<p>My son received a letter in the mail today from Rutgers inviting him to apply for the Honor's Academy. He would need to complete a short application with a 500 word essay by 3/15 with a decision expected by 4/1. This raised a few questions.</p>
<ol>
<li>How does the Honor's calculus compare to the regular calculus? Is it a special section of Calc I? Would he be well prepared for this if he's currently taking AP calc BC?</li>
<li>The letter also mentions the need to do well on the math placement test. When would this test be given if he is to receive a decision by 4/1?</li>
</ol>
<p>What calc is your son taking this year? Was he AP in high school? AP Cal BC has been a challenge for my son (he’s learning the lesson this year that you really need to invest quality time each day to be successful) so it my be beneficial to him to take the 151/152 or 151H/152H sequence his first year, even if he scores a 4/5 on the AP exam. </p>
<p>Also, rualum, so your son couldn’t have known definitively whether he was accepted into the Honors program prior to enrolling at Rutgers and applying for housing, right? How did that work out?</p>
<p>What calc is your son taking this year? Was he AP in high school? AP Cal BC has been a challenge for my son (he’s learning the lesson this year that you really need to invest quality time each day to be successful) so it my be beneficial to him to take the 151/152 or 151H/152H sequence his first year, even if he scores a 4/5 on the AP exam. </p>
<p>Thoughts? ------</p>
<p>My son ended up not going to Rutgers. He did take BC in high school, did well, and AP’d out of Calc 1 in his current school. He did not have a problem with Calc 2. I agree that if BC was a challenge that it may help him to start out in Calc 1 to reinforce what he knows and give him a strong foundation.</p>
<p>Also, rualum, so your son couldn’t have known definitively whether he was accepted into the Honors program prior to enrolling at Rutgers and applying for housing, right? How did that work out? --------</p>
<p>Even though he was offered a Presidential Scholarship for SOE, he still had to apply for the honors program. He was accepted, but had not yet applied for housing. One of the deans told us that you should get honors housing even if you apply for housing later on in the process.</p>
<p>My dd got the same letter - can anyone tell me whether the honors track has benefits - like smaller classes, better profs, better opportunities for internships, etc?</p>
<p>The honors program is open to around 80 freshman engineers and is guaranteed if you got a Presidential Scholarship. As far as classes are concerned, you would take the honors sequence in Calculus, Physics, and Engineering Mechanics: Statics and Dynamics (if applicable to your major). </p>
<p>For Calculus, there are two options: Math 151H/152H/251H, which is the honors sections of the regular Calculus sequence for engineers and math/physics majors, or Math 191/192/291 which is the sequence for honors math/physics majors. The 151H, etc are nice because you have a smaller group of students and you get three classroom periods a week rather than two larger lectures and a recitation. The 191 sequence tends to be more theoretical as it is intended for honors math majors. I only recommend it if you really love math and want to know the theory. Honors engineers get placed into one track or the other based on Math placement and SAT score. If you get placed in one and want the other, it is very easy to switch by talking to a dean (and both sequences take place at the same time, so it won’t mess up your schedule).</p>
<p>The Honors Physics sequence takes the physics sequence which most engineers complete over 4 semesters and makes it into 2 semesters. There is a lab to accompany both semesters. There is also Honors Physics III for certain majors which require it (BME and MechE).</p>
<p>Honors Statics is an accelerated version of the Statics course all engineers take. It has two classroom sections rather than two lectures and a recitation. There was also a major group project when I took it where you had to design a bridge. The Honors Dynamics course is the same way: an accelerated version of the normal Dynamics class.</p>
<p>So in general, being in the honors program gets you smaller class sizes in a few classes and the increased exposure to professors that comes with that. While there isn’t a formal internship/research program just for being in the honors program, it definitely helps when emailing/talking to professors that you can say you are in the honors program. One of the biggest issues with undergrads doing research is not being able to maintain grades while also doing research. When professors see that a student is able to handle more rigorous coursework, they feel better offering research positions.</p>
<p>Regarding Calculus, if you do well in Calc BC, I would recommend taking the credit and going straight to Math 251/291. Keep in mind that mathematics at the university level is more rigorous than that of high school. Getting a 5 on the AP exam is no guarantee of success in later math courses. You are going to need to devote some time to it.</p>
<p>If you just skated by in AP Calc AB/BC, it’s probably best to retake Calc I or II. Later math and engineering courses are going to expect that you can do the math and in most cases are not going to reteach it. </p>
<p>Regarding difficulty, the honors sections of 151/152/251 are not much more difficult than the other sections. It’s more the class size that is different. On the other hand, 191/192/291 are VERY different from 151, etc. If you do not like theory, do not take this sequence.</p>
