Michael Smith always wanted to be a Bulldog. But unlike most of his peers, he gets to see that dream come true early.

Michael Smith, a high school senior, takes class at the University to gain experience and credit hours before enrolling full time next fall. Photo by Lily Price.

“I’ve known since I was little I wanted to go to UGA,” he said. “And I knew that if I got in for joint enrollment, I would be able to go ahead and be over there and around the people I want be around.”

Smith is one of 20 joint enrollment students at the University. Students are considered jointly enrolled if they are taking high school and college courses at the same time. 

Smith, a senior at Oconee County High School, said he had a choice between psychology and sociology when he pursued joint enrollment.

“I was looking for something that would fill classes I would need for any major,” he said. “Psychology just fit the time frame the best.”

Patrick Winter, senior associate director of admissions, said such students don’t have a great effect on the registration process for normal students.

“Joint enrolled students are such a small number of the total undergraduate enrollment at UGA that the impact on registration abilities for full-time students is negligible,” Winter said.

As both a University student and a high school student, Smith’s routine is a bit hectic.

He starts his day with British literature and AP Calculus. At 11:30 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he leaves school to head home and eat a 15 minute lunch before going to the University for elementary psychology at 12:15. After class, Smith heads back over to his high school to take his final class of the day, AP Government.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Smith doesn’t have class at the University, so he takes time to help his mom out around the house or do homework for class.

Smith said he became interested in joint enrollment after a friend told him about the program.

“One of my friends was doing it and I thought it may interest me,” he said. “So, I talked to my mom and my counselor about it.”

Smith, who was recently accepted into the University as a sports management major, said he’s enjoying the psychology class since it offers something different from high school courses.

“My two favorites were the motivation chapter and social psychology,” he said. “How we learn and how we sleep affects us, and it’s something we might not be presented with in high school. So, it’s not like I’m learning the same thing over and over again.”

Smith pays for his courses through the Accel Program. The program, which is non-needs based, allows joint enrolled students to use their HOPE hours to pay for college courses. The students can renew their credit hours later so that they start off with 127 credit hours when they become full time students.

Smith said taking classes at the University would let him experience life as a full time student.

“I like to stay busy,” he said. “There was something I learned in psychology — that you always perform better when you’re really busy.”