Honors College, Scholarships, and visit to UK

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Kentucky
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Just though I would share our experience and my d’s view of her visit to UK.

My d will most likely be a NMF- so she would qualify for their generous full-ride scholarship . Since the university is only 2-3 hours from where we live and she knows people who go to UK, she went on a college visit on her own (with a friend) and stayed with someone that she used to dance with (who is now a member of the varsity dance team).

My d has worked very hard in high school, constantly challenging herself with rigorous classes while dancing competitively 15-35 hours/ week. Due to her huge time commitment to dance, she limited herself to mainly AP classes in the STEM subjects- although she did take AP Art History and AP Lang and received 5s on those exams. She said that she and her bright friend attended a session about the Honors program at UK. UK stressed that once an applicant has met certain minimum standards to be eligible for the honors program, the essay is the determining factor in selection into the program. She did not feel this selection method truly reflected selection of the highest caliber students into the honors program.

I have reviewed the posts on this board for more information to verify how students are selected into the honors program since I feel it would be very important for my d to be part of an honors program at a large university to fully realize her potential. She has always been in a higher ability program in public school and this provided some challenge to her. However, even in that program and even in AP classes, she has always easily maintain 95% to over 100% (“over” due to extra credit questions on tests) in her classes.

I have concluded from information gathered from her visit and posts on this site that the honors college benefits are largely reserved for in-state residents or for those who will likely not be STEM majors. Many STEM majors have not spent the time necessary to hone their writing skills- so basing admission into the honors program on writing an essay will likely leave many highly capable STEM students left out of the program. I am bemused by this policy. While universities across the nation are recruiting STEM majors, UK is turning their nose up at them.

The other main way to gain entry to the honors program is through the SIngletary Scholarship. This is a competitive scholarship with almost identical benefit that NMF students get with their Patterson Scholarship award. However, those who are awarded this scholarship are guaranteed membership in the honors program. From posts on this forum, it would seem that this scholarship is reserved mainly for Kentucky residents. With the SIngletary Scholarship, they are looking more for someone who can be a representative of the university than someone who might be a top scholar. It appears they think a student from Kentucky will know more about the university and will perhaps more enthusiastically represent UK.

I am once again astonished that the initial screening is to determine if they are residents or perhaps have alumni ties to the university to consider a student for the SIngletary Scholarship. I am sure that there are plenty of out-of-state students who could be just as enthusiastic and would excel at representing the university. It is my opinion that an out-of-state student with other talents could definitely be a benefit to the university. For example, my d is a very experienced, technically trained dancer that would represent the university on the dance team very well and would be an asset to securing a high placement in the UDA National Dance Competition. Likewise, there are other out-of-state students with talents who would also reflect well on the university.

After reading the post on the UK forum about “Honors College Nonsense”, I thought I would share my view of this selection process. My d recently applied to UK and the honors college and has not, at this time, received a rejection from the honors college. However, I am somewhat expecting it since most posters on the UK pages and the NMF pages indicate that their NMF child did not gain entry to the honors program. I wish everyone the best of luck and hope the info in this post will be helpful in your application and selection process. I read that UK recently received a large donation to help expand the honors program. Hopefully changes will be made to the selection process when more seats are available.

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I think you have made some large leaps in this post. My d was informed recently of her acceptance in to the Honors program, she is from out of state and she will pursue STEM studies. She will also most likely be a NMF once the items are posted. We have no alumni affiliation and my d also focused her AP studies in Calc, Chem, Bio, and other STEM areas. We visited UK honors program a while back and they were very open and honest about the selection process and the importance of the essay. We noticed no hidden agenda. Good luck to your d and I hope she hears soon from UK Honors. We are very proud of the first Wildcat in family history and look forward to the next four years.

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Yes, I don’t think these impressions are necessarily a given.

My D was very good in science and math, but also took several AP history and AP Lit and had to write lots of essays. So I don’t think STEM students are not focusing on writing enough.

They are probably trying to get a sense of a student’s personality and interests with that essay. Stats only say so much and all NMF would be top students I would expect.

Also even if she were not selected for the honors program, look at the opportunities at the school.
I seem to recall that your D is premed? As a premed she will have challenging classes even if they are not honors classes. She will want research opportunities and healthcare oriented shadowing/volunteering opportunities.

