Could someone tell me if the Honors College offers the beginning Calculus, Chemistry, and Physics classes for the engineering program? What are the class sizes?
I am also interested to know what the average (and middle 50th percentile, if possible) is for ACT and GPA for Freshman admits to the Honors College.
Could you also discuss your experience, if possible?
I just went to look at my daughter’s schedule. She is an incoming freshman in Honors Engineering. She is taking Calculus 1 and Fundamentals of Engineering Honors Physics. Her Calculus class is big. Lecture has 264 but Recitation is 33. Her FEH Physics class is Physics 1260 (Mechanics, Thermal Physics and Waves) has 75 in Lecture, 25 in Lab and 25 in Recitation. She is not taking Chemistry as her field of engineering doesn’t require it. (Hope this part helps, physics is foreign language to me). I think, if I remember correctly from orientation, you can opt out of the fundamentals of honors courses and just take the beginning/basic ones but still be in Honors.
As far as her acceptance. She graduated 5th in her class with a weighted GPA of 4.1. Her ACT was 27. She was accepted to Ohio State on the first wave in November and accepted into Honors sometime in March of this year.
Hope this helps some. Are you applying to Ohio State this fall?
Yes, both of my kids are applying. DD has 32 ACT w/ W GPA of 4.7 number 17 of 543; DD has 30 ACT w/W GPA of 4.6 number 24 of 543.
I asked because I graduated in engineering in the Stone Age and remember not enjoying the huge lectures in initial Physics and Chemistry. My feeling is Honors gives you a better feel and closer interaction with the Profs.
Are the Honors courses taught by a Prof and the recitation by a TA? Is the TA foreign and if so, does the TA speak good English? I remember taking Physics Recitation and the TA was Chinese and we could not understand him at all.
I graduated from ISU.
Checkout http://honors-scholars.osu.edu
The middle 50% profile (i.e., 25% to 75%) for freshman admits to the fall 2014 freshman class was an ACT score of 32 to 34 and/or an SAT score (Math & Critical Reading) of 1420 to 1510. And top 3% rank in high school class. However, if your numbers are close and if you write a good supplemental essay (Ohio State’s Common Application has a required Honors & Scholars program Essay supplement) and your high school record shows demonstrated interest in research and scholarly pursuits (by taking honors and/or AP classes), then i think you will have a great chance of being admitted. My son was admitted to Honors and he had a 31 ACT and his high school does not post class rank (but his gpa was high enough so that it would have likely been in the top 10% of his high school class).
I don’t know how to tell if they are taught by a professor or TA? I went and looked at the names and they are all American/English names, if that helps. 
I do know, even with my daughter in honors, that her calculus 1 class is a mixture of all different majors, so some science majors are in that class with my daughter. She tested out of calc 1 though but still chose to take it over as a refresher. So maybe calc 2 is a smaller class. My older daughter had trouble in calc 2 and was glad she also refreshed with calc 1 when she first started OSU (she is a senior now).
If I remember right, when my older daughter had her chemistry lecture, it was a big class. Once she got to organic chemistry, it was very small and she loved it and did extremely well (Aced it). She did have a foreign professor but she said he was a hoot and made the lecture interesting.
Only the medical related engineering fields have to take chemistry(biomedical, etc). The others do not. My daughter is majoring in computer and electrical and may end up in mechanical.
Good luck to your kids! From the stats you gave, they should have no trouble getting in to both Ohio State and their Honors program!
I know my daughter’s ACT was lower than the norm. I don’t know what was the deciding factor in admitting her. I am glad they did though! I am guessing it was the combination of her essays, her class rank and her GPA plus her extracurricular activities. She was an exceptional sprinter for the track team. Track was even her topic for her essay, which they say is a big no-no when it comes to writing your college app essay. But hers was about experiencing failure then working hard to try to achieve success. Which happened. She ended up competing at the state level after injuries and failure and brought home 3 medals. So they must’ve been inspired somewhere.
