BURNING QUESTION: ASU's Barrett Honors College- Do I even have a chance?

<p>I’ m a senior in high school, scheduled to graduate in May of 2010. I was already accepted into ASU (no surprise, as their acceptance rate is 94%,) but am now looking to get into their honors college, Barrett. I’m curious if my stats are laughable, or if I have a slight chance of being accepted. I’m so stressed, please someone with knowledge of the program help me! </p>

<p>Here is the run down:</p>

<p>(Female, NM)</p>

<p>GPA- 3.2 unweighted, 3.3 weighted (fairly low for an honors program, I know)
ACT- 28
SAT- 1870 (Math-570, Verbal- 640, Writing-660)
SAT Composite of Verbal and Math- 1210</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:

  • Three or four each year of high school
  • Student government
  • Environmental club
  • Junior varsity tennis and club tennis
  • Youth and government leadership
  • Origami club
  • Students of all colors
  • AND I was captain of the ultimate frisbee team my senior year (hahaha, so cool…)
  • I also completed several community service projects each year of high school</p>

<p>Awards:

  • We took state championships for jv tennis my freshman year
  • I received a letter of commendation from my snooty private school for outstanding history coursework</p>

<p>A.P. Courses:

  • Psychology, World History, U.S. History</p>

<p>Honors Courses:

  • I went to a private school for my freshman and sophomore year where all classes were considered honors
  • My junior year I took Honors English
  • My senior year I’m taking Honors Chemistry</p>

<p>Stats from the ASU Barrett Website:
Current Student Enrollment: 3,259
Average SAT/ACT Scores for incoming students in fall 2009: 1308/29
Average unweighted GPA of entering first-year students: 3.84
Percentage of female students/male students: 54/46%
Percentage of in-state/out-of-state students: 73/27%</p>

<p>Also, as a journalism major, does anyone know if I have a greater chance of getting into the school? I ask this because through Barrett and the Cronkite School for Journalism, you can receive your masters and bachelors in four years, a duel degree only offered to journalism majors at ASU.</p>

<p>Realistically, I’m not an outstanding candidate, but I’m not a terrible one either.
So to those of you in the school or who know more about admissions, what are my chances??</p>

<p>Write really good essays.</p>

<p>To my knowledge your major doesn’t effect your chances.</p>

<p>My essay is impeccable. Writing is obviously my strong suit, (hence the major,) so hopefully my essay accompanied by my recommendation letters will help bolster my average GPA and fairly good test scores. Thanks for your response! I really hope I get in.</p>

<p>the only thing i want to say is a sub-600 on the math SATI is not a “fairly good Sat score” it is just a tad above average. The SATI has at most high school geometery concepts as the most advanced math on there. This might tell them that you are infact not ready for honors level work in math. And Despite the fact that you are a journalism major (and your SAT scores are ‘fairly good’ at English) you will have to take some math iin the college, and be able to handle it. </p>

<p>Now as a side note, if you are in State or out of state probably will have a lot to do with it as well. (their OOS is pretty competitive) especially checking out the sat score averages. (1440? thats over a 720 on both cr and math)</p>

<p>oh and i don’t think they look at writing. but feel free to correct me</p>

<p>Are you from New Mexico or are you National Merit?</p>

<p>I got in = ) and to answer various user’s questions:</p>

<p>No I am not a National Merit Finalist.
No I do not live in AZ.
Yes, they do require you to write an essay, and I’m fairly sure that’s what my admittance was based on, seeing as I’m horrible at math.
Also, as a journalism student, I will only be required to take one math course, and I’m working with a tutor at the moment in an attempt to bring up my math proficiency. </p>

<p>Thank you all for your advice! If anyone needs tips, I’ll certainly let you know what I apparently did correctly to get into the program. HOWEVER, I truly have no idea what they based their decision on.</p>

<p>I am also an out of state student. I have the same GPA as you both weighted and non weighted, but my ACT is a 30. My essay is also amazing. How much scholarship money did you get as a non resident?</p>

<p>As a non resident I only received $10,000. Are you in Barrett?</p>

<p>no. i think im gonna take normal classes my first year and transfer in later if i go to ASU.</p>

<p>Asu prefers in state students in barrett, which makes the chances of an out of state getting in a little tougher.</p>

<p>Would you be in tempe for your freshman year or downtown?</p>

<p>Congratulations on your acceptance. My DD is a current Freshman there and LOVES it. </p>

<p>Early enrollment, the new facilities are fantastic, having classes right where you live, small # of students in all honors classes. The ability to make a regular class an honor’s course with an Honor’s contract. Study abroad programs and the cafeteria is not bad at all.</p>

