Honors College Theory

<p>I've seen a lot of people on this forum who have not received an invitation to the honors college (35 ACT/2300+ SAT 3.8+GPA). Perhaps Purdue doesn't grant this invitation to students whom they think will attend other schools. Since there is only one round of invitations, it would be best to maximize whom they think would be the cream of the crop among the students who would choose to go to Purdue. </p>

<p>@john6777. So why offer these students Presidential scholarships and not invite them into the Honors College?</p>

<p>Well…I too received the highest tier of Presidential scholarship, but no honors. But the scholarships are given to 1000 students, and the honors college has about 250 spots per grade. You can be more liberal with the scholarships. If they student doesn’t accept it, the money goes back to the fund; if large numbers of students do not accept admission to purdue (and thus the honors college), the honors college loses is credibility since it would be practically empty. </p>

<p>This makes sense to me. My son showed absolute interest in Purdue and received the Presidential scholarship and invite to Honors College of engineering. </p>

<p>Where did you find the numbers for Presidential and Honors college? 1000 President Scholarship and 250 per grade in honors college seems too high to me. I think I have read somewhere with much smaller numbers. </p>

<p>Are there any ways to appeal for invitation into Honors?</p>

<p>I don’t believe that there is any type of appeals process for Honors College invitations as there is none for merit scholarships.</p>

<p>My son also showed very high interest in Purdue including visiting last spring, and then participating in the Engineering camp during the summer. He got the Presidential scholarship but no honors invite.</p>

<p>My theory is that they are trying to create a diverse honors group. So for example, my son will be in Engineering with an interest in music. Maybe they have too many like him and will offer the spot to someone with similar stats but who has a sports background. That’s the only thing that makes sense but it’s not really fair to those left out, but it’s not an uncommon practice in admissions.</p>

<p>The numbers about the scholarships are here: <a href=“Scholarships - Undergraduate Admissions - Purdue University”>http://www.admissions.purdue.edu/costsandfinaid/scholarships.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>First search on google “Purdue Sholarhips…” </p>

<p>Also, first pick of the honors college goes to those who accept their offer of admission in like December. There are some pretty low-end students who were accepted because they accepted their admission early; after that, it becomes much more competitive.</p>

<p>Should you appeal? Absolutely. Can’t hurt. If there are too few spaces, then go for it. </p>

<p>@billcsho 939 Presidential scholarships awarded in 2012-2013.
<a href=“Scholarships - Undergraduate Admissions - Purdue University”>http://www.admissions.purdue.edu/costsandfinaid/scholarships.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>@WAPacker and @billcsho: The 939 Presidential scholarship is the number offered (denominator). We just don’t know how many of those accepted by matriculation (numerator). The admission office indicated that they had a higher than expected yield in terms of Honor College invitations last year. They want to keep this to about 100 in Engineering. Therefore, I think the theory presented by John6777 that “Perhaps Purdue doesn’t grant this invitation to students whom they think will attend other schools. Since there is only one round of invitations, it would be best to maximize whom they think would be the cream of the crop among the students who would choose to go to Purdue” might be accurate… </p>

<p>@John6777 Where is it documented that honors college invites go to those who accept their admission early? All of the people I know who got honors college invites have not accepted their admission yet. Most people don’t accept admission until they see the financial aid packages which have not been sent out yet.</p>

<p>"@WAPacker and @billcsho: The 939 Presidential scholarship is the number offered (denominator). We just don’t know how many of those accepted by matriculation (numerator). "</p>

<p>Understood, but I think his point is that there are more scholarships to work with than honors college spaces. Accurate? I don’t know.</p>

<p>@WAPacker I think you’re correct. I believe that the theory proposed by John6777 is reasonable as he pointed out that: “You can be more liberal with the scholarships. If they student doesn’t accept it, the money goes back to the fund; if large numbers of students do not accept admission to purdue (and thus the honors college), the honors college loses is credibility since it would be practically empty.”</p>

<p>I am pretty sure the number of presidential scholarships to be far more than the space in honors college. I remember seeing the 100 number for honors college somewhere and I think it is for engineering as RedYellowBlue said. That’s why I thought 250 per grade seems high but I forgot about the non-engineering students.
@RedYellowBlue
Isn’t the Honors College still open to sophomore to apply if there were not invited as freshmen?
@John6777
My D has not accepted any admission offer but got the invitation to the Honors College. I do agree that probably most Honors College students applied EA though.
I think the Honors College and Presidential Scholarships simply have different criteria, although the former have less slots and seems to be more competitive. One is not necessarily a subset of the other.</p>

<p>@billcsho I think it is still open to sophmores. You might want to ask that during the Honors College chat this Wednesday. Unfortunately, I will be out of town and will not be able to log in. Perhaps you can iquire about it. Also, do you know if they (afterwards) “publish” the chats on the Purdue websity to read the Q&As? Lastly, I think that you had to appy by Nov 1 to be considered for scholarships and maybe considered for Honors College.</p>

<p>@RedYellowBlue
For Merit Scholarships, it is clear to have the same EA deadline, but I am not so sure about the Honors College though. Did you find that info somewhere.</p>

<p>@ billcsho I just looked. The deadline was 1/24/2014 for Honors College invitations. It also indicates that you can apply into The Honors College with a GPA > 3.5 with at least 4 semesters left. </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.purdue.edu/honorscollege/current-students/”>http://www.purdue.edu/honorscollege/current-students/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Most of your comments are right on. And to clarify, this is all conjecture based on readily available data. However, I will say this: </p>

<p>At my school, the three national merit scholars (including myself) who applied to Purdue did NOT get into the honors college. However, some lesser students (still strong and everything, I’ll add) were invited. You can see my surprise and somewhat annoyance with this outcome. </p>

<p>I’ll stick to my original theory. Although I am upset. Although Purdue may think I will not attend, I really do admire the school. It has top notch programs in the areas I want to study, and a great value. Granted, I did get into a few good schools (UChicago, Case), but I’ve seen too many people continually defining themselves by their schools rather than their work and see Purdue as an amazing stepping stone to the future. </p>

<p>A question was asked on Purdue’s Facebook page for parents of newly admitted students about how many students are invited to the Honors College. Cathy Heinz, who is an admission director, answered, “I believe the Honors College seeks to enroll 500 new students each year”.</p>

<p>It would be interesting to know how many invites they have to send out to get 500 new students to enroll. I’m not sure if this is all freshman or it includes upperclassmen. </p>

<p>Since anecdotally very high achieving students, who showed great interest in Purdue did not get invites, I’ll stick with my theory of them trying to build an eclectic mix in the Honors College which may mean that they won’t invite all Presidential Scholarship recipients. It’s a different story with Trustee Scholarship recipients, since all of them get an honors college invite.</p>