<p>hi. UGA is one of my safeties, and I was accepted into their honors program recently. Now, if all goes like I want it to, I will hopefully be going somewhere else. But as I've looked at the information they gave me about the honors program, I've been fairly intrigued (though I would still rather go to some other schools), and there is a possibility that I may go there. I can't really tell until I receive my acceptances/rejections in April.</p>
<p>I guess I'm wondering about the benefits of an honors program. They "say" that there are smaller and more advanced classes, along with separate residential housing, but is it truly an "ivy league education for a value price" as they advertise? I must say, so far it seems great, but I still wonder if the environment will leave alot to be desired. </p>
<p>UGA honors does have smaller classes and a nice 1st year dorm. Kids are bright but some would not gain admittance to top flight schools. sciences are strong. Athens is fun. Football is BIG. Price is right.
it is not IVY league but it is good and much cheaper.</p>
<p>Honors colleges offer some very valuable perks and let you meet some of the top students at your college. But when you're thinking of honors colleges the pitch is often that you're getting an elite private education at the public school price. Sadly, this isn't true.</p>
<p>No honors college that I know of is an honors college in the true sense; having its own faculty and giving its own degrees. Typically offerings cover your 1st 2 years, and range from one class per semester to all your classes. These are indeed in the honors college with the hand-picked profs and bright fellow students.</p>
<p>But after the first 2 years you complete your degree by taking upper-division classes with the regular students in the regular university. Often there are supplementary honors classes available, but in the end the majority of the classes you take upper-division are the same ones everyone else takes. And class sizes may balloon, too, if your in a larger public U and a popular major. At the elites, of course, you continue in smaller classes with the same bright students around you that were there the 1st 2 years.</p>
<p>Honors colleges DO offer some valuable perks for those who can't attend a true elite for whatever reason. Typical ones include registering for classes before everyone else so you get the classes you want (a perk worth its weight in gold!), special counselors, guaranteed housing, special library privileges. They will stamp your diploma with some indication of honors college or make a note on your transcript.</p>
<p>But if you think its just like going to Williams or Dartmouth or whatever at 1/5 the cost, it just 'aint so.</p>
<p>
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OSU gives its own honors degree I believe
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Maybe it issues the diploma with the honors college name; that's not uncommon. But its not a college in the traditional sense; the sum of its academic offerings is 240 honors classes (according to <a href="http://honors.osu.edu/honors_whatis.html%5B/url%5D">http://honors.osu.edu/honors_whatis.html</a>) which is different than a college that offers multiple majors, has its own faculty, and so on. </p>
<p>I'm sure its a nice program, but the "honors colleges" are oversold as being a separate "college in a college".</p>
<p>I agree with Mikemac-while there are perks in an honors program it simply cannot replicate the experience of attending an elite private education.</p>
<p>The setting alone would make it really incomparable to many private colleges. As to the classes, the profs, etc, you need to do careful research. All honors programs are not equal. Some of the schools just gussy things up a little, give a few perks, and that's it. Some are truly a college within the university. I have heard wonderful things about the Penn State program, instance. And I have heard that Indiana University of PA has very special provisions for their honors students. Look and see what courses that YOU like that are under the umbrella of the honors program. I know kids who find out that they are stuck in a larger number of large lecture halls with everyone else and with grad students rather than profs because the entry level courses ( say, if you are premed, for instance) that they want or need for their major are do not have an honors counterpart. Sometimes it does depend on the major the student selects. You do have to do your homework carefully.</p>
<p>(Not school specific) The honor's dorm could be a benefit, as would smaller freshman, sophmore classes. By junior year, many students have moved off campus and have matured enough to have intelligent conversations in the major of their choice, so I would be less concerned about merging classes.</p>
<p>What do you want to get out of your undergraduate education? Is it a basic understanding and a working vocabulary of a topic of study and perhaps some leg up on the application to graduate or professional school? If an honors program can get you access to professors and better classes then it will accomplish that.</p>
<p>Two ways I evaluate the quality of a college program - what graduate schools and employers regularly accept their students and if any of their graduates ever become Professors, where do they get jobs. These are fair questions to ask during an interview or as you make a decision.</p>
<p>Just thought I'd point out that though it's true, as Mikemac points out, that at most universitites honors courses are primarily for lower division students with the upper division courses being taken with other students in their major, there are other ways of getting smaller classes with top students besides working through the honors program. Back in the 70's I was a music major at a state university. I was also a member of the honors program. I enjoyed the honors colloquia courses that I took, but I never took an honors section of any liberal arts course. The honors sections always conflicted with required courses in my major. That problem caused me to drop out of the honors program before graduation; I could not take the required number of honors courses in order to remain in the program. However, I was still determined to avoid large, boring general studies classes as much as possible. I discovered that at my university I could frequently substitute a senior (400) level or graduate (500 or 600) level course. I had to get the instructors' permission to enroll in thoses classes, but I was never turned down, probably because I had close to a 4.00 and had been in the honors program. I took graduate level courses in literature, philosophy, art history, and music. I'll admit that I never attempted to take an upper division math or science course, because that was not my area of expertise. I did not have the background to succeed in those courses. I found the graduate level humanities courses I took to be very worth while. They covered subject matter in much more depth than any typical undergraduate survey course. For me, these courses were much more interesting than any undergraduate honors would have been. </p>
<p>I suppose that in a perfect world, all extremely bright, capable students would be able to get an ivy league education. As we know, many of these kids get turned down by the ivies. There are also many families for whom the cost of an elite education is prohibitive. Honors programs are at least an attempt by larger institutions to give their brightest students a higher quality experience.</p>
<p>I thought I'd add that I know of one honors program that's highly regarded. The University of Texas at Austin has a Plan II Honors program that requires students to take a very broad, liberal arts-based core curriculum, but then the students have great flexibility in pursuing double majors, dual degrees, and even triple majors. The program says that classes are small and are taught by top professors, which would be a great benefit at a school the size of UT Austin. To give you an idea of how competitive it is to get into this program, the program's website states that it has often rejected students who actually got into Ivy League schools.</p>
<p>More on UT Plan II. My S, a junior and in-state, will be applying to Ivys and some top LACs, but probably will not have a chance of getting in Plan II. It is SO competitive. It is a great program, and there is also a strong honors business program at UT.</p>