<p>DS finally received his acceptance to UA! Should get the Presidential Scholarship.</p>
<p>Now he is looking at the Honors College. Looks like smaller classes and early registration, and honors housing, all of which is great, but what other value does it have? Do those who qualify for it usually apply? </p>
<p>Going into engineering, would it make his time there more difficult? /With the scholarship, I don’t want him having to struggle to maintain the min GPA.</p>
<p>Any insight to this program would be much appreciated.</p>
<p>If your son gets the Presidential Scholarship he will also qualify for the Honors College which is a great benefit. As well as the option of honors housing, he will get priority enrollment which is awesome when you want to get a particular class, professor, or time to fit your schedule. He will also be able to opt for honors sections of classes which can be more interesting, engaging and in depth than regular classes. Honors classes aren’t necessarily harder than regular ones, it depends on the professor.</p>
<p>Honors college means priority registration. That alone makes it worth it and there is no downside to starting off in Honors college and not being able to complete the requirements.</p>
<p>Oh, so even if he is accepted into honors, there will be no penalty if he doesn’t complete it? If, so it is certainly worth trying just for the early registration.</p>
<p>I was asking more about the other, more nebulous, aspects as expressed in the "philosophy and “four pillars?” What does that entail or what would DS be expected to do? </p>
<p>The a Honors College classes are small and give students an opportunity to expands their horizons a bit. Honors sections of regular classes, such as Spanish or Economics provide classmates that are highly motivated and a small class size. The tenants of the a Honors a College reflect the high standards of inclusion, and are to be upheld, but are not tested in any proactive manner.</p>
<p>@mandalorian That is sooooooo NOT true. Priority registration is also VERY important. It may be more important than honors housing.</p>
<p>You’re the same person who wrongly wrote that it’s not uncommon for it to be 110 degrees in Tuscaloosa in the summer…when actually, it has never been close to being that hot…EVER…in recorded history. The highest it’s ever gotten in Tuscaloosa is 104 and that was over 30 years ago. The worst in the summer is the high 90s. </p>
<p>I can’t think of a single reason not to apply to the Honors College. It’s a simple application that shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to complete. The requirements for the Honors College are not particularly difficult - 6 hours of honors seminars and 12 additional hours of honors, which can come from UH classes, departmental honors classes, CBH classes or honors by contract. UH seminars are NOT more difficult than other classes, and they can fulfill gen ed requirements as well as the honors requirements. Once you’re in the Honors College, if you find yourself unable to complete the requirements, then you don’t complete them. It happens. There’s really no downside. You can be as involved or uninvolved in the Honors College as you choose. There are a number of reasons to be in the Honors College, but I can sum it all up in two words: PRIORITY REGISTRATION. </p>
<p>One common misconception many students have is that they have to be very active in the Honors College. While it’s certainly possible to have ones academic and social life revolve primarily around Honors College activities, a large number of students choose not to do so. For example, while the Honors College does tailgate at every home football game, a number of clubs and groups of friends do as well. </p>
<p>I’ve said on many occasions that the University of Alabama Honors College is primarily a facilitating organization for top students. Students can pick and choose how involved they want to be. It’s technically possible to graduate form the Honors College and never set foot in Nott Hall now that some UH courses are taught in other buildings. On the flip side of things, there are students who spend much of their day in Nott Hall. Honors students have 24/7 access to Nott Hall except on game days.</p>
<p>I agree that priority registration is a significant benefit. I think my son may get more involved with the Honors College as time goes on, but, as of yet, the Honors College has played a very minor role in his experience so far. So for now, access to Honors Housing and to priority registration are the main selling points.</p>
<p>By the time he went to Bama Bound (late July), Honors sections of classes were already full. He was able to grab one literature class. That was not a huge problem, though, since he came in with most of his GE credits awarded via AP. If a student comes in with a lot of credits for the core general ed classes, then the Honors classes are not going to play a large role. A part of me thinks it would have been nice for him to get to take some more Honors GE classes, since AP classes, in my view, don’t equate to college classes. However, I guess my son would have dealt with a lot more frustration trying to get classes. For the first semester, he just went ahead and signed up for the regular sections and his spring schedule will not have any Honors classes at all except his STEM-MBA Honors classes (he will earn much of his Honors-required credits through the STEM-MBA program) and he is starting some of his major classes. Priority registration ensured that he got every class he wanted for the upcoming spring. So that was great, especially as he looks at trying to accelerate to get done with undergrad in three years.</p>
<p>Congratulations to your student on earning the scholarship!</p>
<p>They do open additional honors sections of classes but you have to be quick to get them at Bama Bound. Having said that DS still got two honors classes even though he attended the penultimate Bama Bound session in August which wasn’t even an honors session. The trick is to be flexible regarding times of classes (he’s taking one of the classes about 5pm as I recall), and to look for spaces that open up as people drop out and swap classes. This happens up until the formal drop date which was 8/27 I think.</p>
<p>@WAPacker There are additional Honors sections that are opened but that does not mean that your child will be able to enroll in them due to scheduling conflicts. This is especially true if your son or daughter is in UFE, CBH or STEM MBA because those courses have limited time slots. Can’t take Honors Chem at the same time as CBH class for example. Unfortunately, the world does not revolve around our children.</p>
<p>My son attended Bama Bound in late July and had no problems getting into Honors sections of Calc 1 and English 103 – mind you these are classes that a lot of kids place out of via AP or DE credits, but the point is there were honors sections available at the later, non-Honors sections of BB. </p>
<p>There is absolutely NO downside to applying to and being admitted to the Honors College. Zero. </p>
<p>And one other upside (besides those already cited here) is the oppotunity to attend one of the Honors Action summer sessions. You get an HC credit under your belt and an opportunity to move onto campus early in a setting where you can establish some early friendships and get acclimated before the majority of students move in. A great plus for an out-of-state student: <a href=“Honors Action – honors.ua.edu | The University of Alabama”>http://honors.ua.edu/honors-action/</a></p>