Honors Discussion

Thanks for all the info whenyoubelieve and others. I wonder opinions on whether Maryland honors makes a large institution feel smaller. I guess most specifically with respect to class sizes. How much does being in honors, either seminars or “H” sections, typically reduce the number of large, lecture based classes in the student’s schedule?

I guess the more thematic and general question, but less concrete one, is if a student is considering UMD honors vs. a much smaller LAC, does honors contribute to bringing UMD down in scale to a somewhat closer experience as one might have at an LAC, at least in the classroom? That’s asked understanding that large research universities and small LACs differ in myriad other ways that one student or another will find more or less appealing.

As for caveats, I imagine class sizes are highly variable depending on interests and intended major regardless of whether one is in honors or not. And maybe getting credit for AP/IB going in might allow a student to bypass one or more large intro classes, making UMD smaller from the start whether the student is in a learning/living community or not. And I’m not suggesting honors is the only or best way to make UMD feel smaller. UMD’s commitment to a wide variety of learning/living communities speaks to its effort to make its institution feel smaller and more accessible to as many students as possible, and dorm environments, ECs, etc. will all contribute to feelings of community too.

All that said, any perspectives welcome.

Thanks

I was accepted to UMDs honors college and I completed the honors preferencing form last week, does anyone know when I will find out which program I get in to?

@alwaysnervous I’m not sure if the notification date differs per LLP or per individual, but I was notified via email on 2/27 last year for ACES.

Is there an admitted students day for Honors students? Should my D18 go to the regular one? Or do one of those days when she would shadow an Honors student? She has already visited and gone on the tour. Thanks.

@Astro, I think I read elsewhere that they offer a session for part of each admitted student day for those invited to the honors and scholars programs. That was the case at my son’s college, although he went to a different school. So, we just picked one of the 4 days and registered to reserve a spot. I think if we find out later that there are separate dates for honors or scholars programs, turn well cancel on the one we have registered for already. Keep us posted if you hear more, though!

Here is the link for Admitted Student Days

https://admissions.umd.edu/visit/on-campus-programs/asoh

There are only 4 dates offered, so I doubt that there will be any just for Honors or Scholars. I would recommend signing up soon, since they tend to fill up.

I also recommend that one or both parents attend, if possible, since there are concurrent sessions and you can cover more of the sessions that way.

When we attended in 2014, there was a session for the Honors College, which had several current Honors’ Students who described there experiences and answered questions,

There will be separate Orientation Sessions just for Honors College in the Summer.

@Astro77 (and @lifegarding)
The admitted student days are for everyone, and there are breakout sessions for individual areas of interest such as honors. The compelling reason to attend an “admitted student day” even after previous visits and/or tours is that the focus of these programs, as well as the information given, is different.

When you visited before applying, your overarching focus was admissions. You likely visited more schools than just Maryland, and it’s very easy to blur the lines of which school offered what. When you go to admitted student day, you have a very different focus. You KNOW you were admitted and now you are looking to see details of FIT, because now it is a real possible home for the next four years. You pay more attention, ask different types of questions and learn different things. And, you look more closely at the student population and maybe even do some random interviews with them to get a more informal sense of the school.

After you commit, you will go back again, for orientation. The orientation sessions DO have separate days designated for various programs, and again, that is an entirely unique focus, is an overnight program, and has separate programs for students only which includes learning how to navigate course selection and signing up for classes, and separate sessions for parents (only a half day, not an overnight) that includes finance issues, among other things.

@JMS111 the short answer is yes to your question’ “if a student is considering UMD honors vs. a much smaller LAC, does honors contribute to bringing UMD down in scale to a somewhat closer experience as one might have at an LAC, at least in the classroom.”

Obviously, there is a huge difference in the overall feel of both school environments. With respect to class size, you should understand that Maryland generally has several types of classes. The huge lecture classes that are basic foundation classes (which can be as little as 75 or close to 300) will meet twice a week, with one day of a smaller “discussion” section (about 20-30 students) with a TA. Then there are the medium classes with about 45-75 students and those are often the higher level/specialized classes. Finally, there are the small classes which include honors seminars (which can be as little as 15-20 people) and special program classes (that can be anywhere from 20-40 students), but also include classes such as Freshman English (which are about 20-25 students).

But yes, being in honors (or any other LLP) does absolutely give another level of making the school feel smaller because not only are you taking more smaller-sized classes, but you are seeing the same students more frequently.

