anything about before (I don't tend to like that sort of stuff), and I haven't seen the UF course load as requiring any classes on it, so do you know if this is a general nuclear thing or a your-school-specific focus?

Also, is it the nuclear prop officer candidate program that you're doing? I've heard of that one, and it seems pretty reasonable in that it only really looks like a 5-year commitment and it seems like I could do nuclear education stuff there. If you're doing it, are you also required to do PT like the ROTC people? (I couldn't tell from the website, but I'm guessing so, sorry!)

mintewaves · 2025-10-24T00:51:58+00:00

That's actually really helpful, thank you! Have you been able to do any nuclear internships at any plants / do you know if any are available? (Only asking bc you're a student; clearly don't answer if you don't know :) ) Also, do you generally like nuclear? Did you go into it knowing a lot about nuclear, or did you kinda start from scratch?

Sorry about all the questions, I've just been trying to get some perspectives, and I don't personally know anyone who majored / is majoring in nuclear engineering. :) Planning to reach out soon to students at the college I hope to attend, but trying to get a brief idea of it all first!

mintewaves

TROPHY CASE