A few questions for Barrett Honors College alums / current students

Colleges and Universities A-Z Arizona State University
1

<p>As a junior, I recently became aware of the possibility of receiving a major National Merit Finalist merit scholarship. While I don’t want to be too cocky and jinx myself, I feel fairly confident following today’s PSAT. ASU is one of several potential “safety” schools that might end up becoming a good option thanks to the extensive Honors options. However, I have a few questions:</p>

<p>1) While the Honors program seems to offer great general-ed type humanities courses, I would be in the general pool for math/science/engineering courses. The ASU general pool is not necessarily a place I want to be - UA appears to have a significantly stronger presence in science. I say “seems” and “appears” because I just don’t know - can anyone talk about ASU’s offerings in these areas?</p>

<p>2) At least in my area, ASU has a reputation for being a total party school with junk academics. I realize that this reputation is probably false, and I don’t care what most people up here think. But if this is a common feeling elsewhere, I worry that my ability to find jobs and/or gain admittance to grad school might be jeopardized by attending regardless of whether I am in the Honors college. Are there statistics describing the outcomes for graduates? I saw a brochure on the website, but it wasn’t very complete.</p>

<p>Thank you!</p>

2

<p>Now, I am not very familiar with these areas as I am an Econ major, but I’ll try to give you what info I know.

  1. From what I’ve seen, the difference between UA and ASU is probably exaggerated. Any big research school is going to be reasonably comparable in terms of professors. In terms of students, at least looking the raw scores they aren’t that different.
    -However, by friend is a Biochem major, and she has terrible problems with her lab partners not doing their parts, and even when they do they are not good enough and she has to rewrite them. So that’s not so good.
  2. ASU has that reputation where I’m from (Wisconsin) too. ASU does have a fine reputation at the company my mom used to work at (which is Fortune 500), but I’m not sure what rep it has outside of business.
  3. For cost, it’s great, but you will probably have to deal with some crap with sub par classmates. It would be less of a problem if you were into a more independent field. As for my experience, yeah, unless your a business or business related major, or general stuff, the honors courses are few.
    Personally, unless cost is a huge factor and you become a NMF, look elsewhere first. (Though not necessarily UA). Are you in-state? Because if I were I science major, I may have chosen my state flagship (Wisconsin), over ASU, simply because it has a far, far, superior reputation in sciences, and in it matters much more in that case than in humanities.</p>
3

<p>I’m OOS and considering ASU or UA as a safety. UA does have a number of strong science programs (and still offers merit money), so I’ll stick with it.</p>

4

<p>I suggest the best way to learn about Barrett is to schedule an overnight visit if possible. My son is attending Barrett right now and it is of very good value.</p>

5

<p>ASU (particularly Barrett) has a fine record of kids earning Marshall and similar competitive graduate fellowships, and a number of these have been for students in science or engineering, so there must be a reasonable degree of academic rigor. There do seem to be quite a lot of internship and lab opportunities, but I don’t have any idea how those might compare with U of A.</p>

6

<p>I can’ comment on other fields, but ASU’s engineering department isn’t a joke, and it is definitely considered at the very least on par with U of A (plus, its a lot easie to get internships is one of the most rapidly developing cities in the country).</p>

<p>I took a number science classes that were honors, so they exist.</p>

<p>Merit trumps school rep. You will learn this. The fact that many of my BHC are at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Mayo, etc etc is because of their talent, not ASU’s rep. Barrett’s true triumph isn’t that it is the top honors college, but that it gives students who desire to excel every possible chance to do so.</p>

7

<p>

This is what I’d really like to hear about. What additional opportunities do math, science, and engineering students have? The majors that interest me most are industrial engineering and math/statistics (a double major is definitely possible). Are research opportunities and internships readily available?</p>

<p>Regarding placement rates, do you have any actual statistics on where BHC grads end up?</p>

8

<p>Yes, ASU has a big chunk of its northeast campus dedicated to engineering research. Plenty of research and internships, the big benefit of being part of the BHC is that it gets you pushed to the front of the line when it comes to getting such things (assuming that you are qualified to do them. You still need to have the proper education).</p>

<p>In Spring 2008, 15 ASU students won Fulbright Scholarships, 9 won the National Security Education Program (NSEP) Award, 3 won the Goldwater Scholarship, 2 won the Udall Scholarship, 1 won the Circumnavigators Scholarship, 1 won the Truman Scholarship and 1 won the Marshall Scholarship. I guaruntee that at least 70% were BHC kids.</p>

<p>I don’t have any placement rates. If you are good enough to get into a grad program, the BHC isn’t going to hold you back. Such statistics are almost entirely a factor of student body worth rather than college worth, honestly. BHC stats are similar to those of a top 20-30 LAC, though with a little wider range of placements since we are a bit larger than a lot of them. The big advantage that the BHC tends to have over LACs is the huge resources of a Research I university.</p>

