<p>Can anybody take the Honors Courses at Michigan? I'm on pickaprof.com looking at what classes I'd like to take for Engineering in the Fall. All the honors courses for math, chem, and physics have crazy high average GPA's (like 3.5+). I figured I'd load my schedule up with the honors and the applied honors courses to save my GPA. I'm hoping to have a 3.4+ in Engineering by Junior year when I apply for a pilot slot through AFROTC.</p>
<p>honors courses are easy and ridiculously grade inflated. As an engineering major, always use LSA and honors classes to bring up your GPA, they are a lot easier when compared to your engineering classes. Tip on engineering 100, DO NOT CHOOSE DAIDA.</p>
<p>Why are the honors courses easier? Do you still learn as much? I'm also going into engineering at U of M. What calculus sequence do you recommend (assuming I qualify for all of them)? I'm thinking about taking the one with applications, rather than one of the theoretical sequences.</p>
<p>I'm gonna' be taking the Calc BC exam this May, but I don't know if I want to use the credits quite yet (if I score a 4 or 5). I'm also taking the Physics C exam so I have some knowledge with the Physics courses already.</p>
<p>For the math sequence I planned on taking:</p>
<p>MATH 185 Honors Calc I
MATH 156 Applied Honors Calc II
MATH 255 Applied Honors Calc III
MATH 256 Applied Honors Calc IV </p>
<p>For the Physics:
PHYS 160 Honors Physics I
PHYS 161 Honors Mech Lab
PHYS 260 Honors Physics II
PHYS 261 Honors E&M Lab</p>
<p>I plugged in the first two years of courses into Excel with the average GPA's that are posted on pickaprof.com and it came out to 3.30+. Not too bad. Now I'm just wondering if these honors classes are going to be worth it and will I learn the same material that I would in regular classes. Finally, is it hard to get into these classes, because sometimes I see they're only offered 3-4 times.</p>
<p>Honors courses aren't "easier", just easier to get a good grade in. You'll probably cover more material, but if you work hard you'll get a good grade. In the regular versions of most classes, a large portion of your grade are exams which are made to be extremely difficult (even if you know the material well).</p>
<p>I don't really know how much of a difference there is between the "applied honors" and "regular honors" versions of courses, at least for calc I-III. In differential equations ("calc IV"), the main difference would probably be in the applied class more of your problems would be given in the context of real-world applications, and you might not cover some of the more theoretical aspects.</p>
<p>As for which classes to take/where to start, test out of as many classes as you can. You probably won't learn anything you don't already know, and risk getting a bad grade because of tricky exams. So if you get a good enough grade to test out of Calc I/II and Physics 140, you should be starting with calc III and Physics 240/260.</p>
<p>Joshrk22,</p>
<p>Are you allowed to take courses from different sequences (Math 186 to Math 156)? What is the advantage of doing this?</p>
<p>I heard that if you're really smart, you can take the sequence that starts with Math 295 - Honors Math I.</p>
<p>Also, why is pickaprof.com missing a bunch of information on U of M? It's missing the professor ratings and reviews.</p>
<p>My son is now in Math 296. The sequence started out with 42 students in the fall and is now down to 17. I can tell you that he has to work extremely hard on the proofs - probably studies 15 hours a week for this one class.</p>