<p>How is the Honors College for CS in the Engineering school? Is it any good, and worth applying?</p>
<p>And if anyone wants to chance me for the Honors College:</p>
<p>GPA: 4.2 W, 3.7 UW
SAT: 2180 (760 CR, 700 M, 720 W)
Class rank: 21/79 (VERY unusually competitive class, my GC put a note in his letter regarding that)
AP scores: Calc AB 5, APUSH 4 [my school doesn't offer much APs below senior year]
Taking Calc BC and AP Chem now, and took Honors Physics last year (got a 95).
VA resident</p>
<p>I’m in Honors and a CS major and the benefits really depend on what you’re trying to do. If you’re trying to do grad school, then do honors as the requirements alone would make you competitive for some very good programs. </p>
<p>If you’re trying to entire the workforce: don’t do it. Complete waste of time and your time could be spent better elsewhere. </p>
<p>@CloudyCloud what does Honors entail that would be a waste of time?</p>
<p>The amount of work honors adds depends on which honors degree you go for, all of which can be found here: <a href=“http://www.univhonors.vt.edu/html/diploma_types.html”>http://www.univhonors.vt.edu/html/diploma_types.html</a></p>
<p>I could probably make two extremely long posts about why I say don’t do honors, but to keep it short, the main reason why I say,“Don’t do honors if you’re trying to enter the workplace as a CS major” is because, speaking from experience, top companies care very little about your GPA. It’s a factor - but it isn’t the deciding factor. Your own personal side projects carry a heck of a lot more weight than being able to do some impractical CS project. </p>
<p>I have a friend with a 2.3 GPA and has a job offer from Google. Google asked to see his transcript and they didn’t care. I have another friend with a 2.7 GPA and he doesn’t put it on his resume, but he still got an internship offer from Facebook. Both of these people have tons of side projects and one is an OpenBSD contributor. </p>
<p>I personally have a 3.82 and I’ve interned at Microsoft. When I was offered an internship from Microsoft, they didn’t ask to see my transcript. When I interviewed with Facebook and Google, I didn’t get an offer, regardless of my grades. </p>
<p>I know Amazon doesn’t check grades either. </p>
<p>Top tech companies don’t care about how prestigious your school is and they care very little about your grades. Being able to show that you’re able to learn quickly, are passionate about software development, and that you build stuff in your free time will take you much further in your career than doing honors will. </p>
<p>On the flip side: a lot of smaller companies do care about your grades. My two friends probably wouldn’t of had a shot with them. My advice is this: do well in school and keep your GPA above a 3.0. Don’t worry so much about how much higher it is than a 3.0, just be able to check the “GPA above a 3.0” box and spend your free time learning outside the classroom. </p>
<p>@CloudyCloud Wow, alrighty then. But is it really all that much extra effort that it would be taking away time from side projects? It could even do the opposite as you say, by allowing me better research options and better education. Or, it could simply slap an “Honors” stamp on my diploma without having me really go out of my way much.</p>
<p>You say that it depends on which degree I go for, and I can definitely see that. Honors Scholar looks like 0 effort while in Honors and Honors Baccalaureate seem like a huge pain. </p>
<p>It all really depends no your ability. </p>
<p>High school isn’t college. Getting straight A’s isn’t easy - especially in Computer Science. If you can pull straight A’s without putting in a ton of time, then by all means do it. </p>
<p>Also if you want to do honors and don’t mind all the extra work, then do it. I just wanted to point out that you don’t need to have an extremely high GPA to be competitive for top CS jobs. </p>
<p>The Honors program looks for students that not only have high GPA/SAT scores but also considerable extracurricular activities where the student has had significant input. Every year there are some applicants that wonder why they weren’t selected when they had grades/scores in the OP’s range.</p>
<p>The Honors program is designed IMO to enrich the learning experience for over achievers. Everything about it is extra or over and above the regular program. Son #2 is a CS major in the Honors program. An honors student has some priority in getting classes and can take honors versions of certain classes. You have to take some honors activities that are required for the honors diploma but don’t really count toward your degree. Most Honors students are taking heavy course loads and the honors version of classes may require several times the work as a non-honors class. It really depends upon the professor. As an honors student you may find it easier to have access to certain research labs or projects. But the labs require a ton of work. So be prepared for a much heavier work load than the rest of the students. It is still possible to do side projects and attend Hack-a-thons. But you will be a busy beaver. If you are an over achiever you might thrive in an environment with like minded students. Certainly Son #2 has thrived. However, while he will stay in the Honors program he may opt out eventually from the Honors diploma. He’s found that it won’t matter for him in CS and he doesn’t want the extra work while trying to graduate in 3 years. </p>