<p>In the past, we've had some great discussions of honors programs at public universities (notably here</a>). The best can provide an elite-quality experience at public U prices, while the worst may not offer much beyond the name itself.</p>
<p>So, to bring this discussion up to date and get the opinions of current CC members, which public universities have the best (or worst) honors progams?</p>
<p>ADDED: If you can, please say WHY a particular program is strong or weak!</p>
<p>I looked at some honors colleges when my d was applying to college a couple of years ago
The one at UMass is said to be good. A few others that looked terrific - Schreyer at
Penn, Barrett Honors College at Arizona (Barrett is Craig Barrett of Intel), and the one at the University of Florida. More recently I’ve heard positive comments about the ones at the University of Georgia and the University of Mississippi.</p>
<p>UNC and Alabama. Also South Carolina.</p>
<p>From my son’s personal experience I can say that UVM has a really good honors college and they give out $$ to strong students.</p>
<p>What’s UVM? ;-)</p>
<p>Plan II at UT, though that’s a tough admit for OOS students. The Pitt Honors college has a good rep, rolling admissions, and offers merit aid.</p>
<p>[NCHC</a> Home](<a href=“http://www.nchchonors.org%5DNCHC”>http://www.nchchonors.org) lists many honors programs by region and the characteristics of a fully developed honors program (good things to ask about on college tours). Also on the website is information honors colleges vs. honors programs.</p>
<p>I am a fan of honors programs.</p>
<p>“What’s UVM?” was a serious question…I wasn’t trying to be flippant, despite the wink-emoticon. University of Virginia at Manassas? </p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>–another fan of honors programs</p>
<p>LOL–just googled it (duhhh!). Can’t believe I was so clueless…we used to live in Vermont!</p>
<p>Maybe we should start a cum list… </p>
<p>(people…add why you think you think a program is good)</p>
<p>Schreyer at Penn State, </p>
<p>Barrett Honors College at Arizona (Barrett is Craig Barrett of Intel),</p>
<p>the University of Florida. </p>
<p>the University of Georgia </p>
<p>University of Mississippi. </p>
<p>UNC-CH</p>
<p>Alabama - Four very different Honors Programs. Two have competitive admissions (Computer-Based Honors Program and University Fellows Experience) and two admit by stats (UHP and International Honors Program). The Honors College offers very LAC-like courses limited to 15 students in each class.</p>
<p>South Carolina</p>
<p>UVM</p>
<p>(keep a space between each school)</p>
<p>Any one have any ideas about Rutgers University Honors Program? Or how prestigious/“good” it is considered to be?</p>
<p>My daughter just got accepted to Barrett. We were very impressed with the facilities and the program. She’s also been accepted to Washington State University, and invited to join their Honors program. I would love to know which of these Honors programs are better - and why:</p>
<p>Barrett (ASU)
University of Arizona Honors College (her twin sister is applying to UofA)
Washington State University </p>
<p>We also visited University of Oregon, but were not that impressed with the Honors program there. The school was nice, but the Honors program seemed lacking in comparison to others we’ve visited.</p>
<p>One list of noteworthy honors programs
[Great</a> Honors Programs at Public Universities | InsideCollege.com](<a href=“The Best College Rankings and Lists | Inside College | CollegeXpress”>The Best College Rankings and Lists | Inside College | CollegeXpress)</p>
<p>The difference between honors programs and honors colleges
[Honors</a> colleges explained](<a href=“http://www.embark.com/Articles_old/Pages/Honorscollegesexplained.aspx]Honors”>http://www.embark.com/Articles_old/Pages/Honorscollegesexplained.aspx)
[An</a> Honors Program or Honors College: Does the Difference Make a Difference?](<a href=“http://www.petersons.com/college-search/honors-college-program-difference.aspx]An”>http://www.petersons.com/college-search/honors-college-program-difference.aspx)</p>
<p>A couple of noteworthy honors colleges
[Honors</a> College : IUPUI](<a href=“http://honorscollege.iupui.edu/]Honors”>http://honorscollege.iupui.edu/)
[Honors</a> Tutorial College](<a href=“Honors at OHIO | Ohio University”>http://www.honors.ohio.edu/)</p>
<p>My son is at Barrett. It is a very good program. They have a new complex that houses the whole Honors College. The honor students are given top priority in registration and made it easy to get all the classes they want. The dorm is great and usually pretty quiet. Barrett enrolls the top 7 to 8% of ASU students and many of them are NMF’s. Barrett also has very strong advising. You cannot go wrong with Barrett at ASU.</p>
<p>UVA Echols (Don’t know if that’s classified as honors) and W&M one, but I forgot its name.</p>
<p>Add another vote for Plan II at UT.</p>
<p>Definitely check out New College of Florida. It’s the state of Florida’s honors college (but technically fell under USF for years). It’s a tiny LAC (800 students) and is renowned for sending grads off to top graduate programs. I’m going though my first semester now and love it here!</p>
<p>The UF is not very renowned. The UCF one is.</p>
<p>agreed. the UF honors program is just disjointed classes. UCF’s gives you an entire program with a symposium class for all honors freshmen, an “honors congress” like honors sga, smaller classes, automatic admission for national merit scholars (not to mention UCF’s $40,000 scholarship for national merit finalists), luncheons and how-to workshops with people ranging from international ambassadors to the director of disney world, the opportunity to do service learning teaching Junior Achievement at local elementary schools and so much more. i can’t imagine trading my experience with UCF’s Burnett Honors College for UF’s. UCF’s the third largest public university in the nation now, and the BHC helps make it a more close-knit undergrad experience.</p>
<p>I don’t know how great it is but the honors program at the City University of NY, Macaulay Honors College, accepts kids with SAT scores around 1400 (they only look at M+CR) and shtuff. Pretty much only tops of the class. All I really know about it other than you needa be a really strong applicant is that you get $7500 to be used for study abroad or something else, a macbook, free dorming at one of the campuses, internships, special advising, free tuition</p>