<p>Caution, there are some additional expenses associated with being in the BHC.</p>

<p>oxolojo- I’ll be downtown my first year.</p>

<p>Bandie mom- How do the Honors contracts work?</p>

<p>In a class that is already an ‘honors’ class, I don’t believe you have to do an honors contract, since receiving honors credit upon completion of the course is already implied. However, you can take classes that are not designated as ‘honors,’ yet still receive honors credit. Most professors teaching ‘non-honors’ classes already have their contracts designed, or else you will just have to go talk to them after class or during their office hours to work one out. But pretty much, they can’t tell you no, they won’t do an honors contract. An honors contract is basically just your agreement that you will do some extra work in a ‘non-honors’ class in order to receive the honors credit. Typically, it’s some kind of extra project, but of course it’s up to each individual professor’s discretion.</p>

<p>I don’t want to burst your excited bubble, but I have to say, the honors college really isn’t that great. In fact, it’s a bit of a waste of time. I don’t like the atmosphere around it; 95% of the people in the honors college are entitled, stuck up kids who think they crap gold. If you like that kind of environment, then awesome, but if you don’t, the ‘extras’ you get by being in the honors college honestly are not worth it.</p>

<p>In response to Ritsuka:</p>

<p>Professors can actually say no to doing honors contracts, so it would be good to plan for that possibility.</p>

<p>I think the extras alone are worth it, even if you don’t like this described “atmosphere” which I completely disagree with. Being able to register before anyone else at the university is the best benefit of the honors college because you are competing with thousands of other students to complete degrees in the same time period. I’ve woken up at 7am on registration day, gotten in a class, and it would be full by the afternoon. Not only that, but certain companies exclusively offer internships to honors students, there are study abroad opportunities only offered to honors students, professors prefer to work with honors students over others for research and grants because we are motivated to do our thesis, and ASU pretty much lets us do what we want as far as taking classes in the order we’d like, allowing petitions to go through faster, etc…it’s really worth all of the effort. </p>

<p>You really just have to want to tap into all the resources in order to find them. Any honors advisor is more than willing to help you figure out a plan for your specific needs, which you won’t find in any other department across the university (some advisors in other departments recommend taking longer to complete your degree when it’s not even necessary so ASU can still profit from students). You won’t see that in the honors college. </p>

<p>Just because you see this supposed “atmosphere” is just because you haven’t found the right people inside it. The honors college is extremely diverse, so it’s really hard for me to imagine someone not being able to find another person or group to get along with and support each other through the college experience.</p>

<p>I went to private school for all of elementary school, middle school, and three years of high school. I went to two very prestigious schools and I understand the somewhat arrogant environment that often comes with being an elite student. Honestly, for all the benefits of the Honors College, I probably can deal with the conceited individuals that are probably scattered throughout it. Thanks for the warning though- I really did dislike the kids who thought money or intelligence made them Godly. But I probably can navigate that just fine. Also- thank you both for the info on Honors Contracts, I’ll certainly take advantage of that!</p>

<p>Such an entitled atmosphere does not exist at BHC. There will always be jerks in all walks of life, but Barrett is not any more full of them than any other part of ASU.</p>

<p>To lablondebebe: the people at the honors college aren’t entitled, stuck up kids. I don’t know where people get that from. I haven’t met a single entitled person here. And if you work hard and distinguish yourself, Barrett can open a lot of doors for you. It has for me. Message me if you want further details. But just know that the people here are SO down-to-earth and friendly. Trust me, I hate stuck up people more than anyone… that’s why I decided against going to Duke and a few other schools I got into. Honestly, everyone here at ASU is really laid back and fun. And you’re getting a really good education for an amazing price. Also, no one here strikes me as one of those rich, entitled kids… a lot of people here are working one or two jobs to make ends meet. It’s a good program… the problem is that a lot of people sit back and expect Barrett to do the work for them. If you talk to faculty/deans about your ideas and interests, they will do everything they can to open doors for you. You just have to be proactive. Again, message me if you want more details :)</p>

<p>Sorry, I didn’t mean to insinuate that people at Barrett were stuck up. I was just replying to one of the above posts talking about Barrett students’ elitist attitudes, and was saying that I could deal with those attitudes because I have before. But I didn’t mean to agree with that thought.</p>

<p>Don’t worry blonde, I think most of us were focusing on Rit’s comment.</p>

<p>Congrats, how is Barrett? Im instate and have a 1250 CR+M, do you think I’ll get in?</p>