@MomofSprinter Wow, congratulations to you daughter. Her perseverance will help her a lot throughout her life for sure. DD is going BioMed E and DS id going Chem E.
Regarding the refresher idea, I spoke to a Prof at UMN and he said the issue with kids passing out of early classes because of AP tests is that they get ahead of themselves maturity wise. They end up going against seasoned college kids as Freshman and do not do well. I look at it as a star football player in college going to the NFL in that VERY RARELY do you see them star. Most have a down first year as rookies due to the learning curve of what it takes.
My feeling is AP credits for engineering should only be used for humanities that are electives or the English requirement.
Speaking as a former engineering undergrad from the Stone Age.
Thanks! She certainly is a determined one when it comes to getting what she wants. It causes us to butt heads from time to time though. LOL!!
Both my daughters, even though they both tested out, felt it was best to retake calculus 1 and for my older daughter, it proved to be a wise choice. You are only losing 1 semester instead of 2 and it helps prepare you for calc 2. Like I said, my older daughter squeeked by in calc 2 and had she taken it right out of the gate, it would’ve resulted in a failure. AP courses are great but aren’t always helpful, especially if you come from a small town high school.
Small town or big HS (like my kids) doesn’t matter. The AP test only tests intellect not maturity. Your older daughter was very wise! BTW, great to hear of two women going into engineering; we need more diversity!
Butting heads is good because that will help her later. My oldest daughter and second son (one of twins discussed) are definitely that way and I have no worries that they will survive.
Best of luck to both of your daughters. I am sure they will do great things and we welcome them into the engineering society.
I squeaked by in some courses, i.e. differential calculus, but still graduated. After your first job, GPA means nothing, just the degree and your effort. Tell her to keep grinding!!!
Haha!! That is what I keep telling my kids. GPA means nothing when it comes to a job, but it does when you need to go on to grad school. My oldest is taking physics over to bring up her GPA. She is actually a biochem major and is considering med school. She takes the mcats next year. YIKES!! I agree about needing more women in engineering though. We just got a letter from OSU and it said that only 12% of engineers are women. Sheesh. I didn’t think it was that low!
Best of luck to your kids. I am confident they will get into Ohio State! And, judging by your description of them, will thrive just fine there. Tell them, especially if they think they might realize that OSU may not be for them their freshman year, to keep on trucking along. My oldest wasn’t sure her freshman year but kept on going and now loves it there, both on campus and the city. She said she is never leaving Columbus.
Here are some comments from Alabama thread:
There’s no such thing as a major that helps a student get into med school. Med schools don’t care what you major in. They also don’t care about which school you went to.
Med schools only care about:
Cum GPA
BCMP GPA
MCAT score
medically related ECs
research
LORs
(my son is a 3rd year med student).
12% women engineers sounds about right judging from my job. Your D2 will do quite well when she graduates in engineering. Your D1 has a lot of schooling ahead of her but I am sure she will be fine!
What is LOR?
She has to take a year off. She said the deadline to apply to med school for next fall is November and she is no where near ready to take the mcats.
So, she is going to spend her time continuing on with research (she is doing research in a radiation oncology department now and is about to get her work published, in a medical journal I guess?) She is also going to do volunteer work and is talking about going to Africa for next summer (yikes) or possibly working with the American Red Cross Disaster Relief. I know she can do it. She has the determination and work ethic, plus the compassion. I just hope she takes the right path in getting there. And it is new to me, so I can only help steer her so much.
I think LOR means Letter of Recommendation. Taking a year off to study for MCATS is very common from what I have heard. Sounds like she has all of the bases covered and is very practical.
Good to know you will have a medical professional at your disposal for later in life!!
Best of luck to her!
Thanks. Same to you as well as having a medical professional at your disposal too.
Duh on LOR. Makes sense now.
Good chatting with you. Best of luck on your childrens’ journey to college admissions.
Same to you!