Hello,
My daughter who is a senior in HS, is stressed about applying to Penn State and UPitt honors programs as a freshwoman as she is also busy completing applications to other colleges.
Both colleges allow current students to apply to the Honors program before their Sophomore year.
Is there any downside to waiting to get into the Honors program until the Sophomore year (besides the loss of Honors experience in the first year)?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
The primary benefits at most universities of being in the honors college are that one can avoid large lecture intro courses, priority course selection, and have the option of better housing. In short, most of the benefits are front-loaded in university honors colleges.
I would double check to confirm if things have changed - but at Schreyer at Penn State, the academic excellence scholarship only is given to incoming first years - not people who apply and get in while at Penn State. (Second or third years).
Also, first years (the more accepted term instead of “freshwoman”) have a special orientation for the honors college and all have to take the English/speech Comm together. That becomes a bonding experience.
Having said that, Honors admission is extremely competitive and working on the essays is critical.
Honors (cohort classes&dorms, perks like prioriry registration and interactive or experiential classes) is especially beneficial to 1st year students.
In addition, at Penn State, applying later on means no scholarship ($5,000 a year AFAIK).
The Honors College at PSU is one of the top programs in the country. It’s extremely selective and the selection rests on rigor as well as *(very important!!) essays.
At Pitt, it’s looser and not as big a deal; non Honors students can try®ister for Honors classes (but without priority registration).
What does she want to major in?
Thanks for the info. She is looking to apply for CS.
she is also considering applying to UT Austin ECE or ECB Turing Honors program. Any thoughts on that program?
Turing is one of the (if not the) most prestigious CS Honors programs.
However UT is dedicated to TX instate students. 75% admitted students are automatically from the top 6% TX HS, another ~10% are borderline top 6%, then there are athletes. That leaves very very few spots for OOS and international applicants. Odds of admission to UT are thus extremely low for an OOS student.
Has she applied to either school yet? November 1 was the EA deadline for Penn State and the best time to apply. Pitt has rolling admissions, but admissions gets more competitive the later in the year it is. Neither school has a difficult primary application, so I hope both of those apps are in.
Shreyer at Penn State is one of the most prestigious honors colleges in the country, in part because of how challenging the honors application is. Pitt’s honors application is less onerous.
As others have stated, there are many benefits of starting in honors and your daughter has a month to get those applications in. If balancing additional work and applications is challenging for her, then it may make sense for her to focus on being an undergrad and adjusting to the pressures of college without having additional honors requirements for her coursework and ECs. Honors programs can be great and enriching, but they aren’t a fit for everyone.
If your student is stressing about doing applications, I wouldn’t bother with UT since it’s such a long shot for out of state applicants.
IMO, the honors programs at most schools add a lot of value, especially for first year students. If Pitt and PSU are serious contenders, I would absolutely prioritize getting those honors essays written and submitted. But as noted, it’s now 11/2 so that ship may have sailed.
Both schools allow the honors application to be submitted after the main application. This student should have already applied to both schools, but has until early December to get the honors application submitted.
Thanks for clarifying!
Seeking advice on UPitt honors application. Got admission into School of Arts and Sciences more than a month ago, and had applied to UPitt honors separately 10 days after the regular application was submitted. Have no news about merit or honors yet.
Will honors applications look at the LORs submitted for GAP? Anything I can do to check on the honors or merit awards besides waiting? any advise is helpful, thank you
There is nothing to check.
Honors will not start being reviewed until after the December deadline, and won’t be announced until around March. Decisions for honors are released all at once.
I’m not sure about the LOR answer, but I think it is unlikely they we review materials beyond the main application, essays, and anything else they specifically request for honors.
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