I signed up for my first semester classes. I have 17 hours (plus 1 for an honors action program). Also, I signed up for the honors version of a class whenever I could. I have 3 departmental honors classes (MATH 145, SP 201, EN 103) and 1 honors foundation class (UH 210) which add up to 13 honors hours (plus 1) in one semester. Is this too much? Are the honors version of classes really that much harder than the regular versions?
IMO, this is not too much, on paper. The fact that you’re questioning it means that you will take it seriously and probably do well. 16 credit hours in 1 semester is about average for you to graduate on time. The Honors sections for 145 and 103 are (usually) not more difficult, but will be more in-depth, given smaller classes. If you have had honors or AP classes in high school, you will be fine. I question the Honors section of SP201, tho. You might find that extra challenging, but I have no direct experience with honors FL classes, that’s just my gut feel. If you’re a native speaker, or are really good at Spanish, then go for it. But first, contact the professor and the aide directly and ask what, in their opinion, is the difference between honors and regular section, and then go from there. Good luck!
Just an FYI, when my daughter was a freshman (back in 2012), she was signed up for 9 honors credits first semester. She got an e-mail from the University telling her she had too many honors classes and suggesting she not take so many. One was CBH (required for her), one was EN 103 (which is not more difficult than EN 101, IMO, and necessary to avoid taking 2 semesters of freshman composition, which she didn’t want to do), one was Outdoor Action (over before the semester even starts) and one was a single credit common book experience class. In no way was this excessive, so she ignored the e-mail and nothing came of it. I have no idea how many honors credits one had to take to get this e-mail, or if they still do this, but if you’re comfortable with what you’re taking, I see no reason not to take the honors classes. My suspicion is that there were only so many honors seats available and they were more concerned with some students monopolizing too many of those seats than they were with students being overwhelmed by honors classes, but I really have no idea what the motivation was.
http://math.ua.edu/undergraduate-program/advising-guidelines/
Did you have placement tests for math and Spanish? Did you talk to an advisor?
Yes. I placed into Calc 1 (by ACT score) and Spanish 201 (by getting a 413 on the placement test) and chose to take the honors versions. My advisor at bama bound did not talk to me about honors vs. regular versions of classes. She spent like five seconds reading my class list and put a check mark and a signature. That’s why I am wondering if I made the right choice by taking the honors versions.
As I already noted, be encouraged to contact the professor of the class directly via email over the summer (and the aide in the class, too, if possible) and ask for their opinion. The advisors at BB - no offense - are dealing with 100s of kids over the summer from all walks of life in many different programs. A Spanish professor is only dealing with ~25 students, most of whom will never contact him outside of class.
Did you have Calc in HS? Or only precalc?
What level Spanish?
I agree with @aeromom to contact the departments.
I took the stats route for math in high school. But I did have precalc, and I had a 34 math ACT. As for Spanish, I took Honors Spanish 4 this year.
Anyway, I will contact the Spanish professors to get their input. I’m not as worried about math and english.
Sometimes the honors Calc version is very proof based. Does the ACT math test any Calculus knowledge?
@bamagirl12 Seeing that you have only gone thru pre-Calc, Calc I is going to be a challenge for sure. A 34 on math for ACT only means that you are good thru pre-Calc.
I only say that from my experience, BS engineering, and from my twins experience. Both had a 34+ ACT but found AP Calc BC very challenging. In fact, both are starting with Calc I at UA. One in Honors and the other not.
http://blog.prepscholar.com/whats-tested-on-act-math-concepts-subjects-and-skills
I would be hesitant to take college level Calc 1 honors as your first Calc class. Maybe Spanish honors depending on what Spanish department says, and maybe English honors.
@MYOS1634, what do you think?
I agree that you should only take calculus honors if you intend to go into math for a major, or are into stem, and I’m not sure pre-calculus is the right preparation for it. Indeed, typically, honors calculus is like a different 'type’of math track that involves writing proofs - more abstract than what most students would do.
