<p>PS: i also know of a few Barrett grads who have gotten into the top Ivies for grad school :)</p>
<p>UMaine's Honors College has an excellent reputation: The</a> Honors College at The University of Maine</p>
<p>Pitt's honors college has a very good reputation, and has produced a few Rhodes scholars in the past several years. From what I have read and heard it seems to be one of the better public honors programs, and the University is definitely very proud of it.<br>
University</a> Honors College</p>
<p>OT: Any idea what the Virginia Tech Honors Program's like?</p>
<p>The Honors program at the University of South Carolina..comes with nice OOS scholarships too.</p>
<p>Michigan State has a good honors program, and plenty of OOS scholarships..</p>
<p>UConn has one of the top ones.</p>
<p>I've heard good things about U of A and Michigan State.</p>
<p>^^Agree. UConn and Clemson are supposed to be quite good.</p>
<p>How does a student shopping for colleges compare public university honors programs?</p>
<p>I don't think you should consider any honors college at a public university unless it is the one in your home state or one of the "public Ivies". I would compare them based on the overall SATs for the whole school. After that, consider financial aid advantages.</p>
<p>But, why not just go to a better school? Why consider an honors college unless it is for financial reasons?</p>
<p>I wonder what makes a better honors program. It strikes me that some of things people like about honors programs (dorms, priority registration) don't really go to the quality of what the student takes away from the program. I suspect that even smaller class size has only marginal impact on what the student takes away. These kinds of things seem geared to attract larger numbers of good or top students with perks more than to enhance the learning of program participants.</p>
<p>I would look for something special in the curriculum or related opportunities. </p>
<p>Somebody asked why not just go to a "better college" (other than money)? Of course money is a big one. I can think of a few more reasons-- sports/social scene, opportunity to stand out, more diverse student body, special major.</p>
<p>I think it's all about finding intellectual peers to study with. It's the same thing that attract families to good school districts instead of paying for expensive prep schools. In our district, the administration and teachers are nothing exceptional, but there is a critical mass of great students that bond and motivate each other.</p>
<p>These days there are plenty of students with 2100+ SATs and no hooks who are shut out of the elite schools. One place where they can often find their intellectual peers is at state honors colleges where there are many other smart students who are there primarily because of the price tag. I wonder how these programs compare with places like Rochester, BC, NYU, BU, Northeastern, Case and other excellent full-price universities that most people agree are not quite elite.</p>
<p>My D is a freshman in the honors program at Ohio State majoring in linguistics. She has been very impressed with the kids in her honors dorm. She is a very bright "800 verbal" girl who wanted to find a peer group where she could be herself. She says she's right in the middle of the honors students at OSU and she loves it. :)</p>
<p>We looked at several honors programs and general LACs. There is a tremendous range in what different programs offer. One program had honors housing for only 10% of the honors freshmen. What? Another had an honors seminar but no separate honors classes. Huh?</p>
<p>The honors and scholars program at OSU is worth a look.</p>
<p>
[quote]
CUNY Honors pays you to go to their school so check that out.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It's a superb program but only open to in-staters.</p>
<p>Base on what we heard from a presentation from one of the Honors College Dean, honors students are usually getting the best internships within the school and better summer job placement than the other students. She implied that the honors student are highly sought after by faculty and employers.</p>
<p>University of Texas Plan II Honors is the best in the country!!!!</p>
<p>Plan II is education without boundaries. It is a four-year degree program that leads from a broad core curriculum in the early college years to a student's own choice of coursework in the later ones. Small classes and a common curriculum develop a sense of intimate community among students, while the size of the University of Texas gives them an enormous range of freedom in pursuing their interests and the library and computing infrastructure to do it well. </p>
<p>Plan II's goal is to prepare students to be ideal citizens by setting their minds on lifelong learning. Dean Parlin, who founded the program in 1936, believed that students should study broadly, without narrowing themselves to the requirements of a specialized major. Plan II excites all curiosities. Its core is the study of literature, philosophy, society, and natural science, all in the form in which they have the most meaning for the lives of real individuals. Its spirit is the freedom to cross intellectual boundaries and to seek understanding wherever it is to be found. Plan II students have explored everything that makes us human in the best sense, from poetry to the latest discoveries in physics or cosmology.</p>
<p>About a third of the courses required for a Plan II major are core courses. Many of the core courses are intimate seminar classes emphasizing writing and public presentation skills and offering a great deal of close interaction and discussion, particularly in the first year. Plan II students choose their non-core classes from the extensive list of the University's exciting and challenging departmental offerings, depending on the individual's academic interests and career goals. </p>
<p>The core of Plan II comprises a year of world literature and a year of philosophy. Both courses read great books in connection with contemporary issues and emphasize clear writing and thinking. Each student also chooses three seminars on interdisciplinary topics from a list of 36 courses especially designed for Plan II. On the science side, the Plan II core consists of special courses in logic, math, biology, and physics. In the social sciences, unique courses on the individual in society reflect Parlin's dream of an education for citizenship. An individual thesis project rounds out the senior year. Theses may be based on research or they may be original creative work. Recent topics range from software design to African music, from a historical monograph to a showing of paintings, and from marketing to political philosophy. Although the Plan II program is interdisciplinary, students concentrate in the areas of their theses and are well-prepared for graduate schools in their chosen subjects.
Class Rank
Valedictorians: 29 (16%) [of 180 from ranking high schools]
Salutatorians: 16 (9%) [of 180 from ranking high schools]
Ranked #1
#5 in their graduating class: 71 (40%) [of 180 from ranking high schools]
Were in top 5% of their graduating class: 121 (67%) [of 180 from ranking high schools]</p>
<p>National Merit/Achievement Recognition
National Merit Recognition: 65%
National Merit Finalists: 28%
National Merit Commended: 35%
Hispanic Scholars: 4%
National Achievement Scholar: 2%</p>
<p>SAT I test scores</p>
<p>Avg SAT combined score: 1430
Avg SAT math score: 699
Avg SAT verbal score: 731
Middle 50% combined: 1330-1520
Middle 50% math: 650-760
Middle 50% verbal: 680-760</p>
<p>SAT combined scores of 1600: 4 (2%)
SAT combined scores of 1500
1600: 53 (26%)
SAT combined scores of 1400
1499: 80 (38%
SAT combined scores of 1300
1399: 48 (23%)
SAT combined scores < 1300: 24 (11%)</p>
<p>Check out University of Akron. They just put in new res halls for the honors college. Very nice.</p>
<p>Honor program in Minnesota(IT) may be more selective than UT, the average student admitted there has a 1460 SAT with a 750 math score.</p>
<p>keep this thread going, haha it has been very helpful
does anyone have more info about that mention of CUNY paying people? lol, I wouldn't mind being paid to live in the city...
although, are they mostly commuter schools?</p>
<p>I'm about to go check it out, but if anyone has other info about it, please post!</p>