Does anyone have any experience with this program? What are the perks? How many business honors courses are offered? Is the job placement significantly better for those within the program? How is the advising?
We are on our way there at this very moment. I’ll let you know after our visit. 
@Irreplaceable, we just got back from Temple and I have to say I was completely surprised! I guess I anticipated a campus riddled with police arresting people or something - I have an overactive imagination. It was nothing like that. It IS in the city so it is not spread out. Police are definitely present. At no time however, did I feel unsafe. This was my biggest reason for never really considering Temple before. The man we were supposed to meet with e-mailed my son yesterday as he had a death in the family and would be unable to attend. In spite of his personal immediate family emergency, he also managed to make arrangements for my son to still attend the “event” which in our case was a Fox Business Honors - Economics Honors Day. Apparently my son and one other student were the only ones who signed up for this particular specialized day. Our day started with a meeting with someone from the economics dept. (who was not a part of Fox, but a part of the Honors Program). From there, my son was escorted by another student who is a senior (and going on a job interview this afternoon - I forget who with) sat in on a Microeconomics Honors Class. He said there were about 20 people in the class. My son thought the teacher was really good, and from what he heard from other students in Fox Honors, they really do give you all the best teachers. From there we met at Fox Honors office who provided us with a student escort to view the dorm (1300). We got to see his room which was one of the apartments on the 4th floor. It was nice enough. To me, a dorm is a dorm no matter what you call it and no matter what you do to it. 
It does have air conditioning which is a plus! Again, I felt safe - had to leave my license at the front desk while I was in the dorm. After the dorm tour, we got to go back to Fox Honors. There we met with someone (I forget her title but she is one of the advisors) as well as a panel of 4 other Fox Honors students. One was a senior who will be graduating in May. He already has a job with PricewaterhouseCooper in Philly. The other kids were Juniors and have all had internships and really seemed to genuinely love their experience at Temple. One thing that both my husband and I are especially impressed with was the advising for Fox Business Honors. They only invited 59 kids into Business Honors for next year (don’t know how many will actually accept).They don’t have “office hours” because they are always available. When we entered the office to Fox Honors there were maybe 6 kids hanging out with the advisor and just talking. When our discussion began with the panel of students, all 4 of the students testified about the amazing advising that they received and how they could just come on in to ask questions or go over their schedules or even which professors they should take. There are 2-3 advisors for the kids so the advisors really get to know the students in Fox Honors over the years. As a result, when the advisors see something such as internship opportunities or research that she knows student X is interested in, she immediately calls them to talk to them about the opportunity. As parents, we really felt that the Fox School Honors kids are treated royally. As for job placement, Fox Honors kids seem to have a high placement. I forgot to ask the “adults” about job placement, but did talk to a student. He told me that he didn’t know the exact placement but everyone he knows has a job or is considering an offer. One thing we want to check on is the starting salaries. One of the students who was an economics major (not in Fox) just accepted an offer for $48,000. I’m not sure, but this sounds low if you are living in Philly. Perhaps I’m wrong. I’d like to compare economics majors from Fox to the economics majors in Arts & Science (I can’t remember for sure if it’s Arts & Science, I’ll have to look it up later). We ended the day with pizza and informal discussion with some kids/professors from economics and got to hear what they are doing and where they are headed. The professors talked about various research scholarships that they are willing to work with students on,… My son noticed that the business school does not seem to have a “student run portfolio” (I think that was what he called it) but he didn’t ask about this. Some of the other schools he looked at had this and it was obvious they had it because they had TVs hanging that showed the current stock exchange. He also asked about some College Fed Challenge. Perhaps you know what this is - I don’t! haha! They said that they don’t have it but they would be thrilled to work with him to get it started there. Other students then talked about how that is true. The professors really do work with the kids to show initiative and make things happen. Overall, we were definitely pleased with what we saw. It may not have had all the bells and whistles that some business schools had, but we felt that the atmosphere and the guidance and encouragement and research opportunities were something that must not be overlooked. My son came away not knowing for sure he will do as he does have a few great options. He is still holding out hope for a few other schools that he applied to but they are reaches either financially, academically, or both. After today, Temple has definitely moved way up on our list.
Oh, I forgot, my son was so engrossed in the informal economics conversation and pizza lunch that he only ate one slice and was hungry when we finished up. We stopped at a food truck. Chicken Heaven was delicious - he got the buffalo chicken sub and loved it!
Sorry but I want to correct something from my Post #2. My son just had a chance to look at Temple’s website and they do have an investment program. Here is the link. Sorry! We missed that on the tour today! http://www.theowlfund.com/
i guess he is going to Temple then? Glad it was a good day for all!
He hasn’t made up his mind for certain yet. It was a great day though and we just weren’t expecting to LOVE Temple! We want to make sure he doesn’t rush into this decision because he is “disappointed” with his offer from UMD. As big of a fan of UMD as my husband and I are of UMD, we are now fans of Temple as well! It’s a win-win for us! I’ll post once he makes a commitment.
i can’t speak for fox but the honors dept overall def treats the kids well. sounds like it is the same for Fox too. how great for him to have 2 good choices to pick from! if your son goes to Temple, he’d likely end up on 3rd floor of 1300 his first year, which is more classic dorm style. the 4th and 5th floors are reserved for upperclassmen(which i think includes the sophomores). But the 3rd floor is either a single room with 2 people or a 2 bedroom 4 person suite and most are the latter, i think.
Your post confirms what my son told us. I hope he doesn’t wait too long to decide because I don’t want 1300 to fill up and him not be able to get a room. I’m calling tomorrow to find out more info about the dorms and deposits.
@davenmame Thank you for the detailed summary! I fell in love with Temple when I visited several weeks ago but I didn’t have the foresight to ask more questions about the Business Honors program. My parents were apprehensive about me choosing Temple over a higher-ranked (and much more expensive) school, but hopefully the information that the honors students are not in want of job offers will alleviate their nerves.
Also, if it’s not too much trouble, can you post the information you find out about dorms in 1300? I’m still waiting on more colleges so I’m reluctant to place a deposit before April 1st. The website for the Honors LLC (http://honors.temple.edu/honors-experience/living-learning-community-1300) says that as long as the deposit and LLC Application are submitted before May 1st, there should be plenty of space.
@Irreplaceable What are you going to study?
@Irreplaceable, I just talked to someone from Honors, and she said that they have plenty of housing available in 1300. She did say that they like students to apply for housing before April 15th because that gives them a little more time to actually go through the application to verify that students are in fact in Honors and place them, then to see exactly how many rooms they have left. Obviously the longer we wait, the greater the risk. That being said, she also told me that there is a $250 deposit for tuition and $250 deposit for housing. The tuition deposit is refundable, but the housing is not.
@hoangho I’m planning on double majoring in accounting and risk management/insurance.
hi, unless things have changed since last year, it is the tuition deposit that is not refundable, housing is refundable until may 1st and then i think?? it’s partially refundable for awhile after that and the refundable portion keeps dropping the longer you wait. downside is you have to pay tuition depost before you can pay housing. i tried to do housing deposit before tuition deposit last year and it was a no go on that. Good news is that if you end up at Temple, both deposits go towards your fall 2015 costs!
hmmm… thanks for letting us know. I’ll probably sit tight. I think we only need to wait a few more weeks. He just wants to verify the last few schools he is waiting for before making a final decision. I think once April 1st comes, he’ll be ready to commit - I’m just not sure where it will be! lol! I might have a good guess though