What do you hope to major in? Is calculus even necessary? If not, taking college statistics applied to your major or math for citizenship would make more sense. If calculus is necessary for your major, just take the regular version (NOT the stem version but whatever is applied or for business majors unless you’re majoring in stem.)
foreign language honors tends to focus less on grammar and drills, and more on culture, history, debates…
We just cames back from Bama Bound and the advice from the HC was not to take too many honors. She recommended 3 credits at the most for each semester. She has seen too many students try and take on too much, especially engineering students.
Back in 2012, son took 10 honors credit (1 credit was outdoor action) + a 300 level Spanish course his first semester. We also got the email beth’s mom mentioned above and also opted to ignore it based on information I had found here. Son felt very prepared for the courses he chose to take as honor’s and had spent 6 weeks on a high school study abroad program in Mexico so was comfortable starting in the upper level Spanish course.
The thing about engineering is there are few if any departmental honors courses, so students need to get the honors credits through the core courses which are usually done earlier or plan on taking the courses as honors by contract to get the honors credits later (honors by contract is establishing an agreement with the instructor to do additional work to get honors credit for a course that is not honors).
My son wound up with a 4.0 GPA that semester, actually the best semester GPA he’s had his entire time at UA.
I do not understand the goal of taking a lot of Honors credits. Maybe I am just not understanding.
The only benefit, I see, of taking a Honors class in a core course is if it is in your major, i.e. Calc, Chem, Physics for engineering, and you know it will be challenging. The benefit with that is the smaller class size so you get to know the Prof better and you stay out of the large lecture halls.
That is why my DS is taking Honors Chem I even though he had AP Chem (Not taking Honors Calc I even though had AP Calc BC). DD is taking Honors Calc I because had AP Calc BC.
Unfortunately, when I went to college there was no Honors and the engineering core courses were taken in lecture halls of 200 - 300 students with recitation taught by grad students who could not speak English (unfortunately for me).
When you have a group project, it’s easier if you’re in Honors because most students actually pull their weight. When you’re in a discussion-based class, there’s less time devoted to checking whether the reading has been understood and more time spend actually interpreting it, contrasting with previous sources, etc.
However, Calculus Honors at the college-level tends to be proof-based, and thus more theoretical/abstract, which is hard even for engineers (future pure math majors would love it though). And not a good choice for students who aren’t into hard science/abstract math.
To graduate with the honors designation you have to complete, I believe, 18 hours of honors credits before graduating (my son has completed all 18 of those hours in his first 3 years of classes, so does not feel as if he has to take a specific course just to get the honors credit during his final year of courses).
While the equivalent of 6 courses does not seem very demanding, especially in the engineering curriculum it can be difficult to find such classes to fit in during your later years.
In my experience, it is much easier for engineering students to take the majority of those in the first two years when they have the opportunity to take lower level courses with the honors designations. To my knowledge none of the upper division engineering courses are offered as honors courses and since many of them are already demanding courses, students may not want to feel as if they must take them honors by contract.
There are many honors courses, specifically reserved for freshman that not only provide credit for core humanities requirements, but also provide honors credits that it’s easier to take early in the college career.
I just reviewed the requirements for honors and confirmed 18 credit hours are needed. It is also possible to take 500 level courses for honors credits, which is a good option for upper division engineering students that still need to complete honors credits.
Students can elect to take some non-honors-designated courses as “honors-by-contract”. It always sounded like a load of extra work to me, tho.
The advice to take Honors sections within your 1st few years is sound. IF you want to keep your Honors College designation/membership.
@bamagirl12 - DS17 and I were at UA today for a visit . The guy that did the Honors information session said that they recommend you take the honors version only in classes that you are really comfortable with the subject. He told an engineering major that he should take 1 of the honors courses in either chem,physics or math. That he would not recommend doing more than 1 because it would probably be too much. I can’t remember his name but he is one of the people students talk to when they are trying to figure out how to fit honors classes in their schedule. So based on that I think you maybe taking too many honors classes first semester.