<p>What is your opinion on what is more valuable in terms of getting into Grad Schools, Med Schools or even a job? Do you believe that it is better to attend an Honors College at a large public institution or to attend a highly selective school in their regular undergrad program?</p>
<p>I know that there are a lot of specifics that come into play but just in general what is your opinion?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>If money is no object, the highly selective school is probably the better choice in most instances.</p>
<p>But money often is a major concern, particularly for students who anticipate having additional educational expenses after completing their undergraduate educations (e.g., premedical students). For such students, the honors college at the state university may be a good way to get a more-rigorous-than-average education in the company of other highly qualified students while paying a lot less money than they would pay at the more selective college.</p>
<p>My daughter, who does not anticipate going to graduate school immediately after getting her undergraduate degree (although she will probably get an MBA somewhere down the line), chose the selective school route. But several of her friends with similar academic qualifications who plan to go to medical school chose the honors program at our state university because its low cost meant that they would be able to enter medical school with no debt from their undergraduate years.</p>
<p>depends on what you mean by "grad" school. </p>
<p>Professional schools like med, dent, & law are (almost) all about the numbers. A high gpa from Public Uni will be just as good as a gpa from prestige U, assuming you have the test scores. PhD programs tend to be more prestige-oriented, but numbers are not as important as undergrad research. B-schools care a lot your work experience. Of course, great work experience is easier to come by from prestige U since the top companies all recruit there.</p>
<p>Honors colleges are often oversold, the glossy pamphlets giving the impression a small LAC has been set up inside a larger university. Honors colleges do offer some very valuable perks and let you meet some of the top students at your college. But when you're thinking of honors colleges the pitch is often that you're getting an elite private education at the public school price. Regrettably this isn't really the case.</p>
<p>Depending on the U's program, what they offer may range from taking separate honors classes to taking just one honors seminar per semester. Some of the honors offerings may just be a special discussion section of the regular class (at many U's classes can have 100-500 students, then everyone meets once a week in a smaller group with a TA). You really need to dig in to find what a particular school offers. And keep in mind honors college programs typically offer the small classes and top profs the brochures promise during the 1st two years of college, because it doesn't take that many classes to come up with a set that will meet the lower-division requirements for most majors.</p>
<p>It is rare to find more than a token amount of offerings upper-division since the honors program simply doesn't have enough faculty members to duplicate an entire major or set of majors. So the last two years most/all classes are taken with the rest of the students in the regular U's classes. The teaching of the profs will be geared towards that level, the discussions and student involvement in class will be dominated by the regular students, and so on. And class sizes may balloon, too, if you're in a larger public U and a popular major. Peer effects are big, too; when almost everyone around you at school is a strong student you have lots of good examples of how hard to work, of extras like doing research or internships to get a leg up for post-college. If the top kids are a few hundred strong dispersed among tens of thousands at the U then good examples may be harder to see. When it comes to finding a job, employers are less likely to send recruiters to campus with a limited number of honors college seniors compared to the campus-full they'll find at more highly regarded schools.</p>
<p>Honors colleges do offer some valuable perks in addition to the classes. Typical ones include registering for classes before everyone else so you get the classes you want (a perk worth its weight in gold!), special counselors, guaranteed housing, special library privileges. They will stamp your diploma with some indication of honors college or make a note on your transcript. But I would be skeptical of attending a college for its honors program in place of a more highly regarded U if finances are not an issue.</p>
<p>^^ Pretty much agree with mikemac - but I think the key is that there is a large degree of variability in what honors programs offer. Check out each school carefully and ask for data on graduation rates and acceptance rates. Also ask about faculty, number of classes, and average number of honors classes taken by students each year.
I know that those in my son's honors college (Schreyer at PSU) have been very successful in getting into top grad schools.
It's not a LAC experience for sure, but it does add significantly to the experience of being a student. The admissions process is not numbers based for the honors college - leadership and other ECs are counted heavily. These kids are strong when the enter and strong when they leave. Much like a very selective university. The environment is different though. Hey, some think it's better than an Ivy - a good mix of academics and fun. I know a bunch of kids going out to the Rose Bowl next week...what a blast.</p>
<p>Schreyer looks like a solid program from what they put on their website; I think every kid at a large U should read thru their handbook at <a href="http://www.scholars.psu.edu/students/handbook.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.scholars.psu.edu/students/handbook.pdf</a> just to see what some of the expectations, recommendations, advising, and opportunities are for these kids. Large U's have abundant resources for the asking; the problem is that if you don't ask nobody's going to come up to you and suggest them. Reading thru the handbook can give some valuable tips and ideas.</p>
<p>There are far too many variables between programs and schools to make any sort of gross generalization. There are excellent honors colleges and less than excellent honors colleges just like there are excellent expensive LACs just like there are sub-par, but still very expensive, LACs. </p>
<p>One must really look at what subjects they want to do and what their goals are. </p>
<p>For some subjects (eg science or engineering) it would likely be really hard for most LACs to come close to matching the resources made available to students at a large research university... the sort of equipment found there is generally far out of reach for most LAC departments. In such cases, a good honors program at such a university could provide a much better experience in prep for a top grad school. </p>
<p>On the flip side, for humanities departments, where a quality department doesn't require huge capital investments, the differences may be harder to differentiate. </p>
<p>The original question seems to imply that there might be some bonus to the 'prestige' associated with a small LAC... this isn't the case. It's not the name of the school that matters, but what one did while they were there that matters. Look at the subject you want to study, compare the resources available and base your decision on that.</p>
<p>Regarding the upper level courses- at a public flagship U the honors student may be taking courses with grad students in them for their upper level courses and doing a senior honors (research) thesis- not the minimal courses required for a major/degree. Some public schools are better than private ones, much depends on the specific school. Medical schools draw many of their students from their states, they will give more "points" to their top flagship U than other public or lesser private schools. A lot depends on where one intends to go for medical/law school. For grad school getting a recommendation from someone known in their field by working in their lab should trump just taking classes at prestgious private U. One can get into med/law/grad school by doing exceptionally well at any school- choose the one that offers the best academics and fit, one is most likely to do well when the fit is good and challenges available.</p>