How did she like the school in that aspect? Did she talk to someone about her interests?

Did she have a tour, what did she think?

The NMF scholarship is very generous. It would mean very little expense for her BS degree, leaving more money for med school.

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Interesting. Sounds like you’re projecting. Thanks for posting. Post an update when you have some decision. Also, I disagree with the above that all NMF are top students, but they are top test takers.

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I just wanted to chime in. My ds is an OOS student (no ties to UK), will likely be a NMF, and is a STEM student. He was accepted into the honors program about a month ago. His AP courses have been focused on STEM areas. He has taken all of the AP science classes (chem, physics B, both physics C courses, and bio), both AP Calc courses, and AP Comp Sci. He has only had two non-STEM AP classes (AP Latin sophomore year and AP Lit this year). We homeschool, so he does have an impressive reading list. He is also a year round competitive swimmer and is active on a local debate team. He had a very high ACT score, as well SAT II subject test scores. We knew the honors program was very competitive, and he likely would not have attended UK if he did not get in the honors program. I felt like his essay was very good, but not fantastic. I think they really want to get a sense of the personality of the student. The reality is that although I think my child is smart and wonderful and would make a great addition to any honors program, there are MANY students like this. The university has to limit the number of honors students in some way, and the essay is the best way to give them a glimpse of a student’s personality. Good luck to your daughter!

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@blessedMom3 Thanks for the info. I tend to research things pretty thoroughly- so I think I am getting a sense of where the university is coming from. They started offering this generous scholarship for NMF around 2013 or 2014. They had a record number of applicants for the honors college in 2014 (I think it was roughly double the number of applicants the previous year). The university thinks the increase was due to putting the honors app in the common application - it used to be separate (not as noticeable to students). I think it was probably also due to the NMF scholarship program that was implemented fairly recently. The university administration is aware of the problem and did expand the honors program by opening a few more seats. They also stated their goal was to allow a much larger percentage of students into the honors program in the future.
So, they need to limit the number of students in the honors program. I understand why they have limitations. It is just that I think there will be quite a few students who are gifted in the STEM area who do not have as good writing ability as those majoring in humanities or perhaps the social sciences. We too do not think d should attend UK without being in the honors program. I also understand that they could be looking at personality too in the essay. I just am not sure personality will come through for some students who are STEM majors and are not as proficient at writing as they are in their STEM classes. It would be interesting to see how many students they will admit to the honors program this year.

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My dd is a sophomore Patterson Scholar who is majoring in Mathematics, and was not accepted into the Honors Program. She has been very happy attending UKy on the very generous Scholarship that the University offers to National Merit Finalists. The University appears to have changed the timing for acceptance into the Honors Program to offer more high achieving students spots, and allow those spots that will not be used by students whom decide to attend other schools to be offered to others. This is just my perception from what I have observed, so I could be wrong. Some of your research may include information from the “old” way that the University determined their allocation of spots.
My STEM daughter had an 80 on the writing section of her PSAT. She knows grammar and how to write. Most of the people we encountered at the Patterson breakfast when we first arrived at the University were Pre-Med or a related field, and had been accepted into the Honors Program. I think that my daughter may have been the only person there not in the Honors Program. I feel that the Honors Program has SO many qualified students, that they want to make sure that not every single person is a Pre-Med or STEM major. They appear to really be looking at “Gifted” to include more than just STEM, and are trying to balance their Honors Program to represent this.
To be honest, it was more of a disappointment to me that my dd did not get accepted into the Honors Program than it was for her. She is happy and thriving and loving her UKy experience.

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My daughter will start her second semester next week. Since UK transferred her AP credits, she’ll have sophomore status. She earned the Patterson scholarship and was accepted into the honors program. She wants to double major in biohem and neuroscience. I don’t think honors program is going to be a problem.

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@AuntieFascist
D got her letter of acceptance for bio major today and also received an email acceptance from the honors program today.

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I’m an honors STEM Patterson recipient at UK. The honors program focuses on classes outside math and science courses, so really an essay makes more sense for admittance than you might think. Before I got to UK, I thought the honors program would be an important part of my education here, but really if you’re a STEM person honors is not as big of a deal. I’ve even considered dropping it because I already have a chemical engineering/music double major with premed and honors is more coursework. The courses and classmates are fascinating and will add to the experience for most students here, however.