9

<p>^ Thank you, that’s very helpful. Just a couple more questions:</p>

<p>BHC is more developed/separated than many other honors colleges. Is there any bad feeling between honors and non-honors students, or does the school fit together well as a whole?</p>

<p>Does the area surrounding the ASU campus offer things to do besides drinking? How did you spend your time there?</p>

10

<p>No, I worked with other BHC students and Dean Jacobs to prevent the new BHC from becoming a ivory tower kind of deal. The BHC is very integrated with ASU in general, and I never detected anything like that. None of my non-BHC friends cared about that, and some of them didn’t even realize it. In short, it’s a non-issue.</p>

<p>There is a ASU bus to a shopping mall/theater that’s about a mile east. Several other public buses can be used to reach 3-4 other local malls. You can take the light rail to see the Diamondbacks. Mill Avenue has a lot of little niche entertainments such as an arts theater. On campus there is a modern art museum, and Phoenix has many others (all reachable by bus). You can go to the zoo and also to the desert garden. Lots of outdoors activities and great camping up at the lakes to the east. Lot’s of dance venues around campus, including Latin and ballroom. There’s some small waterparks, roller rinks, batting cages, theme parks, and putt putt parks that are bus accessible. State fair is fun. ASU has a golf course. Having a vehicle is nice but not a necessity.</p>

11

<p>Okay, thanks. I will do some more research.</p>

12

<p>I’ve got another question: do many Barrett students double major (or major + minor)? I think I’ll end up wanting to do a major in some kind of engineering + a second major or a minor in pure math. Would the required Barrett courses get in the way of this goal, or is it common?</p>

<p>I read about the [Undergraduate</a> Excess Hours Tuition | Arizona State University](<a href=“http://students.asu.edu/tuitionsurcharge]Undergraduate”>http://students.asu.edu/tuitionsurcharge), but it’s a bit confusing. There appears to be a cap at which point extra courses no longer carry surcharges - is that correct?</p>

13

<p>A lot of Barrett kids do double major or have a major and minor, but engineering would pretty much require a fifth year if you wanted to double major unless you had some serious AP credit. It would be possible I suppose, but very difficult and probably not worth it. Other than the two starting courses, you can pretty much pick and choose what courses you take through the honors college. Once six credits upper division have to be outside of your principle major, so all the others could be taken for required courses or electives.</p>

<p>Yes, there is a cap on coursework surcharges per semester for 12+ credits, but if you were double majoring you would be exempt anyways. With a minor, you might even be able to squeeze under the credit requirement for these fees to start being assessed.</p>

14

<p>^ I should have plenty of AP credits (9+ tests). Thanks for the info.</p>

15

<p>Go here to the “Barrett at a Glance” section ([Barrett</a> Honors Barrett at a Glance](<a href=“Barrett, The Honors College | Arizona State University”>Barrett, The Honors College | Arizona State University)), then click on the linked “future pursuits” phrase in the first sentence of the “After Graduation” section. It will connect you to a fact sheet about the graduate programs, scholarships, and companies that Barrett students are involved with. One interesting figure: 70% of Barrett students plan to attend graduate school of some sort (16% law, 7% mba, 10% medical/dental/veterinary, besides non-professional graduate programs).</p>

<p>Barrett is a great resource, but keep in mind that it cannot make up for a weak department. If you are passionate about a single thing, make sure that there are faculty members working on that single thing that you could eventually assist. As ASU is so large, you’ll find something that interests you. And, if you’re like most college students (especially some of the most high achieving), it’s very likely that your interests will take you places that you do not currently plan for.</p>

<p>Overall, I have been very satisfied with the education that ASU, and Barrett, have provided me, and I believe that I will end college in a far stronger position than if I had gone elsewhere and were now looking forward to enormous student loan payments. If you’re choosing between U of A and ASU, as I eventually did, I found both to be relatively equivalent on a departmental basis, but it’s important to research specifically those departments that most interest you – that’s one thing I didn’t do that would have been a good idea, though I’d still have made the same choice. </p>

<p>Beyond that, I think the value that Barrett provides for an ASU student is enormous: as a common meeting point, both physically and intellectually, and the ease with which you are able to achieve your goals. If there’s something that you want to do, and desire funding for, Barrett will be of great assistance to you. My experiences with honors classes have been fantastic, and at this point, most introductory level classes have honors sections offered, even for the sciences and math, and beyond the introductory level, the class sizes are small anyway, and the students reasonably serious (assuming you’re in a rigorous major, which math would be), so having honors sections is less common and not really necessary.</p>

<p>Good luck with your decision, and beyond all else, aim to excel no matter where you end up – in the end, only you can contain or reach your potential.</p>

16

<p>^ Thank you for another helpful perspective.</p>

<p>Now I just have to compare UA, ASU, and U Utah (my three potential safety safeties). Good thing I have time…</p>