<p>Would love to hear from current students or graduates of the Auburn Honors College. Do you feel you benefited from the Honors College? Is it worth it? Level of difficulty? What about the freshman symposia classes - are those a good idea or not - advantages/disadvantages?</p>
<p>My d is finishing her freshman year in the honors college. The good: loves the students in her class; loves her honors advisor. The bad: it is hard to get into some honors classes–there aren’t that many slots. She couldn’t get into any of the three honors classes she wanted for next fall.</p>
<p>Are they harder? she’d probably say yes but it more of the way the classes are taught. Her psych class is small and more discussion based–you learn the material on your own vs. a standard class that is huge and more lecture based, more rote learning.</p>
<p>Our son has had no trouble getting in the honors classes he wanted. He would probably say they are a little harder but not crazy. Just like other classes, it depends on the professor. Honors housing in the village is amazing. The honors advisors and the early registration are big perks.</p>
<p>Dear Abtsmom and eaglereader - did either of your kids take the symposia courses? How were High School A.P. courses handled? We visit (first time - very late in the game, I know) next week - any questions we should ask, or people/places we should see?</p>
<p>I would concur with Eaglereader on the honors course availability – D was able to get what she needed for the 2nd semester without problems. (you get priority enrollment after the 1st semester of your freshman year). However, the initial enrollment process during Camp War Eagle was a different story. I suppose this particular issue should be discussed in a separate thread, but it’s worth mentioning here if you are considering taking honors classes. Understand that there’s NO priority enrollment during the very first registration process, and realize that there may be several classes that your advisor or the Honors College suggest to you or have already have placed you in (the symposium is one of those courses.) Beyond the honors symposium, D struggled to get desired courses (even enough credits) until AFTER the CWE registration was complete. This was due to a number of factors: 1) she was one of the last students in her group to register; 2) She didn’t have a set of “backup” choices to cover the courses that had filled; 3) she sort of panicked when faced with the reality of the “class full” notification coming up (a lot) and didn’t realize how important it is to plan ahead. </p>
<p>Anyway, D was in the sustainability symposia the first semester. Unfortunately, she had a number of scheduling conflicts directly related to her 2nd major that ruled out continuing in the symposia during 2nd semester. She DID enjoy the class, however, while she was enrolled in it. She took 2 honors courses last semester, and 3 honors courses this semester. She’s in COSAM and had no problems finding honors openings. She says these courses are smaller, and the instructor is very engaged in the class as a whole. They are somewhat tougher than a regular offering of a class, but realize that this has a lot to do with the makeup of the students within the class – an ALL honors group will drive the pace, discussion, and grade avg. of the course upward. It’s inevitable. Her roommate is in the business school and getting honors courses has been more difficult for her. There are a lot of students in B-school, and those honors offerings fill up fast.</p>
<p>While AP courses can count towards your major and core requirements, they can’t be used to fulfill your honors requirements. My daughter did utilize all her AP courses and is (by credit hour) a soph. If you can use them, TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS, especially if you are considering a double major or dual degree.</p>
<p>One other issue that incoming honors students may want to consider is scheduling junior-level (3000) courses. You may test into a 3000-level foreign language or a higher level lit. class. If you do, keep in mind that during the CWE scheduling, these classes have already been hit by all the upperclassmen – resulting in very few openings. My daughter ran into problems with foreign language classes and had to seek permission from the particular course chair to get in the course. The good news is that yes, if you take the time to go through this process, you can get in a junior-level course that may initially say it’s full (or has a 1-2 people on the waitlist.) Be patient, visit or call the chair personally, and you may have surprising success.</p>
<p>My d did not do the symposia–just could not find the time to get there. she is in the business college and in a sorority and in a business fraternity. She found she has taken advantage of more business symposia.</p>
<p>Ditto on the AP credits–though not all her credits applied exactly. She still had to take a semester of lab.</p>
<p>My D got exactly what she wanted for classes at Camp War Eagle–she was in the first group to register at her session–she had four schedules laid out in front of her (put a lot of work into planning it with the help of the student counselor) and she can type fast so the minute the bell rang, she furiously typed in what she wanted and had the back-up for the classes that were already closed. This is extremely stressful for the kids. She said there were plenty of kids crying.</p>
<p>As for language, talk with the department and have your child check out the professors. My d took 5 years of Spanish and took 3 college classes in Cost Rica one summer. She is in jr year Spanish and the professor has a very heavy South American accent–does not speak Castillian (formal) Spanish or English very well. Thank God for peer tutoring!</p>
<p>LOL Abtsmom – sounds like your D may have the same Spanish class as my D! (or they both have had the same instructor) – she has mentioned the super-heavy accented prof! Luckily, she had a high school teacher who also had a very thick accent, so she’s used to deciphering the accent nuances of S. American native speakers.</p>
<p>You’re lucky your D planned ahead for CWE – mine did not, and learned the hard way. Yes, we saw a lot of teary-eyed kids leaving registration. Fortunately, everything works out in the end (and, it’s only ONE semester!)</p>
<p>Oh this is very very helpful, thank you all so much. I honestly have not heard or read one negative word about Auburn. Now I am just trying to figure out if I can make the finances work. Per my comment on the AU housing thread, the room and board figure listed in our COA doesn’t seem to match what is on the website. Can you share what you as parents of Auburn students pay on average for room, board and spending money?</p>
<p>Like many big schools, freshman registration can be frustrating. My engineering son came to his registration with a plan and several backups. His quick fingers nailed 4/5 desired classes but he sweated awhile trying to work out his last class. Come prepared with lots of alternatives. In the end all was fine.</p>
<p>AP credit is great and definately worth it - but plan carefully because they will not fill honor credit.</p>
<p>Housing prices vary a great deal. Dorms on the hill are cheaper than the village. Call the housing dept - they are very helpful. In my opinion food at Auburn is very pricey. Having a hungry 19 year old college male, we spend a lot on his Tiger Club card :)</p>
<p>I too found housing folks very helpful. Remember that, though living on campus freshman year is really helpful to getting around and meeting people, you can always live off campus the other years…and you can find REALLY reasonable housing off campus (I was shocked at how cheap some of the really nice apartments are–a friend of mine is paying 5 times as much at FSU!</p>
<p>My D still has $250 left on her card with a week left with the minimum dining…she’s bringing home lots of cases of soda for my son’s graduation party!</p>
<p>I found that Greek Life is expensive (though my d LOVES it) so that might be a way to cut costs there…</p>
<p>Also, if you sign up at the bookstore right after registration, you can get the textbooks used or check out other Auburn bookstores on line or textbooks.com for good prices on the books to save money. Also, my d and her roommate had the same class, different times and professors one semester and shared a book. (Also, my d has bought books from friends who took courses the previous semester). This only works though if the professors are known and post what books they will use.</p>
<p>GREAT IDEAS!!! Thanks so much~! I really love this forum/website!</p>