<p>I am new to this and so far have found a lot of very valuable information here. My S is a Junior and is doing well academically. I know many of you have research and had information on Honors Colleges/Programs. Can you point me to some of the better programs, may be like the top 20's in your opinion. Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>Penn State University: Schreyers Honors College
approx.1800 students, accept 300 freshman per year avg.Sat 1430, gpa4.06
honors program with it's own administrators
More Fulbright Scholarship winners than any honors program in the country
First in national scholarship winners amoung the big 10</p>
<h1>2 in the US in sending honors students abroad</h1>
<p>100% placement rate in grad schools </p>
<p>small honors courses
individual advising
honors dorms
early class registration
study abroad stipends
thesis requirement
many honors activities
scholarships
research opportunities</p>
<p>Schreyers endowment up another $25 million this year thanks to its namesakes. Brings it to around $65 million for a very select, small program. All in all, a great program in a Big 10 environment</p>
<p>I think this is one of the best in the nation:</p>
<p><a href="http://ohio.edu/honors%5B/url%5D">http://ohio.edu/honors</a></p>
<p>It's VERY small and VERY hard to get into (they accept only one or two students per major), but the perks are great. The best are one-on-one classes with professors in your major ("tutorials" - at least one tutorial per quarter), no set curriculum or hours for graduation (determined by the student and advisors), major senior project work, college support for student internships and creative endeavors, as well as all of the typical perks of honors colleges like dorms, early registration, etc...</p>
<p>But one of the best things from a practical point of view is that if you have the stats to qualify for the honors college, you will automatically get either a full in-state tuition scholarship or approx a three-quarters out-of-state tuition scholarship (worth about $64,000 over the 4 years).</p>
<p>Thank you very much. These are valuable information. Are there more? I am hoping that there are may be 10 schools that S can look into.</p>
<p>I got accepted, along with a few other people on here, to Arizona State University's Barrett Honors College. Was named among the 'Best of America' by Reader's Digest in 2005. The article lists the Barrett Honors College as one of three honors colleges that offer "an Ivy League-style education minus the sticker shock" along with Penn State's Schreyer Honors College and Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College at the University of Mississippi</p>
<p><a href="http://honors.asu.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://honors.asu.edu/</a></p>
<p>Does he have any particular EC interests? What area of the country he is interested in: rural or city school?</p>
<p>leungpy1, Many large state schools have honors colleges now. I would check out the schools in your state for in-state tuition.</p>
<p>... and check the schools (like Ohio University) where you can go for no (or little) tuition with automatic scholarships for stats.</p>
<p>Take a look at the University of Maryland at College Park. It has an interesting freshman/sophomore University Honors program, and an even more elite research-oriented honors program called Gemstone. Either one might be of interest.</p>
<p>The residential college at the University of Michigan sounds like it ought to be on your inquiry list.</p>
<p>We are in California and my S is interested in Journalism while no UC has that major in undergrad. No particular limitation as far as geographic location is concern. Thank you again for all you folks great inputs.</p>
<p>U of Iowa</p>
<p>Check it out. Honors program sounds good. Also Iowa Writers Learning Community. The English Dept and writing programs look excellent. You would want your student in an honors dorm or learning community. The main campus sounds zoo-ish for undergrad.</p>
<p>
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We are in California and my S is interested in Journalism while no UC has that major in undergrad.
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<p>So what? I am quite certain that every UC campus offers 12 courses that would be extremely valuable to a future journalist.</p>
<p>I doubt if many of the most respected journalists of our time majored in journalism in college. Bob Woodward didn't at Yale. John Burns didn't at McGill -- he had never even written for the college newspaper.</p>
<p>History, Poli Sci, English, Arabic, Chinese would all be great majors for someone wanting to pursue a career in journalism. Learn to write. Get your foot in the door at some podunk newspaper and take it from there.</p>
<p>John Burns got himself assigned to cover China during the Cultural Revolution for the Toronto Daily Mail. The editor of the NY Times liked an article he wrote about the Chinese government, "A Thousand and One Ways to Lie" and hired him. That led to career as a NYTIMES foreign correspondent that took him from China to South Africa where he covered apartheid and the return of Mandela, to Moscow for the fall of the Soviet Union, back to China where he was arrested for spying and released after Nixon wrote a letter, the Bosnian civil war, to Afghanistan where he covered the rise and fall of the Taliban, and finally the last four and half years in Baghdad. Never studied journalism.</p>
<p>Thank you Interesteddad. What major at which UC will you recommend. Do you know of the honors program at UC's.</p>
<p>Hey, it's OK to major in journalism too. Syracuse U/The Newhouse school has an excellent reputation (Ted Koppel and Bob Costas went there and many more). SU also has an honors program and I know they give merit $ to strong students. VERY cold though and snowy - I grew up 40 miles away from there and it's pretty rough. Great program though...
Northwestern's journalism program is also good - not sure if they have a honors program.</p>
<p>UT-Austin: plan II, turing scholars, liberal arts honors, TIP, ... they have quite a few honors programs..</p>
<p>Have your son make a list of schools he is interested in, then look at their honors colleges/programs. He would be better off in the regular program at many schools than in the honors college at some. He may not get into some honors programs- is he competitive for the very top schools in the country, or the top 50...? First decide the range of schools where his academic profile fits best, then consider other factors. Also consider that some private schools may not have an honors program but the whole school may be better than the honors program at another school. Remember to have him look at the best fit for him, not the one with the highest ranking in anything. Since everyone is plugging specific schools let me add mine- UW Madison is a good overall school, with a nice honors program- no special dorms, but not needed; many of the same things as on the Penn State list. You can check individual college Honors websites and do comparisons of them; once you have checked some you may find some with more appealing aspects than others, also check the overall academics at the schools.</p>
<p>Son goes to University of Florida and is in the Honors Program.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.honors.ufl.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://www.honors.ufl.edu/</a></p>
<p>From what I can see, his experience approximates a super-selective, super-competitive academic environment. Sitting in classes with students in the 1400-1600 SAT, 4.0+ range- you're not going to be the curve rabbit. His classes are small, intense, good teachers, good advisors, priority scheduling. The dorm is exceptional- squeeky clean, carpeted rooms, maid service (! the come in and clean the bath, vanity, and vacuum your room). He loves it, is being challenged.</p>
<p>Again thank you all for some very good information. To wis75, my S is strong with GPA and SAT score (99 percentile) but weak in EC and community services. His stat is competitive to many of the top schools but his lack of EC and community service will hurt him with those schools. He enjoys writing and thus thinking about the journalism major. Since he is a Jr. so we are just starting to think about what to do in the months to come. Thanks for the info.</p>
<p>For those in California...I understand the Regent Scholarship is simular to other schools honors program. It provides special perks-money/scholarship, special housing, special areas to study, preference for signing up for classes, etc...typically it is offered to applicants in the top 1% of the applicant pool.</p>