<p>What is the purpose of taking honors classes? How does taking them or not taking them as a freshman later affect grad school and job placement? How do they affect your way of life at the university?</p>
<p>Bump! Bump!</p>
<p>Well, as you might imagine, it depends on the class. There aren’t many “honors” classes at schools like Chicago. I think it mostly applies to intro level math, science, comp sci, and econ courses, with some upper level classes in those fields also bearing an honors designation. And there certainly isn’t a uniform meaning or level of difficulty conveyed by honors. Taking honors analysis, for example, is undoubtedly more challenging than honors econ (the econ department only started offering “honors” sequences this past year, switching from “turbo”). </p>
<p>One obvious benefit is that you will learn more by taking honors than you would in a general sequence (e.g. honors vs. general chemistry). You will also open yourself up to the possibility of taking higher level courses in some cases. In math, for instance, you can take a more advanced track through 160s, honors analysis etc. than you’d be able to if you instead opted for 150s and regular analysis. If you’re thinking of grad school in a field it’s probably a good idea to at least attempt the relevant honors track. If you’re thinking of med school you’ll probably want to salvage your GPA and forgo honors classes. No one can really tell you what an employer is going to think when they see the word honors on your transcript. It’s probably a good idea not to worry about what employers will think anyway. People who take honors classes usually have to make a slight adjustment in scheduling because they get more work, to the point where it can be noticeable to their friends, but again this will vary on person, other classes, other activities, the class in question etc.</p>
<p>If you’re an incoming first year/prospective student, you’ll learn all about this pretty quickly after coming here. You don’t have to worry about it now.</p>
<p>Is it possible to take the second part of an honors sequence if you do exceptionally well in the first part of the regular sequence? Particularly, in the econ department? I wouldn’t do this for the purposes of getting a better grade in the first part of the sequence and thus boosting my GPA, it’s just that I have done a lot of reading on my own but have never taken a structured class so I’m not very sure if I’d be able to handle an honors sequence right off the bat…</p>
<p>Yes, I think it is possible in some classes. Some course descriptions mention this. You can also start in Honors and drop down ever after a week or two without any adverse consequences.</p>
<p>The traditional UChicago student loves learning for it’s own sake, not for a resume or for some future job. </p>
<p>The purpose of taking those honors courses is to delve so deeply into a subject that it completely takes over your life and hurts so good from an overabundance of academic bliss. </p>
<p>Why? Because at UChicago one can.</p>
<p>ClassicRockerDad-that was such an amazing post. Made me smile actually. Just wanted to let you know.</p>