What GPA usually is needed to be in the College Scholars Program?
What are the benefits to having an “honors” designation on the diploma?
To anyone who is part of this program, do you think it is worth the extra work? (ie. Would it help with medical school acceptance?)
Thanks!
There is no GPA cutoff as such but it’s in the 3.9 to 4.0 range for College Scholars.
The benefits? Well, having any distinction will help you stand out, though I’m not sure how much it will help in med school applications.
It’s not much extra work. All honors seminars count towards AXLE, so it’s just like a regular class that helps you fulfill requirements. You don’t even need to take honors seminars if you don’t want to.
our son applied freshman year and was accepted. he really enjoyed the small seminar discussion courses very much so that Vandy was sort of a cross between attending Davidson and Vanderbilt for him. He had a couple liberal arts school admissions that he was sort of sad to turn down so this was a huge happy place for him. However, he likes discussion and reading and writing papers. The seminars are not limited in any way by your age or year in college so you will be with older students and students with very diverse goals. There were some science majors but many people prefer to use their hours in different and unique and equally interesting ways.
Since all Vandy students are really honors students, many might prefer their labs for building a resume, or their foreign language or their art skills or management course clusters. I personally don’t think that the College Scholar program is so much of an asset for grad school or employment as it is a choice in how you would like to spend time during your academic undergrad years.
I do think that you should try to aim for at least one superlative type focus peculiar to your majors/minors but College Scholars is not really “better” than distinction in your major, or graduating cum laude or distinguishing yourself in any of a hundred different ways. Our son was a College Scholar and was not for instance magna at graduation by a hundredth of a point or so, nor did he fulfill the language standards for Phi Beta Kappa.
Distinctions for honors at Vandy are really not a concern as Vandy has morphed into a school full of very unique people on unique pathways. You have only to make your own path and to do it to your best ability re using your professors, peers and free time very well. I would venture to say one thing (that our son didn’t do!). Mastering at least one or two levels of Calculus and taking on a few quantitative courses like Stats, Econ or computer courses will be something that might come up in many job interviews in business and other settings. If you can advance in a second language, do it. These are the kinds of things employers might ask about.
Wouldn’t the honors thesis be a very beneficial option for those who are that deep into academics and maybe want the extra distinction (actually it just shows that you can take on a project, execute it to high level, and defend it so it is always a good thing)? All departments have that option. If one ever pursues a research project by junior year (and definitely earlier), it should be a consideration. Other options that are probably better are national options such as HHMI fellows (for undergrads) or the Goldwater Scholarship (you have to be in research, have a high GPA, and able to write a research proposal. It also doesn’t hurt to be in a less competitive congressional district). I mention all of this because I think OP is in STEM. Anything that gets you engaged will likely help, especially if your work is disseminated (through publication or presentations, whatever) as those are things that not only enrich you but can go on a resume or CV and are probably more meaningful than some other sorts of “distinctions”.