<p>Whats the benefit of joining an honors program. it doesn't seem to improve job prospects and chances for grad. school, and just seems to be more work than is ncessary.</p>
<p>can anyone tell me otherwise?</p>
<p>I get this feel too. I've heard this comment on the UMich board, and basically everyone agreed it's more for learning's own sake than for any profit</p>
<p>I think it might depend on which school it is. Some school's honors programs are more prestigious then others.</p>
<p>I would believe it would greatly increase your changes of getting into a good grad school , especially if you go to a school that is middle-of-the-road in terms of prestiege.</p>
<p>It depends on the type of honors program you're looking at. Some honors programs can benefit you a lot. One thing I know is that almost all honors programs provide their students with priority registration. </p>
<p>There are two honors program I know of that seem to be pretty appealing. The Echol's Scholar honors program at UVA allows its students to have absolutely no required classes. So these students can basically take any class they want without having to worry about satisfying general requirements. I think that these students can even take upper level courses without having to satisfy lower prerequisite classes. </p>
<p>The Plan II honors program at UT Austin is a pretty prestigious honors program that's highly selective. The program makes it very manageable for its students to do double or even triple majors. Students in the Plan II honors program generally do very well in terms of graduate and employment placement.</p>
<p>I think these programs are almost more exceptions than the rule. Besides priority registration, even at top publics, they don't have great honors programs, good yes, but great no.</p>
<p>EARLY REGISTRATION!! and the classes are pretty cool. I hope I'm able to keep it.</p>
<p>does that mean that if you signed up for the honors program, you can get early registration and then drop out of honors? just food for thought.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Whats the benefit of joining an honors program. it doesn't seem to improve job prospects and chances for grad. school, and just seems to be more work than is ncessary.
[/quote]
If your only motivation for an honors program is job/grad prospects, it probably isn't right for you.</p>
<p>I'm an honors student at Ohio State and the advantages I have are:
honors housing (only honors students)
priority scheduling (I schedule about a month before everyone else)
honors classes (basically the same as regular classes but look better on a transcript and most students get better grades, and the professors are better, and the other students are better)
more probability of getting a scholarship (Ohio State offers a maximus competition every year where the best students are invited to write essays to compete for a full ride scholarship. The questions are stupid: "Describe color to a blind person." but still, free money is good.)</p>
<p>how sure are you about the classes are easier prospect?</p>
<p>I'm not completely sure, but the avg. grade in eng192Honors is about A-/B+, the avg. grade in normal physics132 is about C/C+. Professor in eng192H is funny when he says the employers have two piles of resumes. One pile goes to the trash, and the other pile has Freshmen Engineering Honors (FEH).</p>
<p>ehhh you're comparing two compltetely different subjects</p>
<p>Yeah, plus you're probably comparing classes that have significantly different class sizes. The regular class is going to have tons more students so there's almost always going to be a wider distribution of scores. Not to mention, the average score in honors classes will probably be higher considering that honors students probably put forth more academic effort.</p>
<p>You're comparing an English class to a physics class. No offense to humanities majors but science curves are usually much harsher.</p>
<p>i think by eng they meant engineering, not english.</p>
<p>Honors in college is probably much like AP in high school. You take them becasue you want a better chance to get into a good graduate school. You take them because you want to push yourself academically. You take them because the students in them may be the more interesting, intelligent people you will want to know. Plus there are probably benifits like what other ppl have been saying: priority scheduling, housing, ect.</p>
<p>I have a friend whose son is a junior in a college honors program. He has gotten personal attention from professors and administration that often isn't available to other students. Lunches, dinners and other socials are offered where faculty come to know honors students on a first name basis. He has been nominated by faculty for study abroad and intership programs where participation is selective. Lots of sought after college programs aren't open to all, mock UN, EU competitions, research assistant positions, small seminar classes to name a few ..... I think that anyone who qualifies for an honors program should give it serious consideration even if you don't want to live with other smart types in a special dorm. That is usually optional.</p>