I recently got into the honors college at GMU… I’m considering it but I’m not so sure! I applied for biology as I wanted to take the pre med route, but recently I’ve been thinking about engineering.
How is the honors college? Any advice? Also, I went on a visit before I got accepted and I couldn’t tell if I felt like there was much benefit in joining the honors college.
Do they let everyone in? Or is it pretty selective?? Appreciate any and all help! Thank you 
My son got in it too. I think any program that at a huge school that makes it a smaller community is good. Honors has the best dorms and you get early class registration. It looks as though 20-25% of students are offered it. Honors designation on your diploma would be nice. Definitely worth it. I doubt he will be going to GMU though.
@OspreyCV22 Do you know which public universities would compare with the education program of the honors college at GMU?
Honors college appears to accept between 10-15% of incoming freshman. I believe the target # they hope to enroll is around 300. They live in a selective learning community which is near the southside dining center, the Hub Student Union, the Johnson Center, and the library. They also have a private study lounge in the Mason bldg, but it was not shown at the Honors Day Preview or during an Honors Information Briefing. VERY strangely, there’s no Honors designation on the diploma. There are several honors classes and their prefix is “HNRS” which shows up on your transcript. But as far as we could tell, there is no cord, diploma, or recognition for 4 years of extra-hard work. Strange. But in all seriousness, I think you get a t-shirt. Again, strange. The hand out materials for the Honors College are not well-crafted; they don’t spell out the details of the program and as a result, many families we met walked away with lots of unanswered questions. That said, the “I care” factor was VERY high by the Mason staff. They have energy, they have resources, they interact with the students, and there is absolutely no snobby factor. From what we could piece together from the internet and various handouts, the students live together, they take some seminar classes together (to generate intimate discourse and thought), the seminar classes replace some of the “Mason Core” classes, and then you have room to take courses in your major and possibly a minor (which they encourage). One weird policy is that students cannot take classes at nearby Northern Virginia Community College if you ordinarily live nearby, but the classes at NOVA are cheaper and the in-state scholarship money is generally reserved for the non-Northern Virginia applicants. So while the local high schools are heavily courted, they are less competitive for scholarships and they cannot offset costs at the community college in the summers. That said, it’s a pretty campus, we only saw one smoker, there was abundant diversity (which gives you tremendous insights you might not ordinarily consider during those seminar classes), and if you track the ratings you’ll see Mason keeps moving up in ratings. BTW, the CNU Honors College offers scholarship money for all accepted students. Both CNU and Mason have INCREDIBLE President’s piloting the helm.
@DrivingDad Thank you so much for that! I’ll definitely be considering the school… your post was very helpful!!