<p>Looking for information and reviews of the Commonwealth Honors College at UMass. Any comments?</p>
<p>Commonweatlth Honors College here at UMass is awesome! I love it, personally. The classes give you the chance to have more 1 on 1 time with professors that you don’t get in huge lectures with the 1:25 mandated ratio or the option of an additional colloquium class to a lecture. Also, CHC offers so many really interesting and cool events with free pizza 
AND they’re building a new AMAZING living complex with awesome rooms and literally the best placement on campus.</p>
<p>It’s important to note you pay extra to be in the Honors College. In 2010-2011 it was $300 extra; for 2011-2012 it is $500 extra.</p>
<p>I don’t think they’ve announced 2012-2013 yet, but it’s a pretty safe bet it isn’t going down, and will probably go up.</p>
<p>Also, UMass is building a new honors complex for Commonwelath College which is scheduled to open during the summer of 2013. It will have dorms, classrooms, and admin space.</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.honors.umass.edu/featuredstory/building-honors-future[/url]”>https://www.honors.umass.edu/featuredstory/building-honors-future</a></p>
<p>Honestly, I was disappointed in the honors college. I went to UMass excited to be in the honors college and ambivalent about UMass itself and now it’s completely switched.</p>
<p>Mostly I object to paying the honors college fee because I’m a science major. ComCol DOES NOT OFFER SCIENCE CLASSES and hence I haven’t taken a ComCol class since freshman year (nor have I been required to).</p>
<p>People say that ComCol is good because you have to do a senior capstone and it will look good on your resume but I know science majors who have done those without being in ComCol. </p>
<p>If you got in there’s no real reason not to do it but its by no means the greatest thing ever.</p>
<p>(Also adding to my discontent: My major is small so my ComCol classes were actually larger than most of my classes for my major).</p>
<p>That’s good to know, because I just got in, and I’m thinking of switching from engineering to a physics major. The way I see it, I think it’s better to be on equal ground with the general student population. I take “honors” colleges and and programs with a grain of salt. They usually seem to lead to nothing more than forcing you to take extra seminar classes and clumping you with more qualified students to make you feel special.</p>
<p>There are schools where being in the honors college has tangible advantages:</p>
<ul>
<li>preferential registration for classes. This is huge.</li>
<li>dedicated dorms (UMass is building one but there is nothing yet)</li>
<li>easier path to research opportunities or similar</li>
<li>better scholarships because the school <em>wants</em> better students rather than punishing them.</li>
</ul>
<p>Sadly, ComCol falls short.</p>
<p>UMass itself is great though, DS loves it there.</p>
<p>actually, i am also a science major (biology) and you can take an extra and easy 1 credit course to make any class an honors class or ask your professors how to make the class an honors class. ComCol also gives a great sense of community and helps you connect with some of the best professors! I have to take a Calc II class because I’m pre-med and because i’m in ComCol, I get to take it with one of the absolute best calculus professors UMass has in a class of 20 kids or less! I really love ComCol!!</p>
<p>I actually took honors chemistry (Chem 121H) and that was fine. The primary reason I am in the honors college is because I am doing a thesis and Comcol does provide you with several options for that as well.
Basically I have been relatively happy with the honors experience. Yea it doesn’t fundamentally change your experience (a good thing, Umass is pretty awesome) but to their credit my honors classes have all been small and focused. I feel like it’s going to change drastically though when the new honors building is completed but that won’t be for a couple of years. One of the main reasons I am an advocate for Comcol is because you can choose to live on an honors floor your freshman year. This is by far the best way to meet people with the same interests as you (these are the people I found a balance with between socializing and academics) and even now as a junior I am still very good friends with many of them.</p>
<p>Just a word of advice, stay away from the Honors college. It costs $250 extra during orientation plus $300 this year, next year it’s $500, and then after that it’s $800. The extra classes that they make you take are worthless and will kill your freshman GPA. The Honors complex that they’re working on now is supposed to be ready in two years, but given the tendency of Umass construction projects to get delayed, it will probably be 3 years. Housing isn’t guaranteed for anyone else than freshman (although sophmores get first dibs), and they have been over enrolling classes lately to prevent bankruptcy being threatened as a result of these massive building projects.</p>
<p>@abrennan: Obviously you are right about the extra cost - if you are looking for a good education UMass is a great option even without CHC. However, I wouldn’t be so quick to judge the Honors College just because you found honors courses too challenging. I just graduated in May and I will be the first to admit that honors courses are hard, but they are also some of the most rewarding courses that I have taken at UMass. Most of my CHC classes have been honors colloquia (a 1-credit add on to a regular UMass course), and have thus been between 4-8 students including myself. These courses have helped to link me up with faculty for research and job opportunities, and have helped me grow intellectually. CHC is not for someone who wants to sail through college taking easy courses, and there are students that drop it because of the challenge. But with the challenge comes more opportunities for academic and personal advancement. I wanted to get the most out of college, and I think that the extra things that I was allowed to take advantage of in CHC were more than worth the extra cost. Also, your comment about the Residential Honors Complex is unfounded speculation. The vast majority of new construction projects at UMass have been on schedule, and I have not heard one bit of doubt that the RHC will not be completed for the fall of 2013. Also, I would take a look at UMass’s finances before you make judgements on those as well. Most of these new building projects come from a completely separate budget than the regular UMass operating expenses, and have been earmarked by the state house to fund building projects. Your tendency toward speculation makes me question the advice that you gave. </p>
