What’s the difference between the “University Honors Program,” and the “Women’s Leadership Program in Science, Health, and Medicine”? I am a senior in high school, and am interested in joining the medical field. Which of these programs would be better for a medical path?
The Honors Program is a program that will challenge you academically beyond classes that are available to everyone. You’ll have special classes, guest lecturers, and many networking opportunities. Like other programs at the university, it’ll also help you make friends with like-minded students. The WLP, on the other hand, is less about challenging you academically and more about networking and making friends with other “future leaders.” Further, the WLP is only for you first year at GW while Honors can last your entire time.
As far as which is better, do you mean better for getting into med school or helping you be successful beyond med school? Either way, the answer is “it depends.” The Honors program will look great on a med school app, but you also have to take into consider the potential impact to your GPA. For med school apps, GPA and MCAT scores are the two biggest things. So, if you can successfully be involved in Honors without a major hit to your GPA, that would be a positive on your app. However, if your GPA slides because of the increased academic rigor, it’ll most likely hurt more than help. As far as the WLP, I can’t say for certain whether or not it would help your application to med school. My assumption is no, however. I’d say, though, that as long as you take full advantage of the networking, it can help you land your residency of choice or follow-on places of employment if anyone you’ve met within the program happens to also be in a position to influence those making a decision on you.
Hope this helps.
Hi there! I’m in the university honors program currently! Everything said in the comment above is true - we have our own classes (capped at 15 students), our own advisers, special events and opportunities, and a bunch of other benefits. The honors program will definitely look good on your transcript, and you’ll have to write a thesis at the end. The classes are challenging, but I haven’t found every single one of them to be more difficult than my regular university classes - it always depends on the professor, the structure of the class, and how you learn. For you wanting to go into the medical field, here is one thing to consider: t
The honors program is very liberal arts heavy. Freshman year you’ll take two sciences (you may end up taking general university sciences instead if you’re pre-med, what most science students do) and two philosophy classes. After that you take four more classes that are all in either a “self and society” category or an “arts and humanities” category. The offering of classes changes every semester, and while there have been public health and science related classes, you’re definitely going to be forced into taking some classes completely unrelated to your major. For some people this is good, and it helps them fulfill general education requirements. For others, they find the honors program is “too liberal arts” for them, or they’re taking too many non-major courses, and end up dropping the program. This tends to be more hard sciences, CS, engineering, or maybe finance people, but it’s totally up to the student. You can go on the honors program website and see the offerings this semester, if you’re interested. But all that aside, for me as an international affairs major, the program has provided me with a great community, unique opportunities, and some of the best classes I’ve taken.
I’m not in WLP but it only really is part of your experience freshman year. It would help with networking for sure and exposure to cultural and career related events, and again provide you with a great community. Honors is more like a separate “college” like some universities have, while WLP is more like a cohort of resources. So all in all, depends what you want and what you are considering when you say “better.” Academically, honors is 100% the answer. Either way, you should definitely apply for one or both, as in my opinion they will definitely enhance your experience.
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