Chances of Getting Accepted into Honors College/EC Scholars

Colleges and Universities A-Z East Carolina University
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Hello everyone!

I’m a high school senior who was recently accepted to attend East Carolina University. I got my letter in the mail on Friday which contained an invitation to apply for the Honors College. I’m planning on starting the application process tomorrow. I’d really like to be accepted, especially to the EC Scholars program, but I’m not sure what my chances are of that. Is there anyone who’s in the honors college or knows someone who is who has an idea of the likelihood of my acceptance?

I have a 4.25 GPA, I took the majority of my classes junior year at a local community college through the dual enrollment program and I plan on taking a few more next semester. So far I’ve earned 27 transferable credit hours there and I should have about 8 more by the time I graduate high school. I got a composite score of 32 on the ACT (35 in English, 27 in Mathematics, 35 in Reading, and 31 in Science). I never took the SAT, as I was told it wasn’t necessary to take both tests.

I’m active in my homeschool co-op SGA and my church’s youth group. I also sing in the choir at my church. However, I haven’t gotten much done in terms of community service since my freshman year of high school as I’ve moved twice since then and the area I’m in now doesn’t have many community outreaches in place that I’ve been able to find. I’ve been trying to find something to do during my senior year at least, but I’m afraid my lack of community service may be what keeps me from getting accepted, at least into the more prestigious programs.

I’m fairly confident in my essay writing skills, so I’m not too terribly concerned about that area of the application, and I’ve already gotten someone to agree to write a recommendation letter for me who I’m confident will do a good job. I had the opportunity to meet with some of the employees of the honors college and go over what it was about and what it involved, and they seemed to be very much focused on selecting students who have a strong vision and passion for what they want to do with their lives. I’m very passionate about what I want to do, so I’m hoping that will be evident in my application.

Also if there’s any information anyone could give me about what the Honors College is like, it would be much appreciated.

Sorry for the long post! Thank you for your time, I really appreciate the help.

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Congrats on your acceptance! The EC Scholars program is very competitive from what I have heard, not uncommon for folks graduating first in their class and with high test scores to not get accepted into EC Scholars. I think you are a safe bet for the honors college though.
Here is an interesting presentation on the EC honors college from a student

https://prezi.com/vhqoqvmmxdo_/ecu-honors-college/

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My son got accepted to ECU and received his acceptance letter last week. According to the prezi you shared above, his 1200 SAT and 4.0 GPA should have earned him an invitation to the Honors College. Is there some other criteria he did not meet ?

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When we visited, they said they average GPA for HC was 3.5. Ave ACT was 27 and Ave SAT was 1270.

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I’m really hoping the Honors College judges use more than SAT/ACT scoring as the be-all standard. My son has found out the hard way that high-tier colleges “skim” the applicant pool based on really high test scores and put less merit into high GPA & AP/Honors course load . He has a 5.0652 weighted with 5 AP/Honors classes this year and not gotten any major scholarship interviews.
My advice is spend the money and get your student into a really good SAT/ACT prep class. Home study like flash cards & books won’t cut it. In our case , he wound up with decent scores of 1280 SAT & 27 ACT, but these scores are limiting unless unless the GPA/AP load is considered in the mix.

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@notkrap I agree 100%. My daughter has had a similar experience.