<p>@lavieboheme: I am was a science major as well, and I don’t understand where your complaint about classes comes from. I graduated with a degree in Physics, which is one of the smallest majors in the College of Natural Sciences. We graduated 21 students this year, but it is normally more like 10-15. Even with such a small class size, almost every professor for the 200+ level physics courses offered an honors colloquium with that went along with their course. If those aren’t good enough for you, you can also take graduate level courses and petition to have those count as honors credits. Obviously there are fewer honors courses than regular UMass courses because there are fewer people taking them, but I wouldn’t be so quick to say that there are none. </p>
<p>@notrichenough: I am not sure where you are getting your information from. 1.) You are right that there is no built in preferential treatment for course selection. However, honors students do have more courses to choose from given the fact that they can take honors courses. Many honors students also have extra credits that transfer from high school AP courses, and take more classes per semester, which puts them ahead in a priority system that is purely based on the number of credits accumulated. 2.) I have already covered the RHC, so yes there is not one yet but it is on the way. 3.) I directly credit CHC for getting me into a research lab, as do many of my peers. They encourage students to build relationships with faculty and help to cultivate those relationships in honors courses. Professors are also more likely to hire honors students because they know that they will work hard. Additionally, CHC offers a scholarship for undergraduate research that allows you to double dip and get credit AND pay (at $10 an hour) for your research, as well as a grant that gives students up to $1000 a semester to fund their own research with a faculty member. These are not difficult to come by, and I as well as many of my peers have taken advantage of them. 4.) I’m not sure what you meant by this statement. If you look at the CHC website there are tons of scholarships that students can apply for starting their freshman year. Although CHC costs extra, most students make that back with extra scholarships. I also don’t know how CHC would be “punishing” its students. </p>
<p>@iborpastan: I hope you do switch to physics - it is a great department! I recognize that a lot of students don’t want the extra stuff that comes with being in the Honors College, and there are countless examples of UMass students that do amazing things without being a member of CHC. However, I wouldn’t frame that decision in the same light that you had. There is something to be said about being challenged in smaller seminar courses, but that experience isn’t for everybody. This is why you are not “forced” into CHC. Some prefer to have information given to them in a textbook or a lecture, and then learn it for a test. Others would rather discuss the topics covered in class and think critically about what they are learning. In the end, I think that the Honors College defined my experience at UMass. When I go for job interviews I am always asked about my capstone thesis, the advanced courses that I took, and my leadership positions within CHC. And all of my references come from professors that I have met through honors courses. I wouldn’t say to take honors colleges with a grain of salt. Instead, I would ask yourself whether you are willing to put in the extra effort for the opportunities that an honors college will afford you.</p>
<p>^ I think it is great that you got so much out of ComCol, but that doesn’t negate my criticisms, when comparing ComCol to the honors colleges at other schools.</p>
<p>I didn’t even mention my biggest criticism - it is way too large. Something like 15% of the school is in ComCol, this is over 3000 kids. </p>
<p>
“Punishing” in the sense that it costs a lot extra to be in the honors college. Last year was $500, next year will probably by $700. What’s it going to be in 5 years? UMass should be handing out scholarships to these kids to better compete with other schools in MA in attracting this caliber of student, not charging more.</p>
<p>And I seriously doubt that “most students make that back with extra scholarships”, although if you can point to some data related to this I’d be happy to be proven wrong.</p>
<p>I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but there is a good amount of grant money only offered to honors students if you come in with the right stats from high school. I get $1,000 a semester (more than enough to pay for it), and some of the grants give even more.</p>
<p>They’re building an awesome honors residential complex that will be done in a few years as people have said.</p>
<p>As far as research goes, as a political science major, I got to do paid research in the second semester of my freshman year. Sure this is anecdotal information and it has nothing to do with the honors college (I just asked a professor if I could do research with her), but my experience with research has been great.</p>