My son is a freshman this year at the Ole Miss honors college. I can tell you that this was not his first or even second choice school, but it has become an amazing experience, and he is very happy there. He is in the wonderful, new Honors College dorm. His room is 28 feet by 14 feet. It is huge. He has a private bathroom as well. The dorm has lots of study rooms. He loves it here. He took 11 hours of his first semester in honors classes and the other 6 nonhonors. They get so much extra help in honors and get the best teachers. It is wonderful. He won a freshman ventures trip and gets to fly to Harvard to do some research all paid for by the honors program. I could go on and on about the perks. My best advice is to go for yourself and meet the Dean. They call him DSG. You will be sold.
What is the HC dorm name? My son will be a freshman next year and is has been accepted to Ole Miss and engineering. He’s applied to the HC so hopefully he’ll get in. He’s also applied and been accepted to Miss St and Alabama. He’s leaning toward Ole MIss.
My son will be in the pre-pharmacy program and doesn’t like English (reading, writing, discussing, etc) so we aren’t sure if he should apply as the HC at Ole Miss seems to be geared towards liberal arts majors.
Can someone give us the pros and cons of being in the HC while in the pharmacy program as we can’t find any pros for him to apply besides the possibility of more scholarship money?
@dbcbs5 Since no one else has stepped forward to answer your question, I will at least chime in as a parent of two high school students who has looked at the program.
Yes, the program definitely leans towards the liberal arts to some degree. As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, there are honors sections in many core classes that are one-half to one-fourth the size of a regular class, so these classes are essentially taught seminar style. Honors college students get to register for classes early, which is a real bonus. And I think usually there is some scholarship money for honors college students.
A lot of science classes require reading, writing, and discussing. Doesn’t pharmacy school require a competitive application? If so, wouldn’t an honors college degree be helpful? Oh, and there are also a number of science and math courses with honors sections. I’ve provided a link below that shows this year’s list of special honors classes and sections. Ultimately it just depends on what type of education your son wants to receive. The honors college average ACT score is around 32, versus 24 for the campus at large. There is just going to be a big difference in the type and depth of discussions that go on in these classes.
He will be in the early entry program so he will have guaranteed admission into pharmacy school - as long as he maintains his grades (don’t see that as a problem but you never know) - so being part of the honors college wouldn’t be factor for him in admissions. The reading and writing that you do for the honors program is different that what is required for his field (which he is interested in so won’t be an issue) or so we were told when visiting.
It’s not that he won’t read and write but from the discussions we have had with current pharmacy students at Ole Miss there doesn’t seem to be benefit that will outweigh the extra work and thesis that is required. As a matter of fact we couldn’t find anyone from pharmacy that was still in honors college beyond year 2. I am sure there are pharmacy students that completed the honors program but the ones that talked with us had all dropped out or were never in honors college.
It is hard for me to direct him to the honors college when we aren’t seeing the benefits besides extra money. He will apply and we will see what are the requirements to maintain honors college participation and if they offer any money. He would join if they offer enough money because pharmacy is expensive and lasts for 7 years which most scholarships don’t cover.
Honors at Ole Miss reminds me a lot of the Blount Initiative at Bama.
@dbcbs5 Gotta say, from what you’ve described I would say just skip the Honors College. There are a lot of people who really want it, and if your son is going in with serious reservations he probably won’t stick with it.