Do introductory-level honors courses at undergraduate look good on the transcript while applying to top-tier graduate school?
It won’t hurt - but your GPA, GRE and any other things such as internships will matter most.
Take classes for yourself…not for grad school.
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Thank you!
I understand other aspects matter too. I was asking about taking honors classes or not in particular.
And I’m saying - no. Take them for the right reason - your interest - and that (grad school) isn’t it.
In other words, I don’t believe it will matter - but if you want to know, contact a school of interest and ask.
In my opinion, having introductory honors level courses on your undergraduate transcript will not matter.
What will matter? A high gpa and test scores (if needed), strong letters of recommendation, your undergraduate resume, your experiences following graduation, and the personal statement that you may need to write.
Some schools/fields may emphasize one thing over another, and nobody here knows what your career intention is.
College is not like high school in terms of worrying about AP or honors courses. Grad school is going to be interested in GPA, research, work experience, and your classes for your major.
That said, honors courses can maybe give you smaller class sizes and easier access to professor which can help develop relationship for LORs, research, etc…
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Assuming that they are courses in your major, they might prepare you better for upper level honors courses, which could make more of a difference in graduate school admissions (presuming PhD programs or some such) along with undergraduate research and recommendations from such.
They matter if they prepare you better - in some majors, they’re the “in-depth” introductory courses that truly prepare you for the courses grad schools require, v. the general introductory courses.
It’s not so much that it “looks good” (although, depending on the college you attend and how often it sends students to grad school, in particular topnotch grad schools, it may matter) but rather that the preparation will matter.
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