<p>They are concerned that students will choose to go elsewhere if they are not offered admission to the honors program. An overwhelming majority of the students who were polled said that participation in the honors program was a factor in their decision to come to AU. </p>
<p>I think the honors students would rather have a large cohort of classmates with whatever the qualities are that got them into honors than a small cohort. It’s better for the school overall, they seem to think.</p>
<p>The survey said " the program is an important piece in students decision to attend. When a much smaller group of students are accepted, the rest of these top students will go elsewhere."</p>
<p>I suppose the other side of that coin is that those top students who do get into the “new” AU Honors will be more likely to attend because the program is more prestigious than it previously was. And who knows whether the surveyed students have the right idea. I know my D’s Honors admission was not a factor at all in her decision to attend. In fact, she was worried that the required Honors classes might be too burdensome, but found in fact that they were no more challenging than her non-Honors classes. (Maybe that is going to change, too.) I guess the results of the revamping will all be known after a few admissions cycles, and AU can always reverse itself and expand Honors if top students do start turning down offers at a higher rate.</p>
<p>I received a Dean’s Scholarship for $8,000 and a $2,000 Champions of Excellence. GPA 3.85 and 29 ACT. I was also invited to the honor’s program.</p>
<p>My D was also a little intimidated by Honors and considered not accepting the offer. She ultimately did accept and is happy she did. I think being accepted into Honors does factor into someone’s decision on whether to attend a school. My son was accepted into numerous Honors programs 5 years ago and went to one of the schools that did not offer him that option. However, it did irk him. Looking back he said he should have attended American and taken advantage of the Presidential Scholarship and Honors. I think AU is severely under-rated and my son clearly went by USNWR rankings when making his decision.</p>
<p>Well everyone has their own perspective on merit money. If you’re between “fafsa need” and wealthy, a kid has virtually no shot at attending a $50k a year private school, unless they go into mounds of debt. So while we might mock and ridicule the mom that didn’t want to pay for school. It’s a little less appealing to mock a middle class student and parents for simply wanting to be able to do the private college thing. No offense to the wealthy, or those that do get need based money.</p>
<p>@MitchKreyben:
Who here is mocking “a middle class student and parents for simply wanting to be able to do the private college thing”? Who here is mocking anyone? I made the point that the mom on the other thread who didn’t want to pay for college may be making some unwarranted assumptions about the availability of big merit aid. That’s hardly mocking.</p>