Hello everyone! I am a junior in high school and am strongly considering UCF for college. A little background- I have a national merit index of 223 which should well qualify me for NMSF in Maine and hopefully NMF. I will be pursuing a biology degree with hopes of continuing on to med school. The package offered by UCF is extremely enticing as well as the Burnett Honors College. A lot of posts that I see list the BHC as a deciding factor in their college decision. For current BHC students or those who are attending next year, is there anything that makes BHC special or particularly eye-catching?
@marie190 – Congratulations on your achievement!!! If you don’t already know, NMF is a big deal at schools that chase the credential, and it will result in a full COA or very significant scholarship for you if you are willing to go to one of those schools, several of which will undoubtedly heavily recruit you once the list of candidates is available for purchase by them in the fall. For prestigious schools that already could fill a class with high stat kids such as yourself, not so much! So understand that it’s a lot to wrap your head around – you will be recruited like a Division I athlete at some schools, and won’t even get a small bump in admissions at others!
As to your question, “special” is truly in the eye of the beholder, and the only way to answer the question is to visit and decide for yourself. Lots of state schools (UCF, UTD, Alabama, Oklahoma, just to name a few) have dedicated offices to recruit NMFs, honors colleges, extra resources, etc. designed to lure you. The balance generally is, the more prestigious the school, the less effort they place in recruiting NMFs because they tend to get their share without extra effort, they just don’t care about the credential because they are attracting kids that otherwise have high stats, or they are not in the market to throw money or other resources at high stat kids for various reasons.
UCF is the perfect place for some kids, not as much for others. Its NMF package is extremely attractive if it’s otherwise a good fit for you, but attending a lower ranked state school is a disappointment for some high stat NMFs who have their hearts set on Ivy or Top 10-20 schools. You really do need to figure out what you are looking for, make a list, and start narrowing your many choices.
The short answer is that, while BHC is very attractive, it’s comparable to, and really not particularly special compared to, other well regarded honors colleges at other non-top tier state schools. The deciding factor if you want to go that route is fit, feel, vibe, location, major, etc. My observation over the past year is that the deciding factor for kids like you is the overall feel of UCF and the awesome financial package, as opposed to anything unique about the BHC as compared to peer institutions.