<p>We heard the honors program is at risk. Is this a big loss?</p>
<p>No, it is not a loss at all. It never had any teeth anyway. My kid was accepted to two colleges where the honors college was a significant thing. At Cal Poly Pomona and UCI he was offered priority registration, special campus housing, special classes with reduced class size, and loads of other opportunities such as special access to internships, a special lounge and even trips to honors events. The Cal Poly SLO honors program offered none of these except some classes and other minor perks. My kid was uninterested in even applying. As far as we were concerned, the entire school itself is an honors program. Others may differ significantly in opinion, but the school is so darn good an honors program was basically unnecessary. That is my completely biased opinion. An honors program at Cal Poly is just not needed.</p>
<p>Yeah, the honors program doesn’t really give you any special advantage. There are a couple sections of some lower division GE classes, like public speaking and English, that may be reserved for honors students, but you don’t get priority registration or anything. You’re also required to complete a few special “honors” courses. I don’t really know what they consist of, but it’s nothing extremely necessary. You do get to live in the cerro vista apartments if you want, but you’re not required to. Even if you do, your roommates probably won’t be other honors students.</p>
<p>Some folks just want to have “graduated with honors” on their resume. That is pretty much the only advantage. I suggest that you just work hard on the grades and graduate Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude or Summa Cum Laude. That will have far more weight on a resume and with potential employers. My kid said Cal Poly is hard enough without honors classes. No need to make it tougher than it already is!</p>
<p>Both of my daughters were interested in the Honors Program at Cal Poly because being out-of-state and not knowing anyone, they thought it would be a good way to meet other like-minded students from different backgrounds, and they liked what the program represented: [Cal</a> Poly University Honors Program - University Honors Programs - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo](<a href=“http://honors.calpoly.edu/]Cal”>http://honors.calpoly.edu/). They are both studying engineering and wanted to live with both engineering and non-engineering students (their roommates are studying business, math, physics, architecture, animal science). They also both wanted to live in Cerro Vista where the Honors Program is housed, so that was a nice benefit for them. My older daughter has since dropped out of the program because of the challenging rigor of being an ARCE, but my younger one would like to remain in it as long as she can. The Cal Poly Honors Program may not have many ‘perks’, but it offers some helpful resources and opportunities, especially for new students.</p>
<p>Attending the Open House weekend with my D. Wonderful weekend! Someone asked President Armstrong at Parent Coffee about Honors Program. He replied that it will likely be discontinued. Said Cal Poly as a school is an honors program.</p>
<p>^^^Agreed!</p>
<p>My daughter, who is currently in the Honors Program, recently received an email from Provost Kathleen Enz Finken stating that the Honors Program will be phased out over the next several years, but will continue to support currently active students by providing classes and other necessary support. Beginning next fall, no new students will be admitted into the program. My daughter can drop out whenever she wants, but is choosing to stay in it for now.</p>
<p>My son wasn’t able to get one of his math honors classes and had to take a regular math class (linear 2, I think). He found out that the math honors classes were much, much harder.</p>