<p>If you did not receive an invitation to apply to the honors program, can you request one and from where? The student is well above the general requirement for Honors at SOE ( M>750, CR+M>1500, UW GPA: 4.0, numerous leaderships and awards)</p>
<p>^ OK, with those stats, the student should be a Presidential Scholar and should have an automatic nomination for the Honors Academy (see posts 5 and 7 above). Even if he is not a Presidential Scholar, I think you can safely assume that the letter with the application is delayed in the mail. </p>
<p>The student can certainly email Dean Jeffery Rankin, who was very responsive to the email that my son just sent to him.</p>
<p>@Rhetorical13 – OK, my son was admitted into the Engineering Honors Academy. Aside from the honors classes and housing for the first two years, are there any other perks? Are there activities and events for the Honors students? Do they get any special advising from the SOE deans? Do they have better connections to Study Abroad programs? Or is strictly about access to Honors classes?</p>
<p>The thing that is bugging my son about Rutgers is that the other schools to which he has been accepted and are his finalists (Stony Brook, UMBC, NJIT) all seem to offer much more opportunity to get hands on (research, internships) as early as the freshman year. Moreover, their honors programs essentially create a “concierge” type of experience where he can get connections to key faculty who can really help him customize his experience. Moreover, even though we’re NJ residents, Rutgers is at least twice the OOP cost of any of these three schools.</p>
<p>The housing is for four years actually. Just wanted to correct that.</p>
<p>You are definitely right to an extent that the Honors Program here isn’t quite as “concierge” like as the other places you described. You aren’t going to be handed research or job offers just for being in the Honors Program (there are approximately 80 people per class year, obviously can’t guarantee everyone a research position). I remember other colleges saying that their honors programs were more like as you described, although I can’t actually confirm if that is the case. Basically, the honors engineering program at Rutgers gets you first and foremost the honors classes which are in general much better than the regular versions and the better housing. The research opportunities, study abroad, other connections, etc more or less follow because you can say “I am taking these honors classes, I am advanced in my major,” etc. So if you want to get involved in research during freshman year or line up internships, you need to be proactive and email professors, get involved in organizations; it will not just be given to you. At the same time, being able to say that you are in the honors program will definitely get you some recognition from a professor when you ask for research, as they know that you are already above the level of the average student. Also, they just recently started an Industry Mentorship program for people in the honors program where you are assigned to alumni working in industry and get networking opportunities through it.</p>
<p>So my main point is that honors engineering program inclusion at Rutgers is not an automatic gateway to research, internships, etc. It is something that can definitely aid you in getting those things, but at the end of the day you need to do well in your classes, go to office hours to get professors to know you, read the research of professors that you are interested in working with, go to on campus networking events, and create a resume that will enable you to get the research, internships, jobs that you want. The Honors Program designation is just one part of this resume.</p>
<p>Hopefully that helps you make your decision. Just be weary of the promises from other colleges. I mean they could be advertising how the honors programs at their institutions guarantee you all these opportunities, but really the only way to know is to talk to students who are actually involved.</p>
<p>Thank you! I am surprised to find out about the housing, especially since the program really has two parts (with the second part being the Slade program in Jr/Sr years). </p>
<p>Keep in mind that none of the other schools guaranteed anything! By nature, Stony Brook, UMBC and NJIT are much more encouraging of underclassmen being involved in research or internships – for honors and non-honors students – than Rutgers. Moreover, the heads of the respective honors programs have pretty good connections to faculty and industry so that they can more easily point you in the right direction (and perhaps even reach out in advance of your effort to connect). But they were all very clear that no one is going to simply hand you a research or internship opportunity!</p>
<p>One more question about the SOE Honors Academy: are there any cohort building activities – trips, events, symposia – that are for the Honors Academy students?</p>
<p>To my knowledge there aren’t any. With regard to undergraduate research, take a look at the Aresty Research Center page. They have an entire program that connects undergrads to professors and provides stipends for doing research. The most competitive program is the Summer Science program, which is open only to rising sophomores and provides housing for the summer while doing research in addition to a $3k stipend. The opportunities are definitely there.</p>