<p>UA is a humongous state university, which means it probably has some of those dread stadium-size classes.</p>
<p>But what about Honors classes? Do they tend to be smaller? (Please pardon my ignorance…I should have researched this a lot earlier!)</p>
<p>Thanks…</p>
<p>Diane</p>
<p>They are smaller…usually no more than 15. Some of the traditonally larger classes have more students…I think my D’s Spanish Honors class has 25. Her English Honors class had 15 as well as the IHP seminar class.</p>
<p>Woo-hoo!! Thanks much!!!</p>
<p>How many honors classes do students generally take at a time? If one tried to get into as many as possible, how many would they realistically be able to?</p>
<p>Keep in mind that there are two types of honors classes: those run by the Honors College and those run by departments.</p>
<p>Honors College classes are capped at 15 students. Departmental honors classes are larger, but not large. So, for example, last semester my son took an Honors College class called Moral Forum and there were 11 students in his section. He also took a departmental honors course called Honors Microeconomics, which had about 30 students. His English 103 class (Advanced English Comp-- Comic Books and Cartoons: Analyzing the Political and Social Arguments of Visual Rhetoric) had 18 students. By the way, he said this Eng 103 section was his best class and the instructor, Melissa Hull, was awesome.</p>
<p>As for how many honors classes one can take at a time, I’m not sure if there is a restriction. My son said that two or three at a time is plenty for him. Besides which, required general ed course requirements and other pre-requisites make it impossible to take an all-honors load, I believe.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>My kids have tried to take as many as they can. A student can’t take “all honors”…simply because not every class has an honors version or the honors version won’t fit in one’s schedule.</p>
<p>My older son’s first semester…</p>
<p>Honors Frosh Engineering (but he’s now a math major)
honors English Lit
Computer-based honors
International honors - that frosh class…can’t remember the name.
And…some non honors that I can’t remember right now. </p>
<p>As for “big classes” …when I’ve looked over the classes on MyBama…it seems to me that the “really big classes” (like 100-250 kids) are typically the Intro classes…like Intro to Bio…but the labs for these classes are small…like 20 kids. </p>
<p>I don’t think Bama has any of those huge classes that some state schools have - like 800 kids in Into to Sociology.</p>
<p>All Frosh Comp classes are limited to - like - 25 students per class.</p>
<p>And, once you’re in upper division, classe sizes are often very reasonable.</p>
<p>When my D visited, the honors seminar she sat in on had a grand total of five students. Pretty amazing for a school with 30,000 students.</p>
<p>Many of the schools we looked at said “not to be afraid” of honors classes. They say they are not harder, just smaller, and more writing. Is this the casae at UA? Are the classes actually more challenging?</p>
<p>DS plans to minor in classics, and those classes are typically teeny (at any school). Especially Greek. However, he plans to major in history, which can be HUGE (popular with pre-law students, such as DS). </p>
<p>A propos of nothing…just babbling…</p>
<p>Nicollec: from what I’ve heard, the honors classes that my D has taken have been small (10-20 students) with more discussion. And more depth. I wouldn’t say more “work.” Those classes have been her favorite.</p>
<p>LadyDianeski: my D is a history major. She had AP credit for the 100 & 200 level required classes so she was able to go right into the history classes in the areas she is interested in. One class this semester has 16 students, the other one has 38.</p>
<p>*Many of the schools we looked at said “not to be afraid” of honors classes. They say they are not harder, just smaller, and more writing. Is this the casae at UA? Are the classes actually more challenging? *</p>
<p>Challenging as being “more time consuming homework”? Not really. More interesting, more in depth…</p>
<p>I liken honors courses to this…Imagine discussing the same topic with 2 different groups of people …each conversation took one hour. The first group consists of mostly very intelligent people. The second group consists mostly of “very average intelligence” people. You’re going to have 2 VERY DIFFERENT conversations. It’s more likely that you’re going to learn more and hear more “new things” and “new theories” when discussing with the first group…even if you spent the same amount of time…and the first conversation wasn’t more “difficult”, but it probably was more interesting.</p>
<p>Great analogy M2K! One of the schools we looked at actually bragged about how much more homework the honors classes had.</p>
<p>My D has been given “extra” work to do since she was in kindergarten, “since you finished so quickly why don’t you do these extra worksheets.” She learned to work more slowly, doodle more, and sneak a good book into her desk. She loves working at a high level, just hates the busy work!!</p>