So, the big university v small school question is a common one. Before sending my daughter to a summer program at Maryland, I would have sworn on a stack of bibles that she was not a big school kind of student. From the outside looking in, Maryland seems overwhelming in scope. However, no one was more surprised than me when, after spending 3 weeks there, she said that she wanted a big school like Maryland. When you actually live on the campus, it really doesn’t feel as overwhelming as when you visit (unless you oversleep for a class on the opposite end of campus, haha).

The biggest difference is that you can make a big school feel small by forming groups (such as in your dorm, in a LLP, in your major, clubs you join, activities you do, study groups you form, etc) but you can never make a small school feel big. You can also make the school feel smaller by going to professors’ office hours. They really are approachable (obviously, there’s always an exception) and enjoy talking to students - not only will they give help for coursework, but they also willing give advice and opinions to students that ask (future course recommendations, career planning, etc).

To give you a sense of understanding, a small college may be bigger than a high school, but think back to transition from middle school to high school. That seemed overwhelming at the time, but once you got there and became familiar with things, high school was not as big as you thought. The advantages of a large university are the resources, opportunities, school spirit and yes, large population (which means there’s always someone new to meet!) My nephew went to a small LAC which touted itself as a small school with large university resources. When my nephew went on to grad school at a large university, he laughed at his undergrad’s misleading marketing pitch. He doesn’t regret his choice for undergrad, as that school was the right fit for him at the time. However, he also found he enjoyed a large university more than he expected. There honestly is no single right answer for everyone, which I realize doesn’t help the decision process…just try to spend as much time on every campus you are considering to get the best sense of it, and while you are there, make sure to talk to students currently attending, not just the ones that volunteer to be tour guides.

FYI, here is the schedule for admitted students’ day: (found here https://www.admissions.umd.edu/visit/on-campus-programs/asoh) (Note: college sessions refers to your major - the university is comprised of multiple colleges - i.e.; A. James Clark is the college of engineering)

Schedule at a glance:

8:15 a.m. - Check-in
8:45 a.m. - Welcome
9:00 a.m. - College Sessions
10:00 a.m. - College Breakout Sessions
11:00 a.m. - Information Express and Campus Tours
12:00 p.m. - Special Information Sessions and Campus Tours
1:00 p.m. - Special Information Sessions and Campus Tours

@lifegarding D also signed up for one of the March days because it says there will be sessions for the college you’re accepted to.

@soofdad do you know whether there will be representatives from specific academics or performing arts (voice, dance)? I’m curious about the ability to take music/dance if you’re not a major, or if you’re still thinking about the major. Also, do people double major in say biology (one college) and voice (a different college)?

@klbmom18 People definitely double major in majors that are from different colleges. A lot of computer science majors I know are business majors as well (two different colleges).

For anyone considering Host-A-Day (the program where admitted students can sign up to shadow an Honors Ambassador for a day), I’d highly recommend! My friend did it and she said that what she learned from it convinced her to go to UMD!

I think @whenyoubelieve is referring to Terp for a Day https://www.admissions.umd.edu/visit/on-campus-programs/terp-day

I was actually referring to this (http://www.honors.umd.edu/visithonors.html), but Terp for a Day is a good option for non-Honors students!

DD did Terp for a day in November and really enjoyed it. It was with a senior in her major, so she had the chance to ask many questions. She then spent time catching up with friends who are currently in their first year or two on campus. After attending, she was even more positive it was the place for her. I definitely recommend it if your DD/DS is able to participate.

@klbmom18 - I don’t recall if there were sessions on performing arts (voice, dance), it was not an area of focus for us. There were representatives from specific colleges at UMD (Smith, Clark, L&, etc) but I don’t know if all majors were covered.

I can say that we found Admitted Student day was very informative for us.

There are students who do double majors. They are easier to schedule if there is more overlap in required courses, such as Physics and Math. There are also students who do majors and minors.

@whenyoubelieve my son got accepted to Engineering and Honors. He is likely planning to major in Mech. Engineering and possibly switch to Aerospace, or if possible, double in both if that is humanly possible from a required courses standpoint. He would also like to be involved in research opportunities in these areas, and hope to be able to be considered for an Engineering Honors program. With that in mind what Honors LLP would u suggest. I feel Gemstone would be too much unless it can overlap with existing required courses, incl research. Any thoughts would be helpful. Thank you.

@einyfine My son is MechE and did scholars, but had many friends that did honors college with NO problem. The only one I would steer clear of is Gemstone, only because it is a four year program and engineering is gets increasingly tough as you advance in the curricula. As for recommendation of which honors LLP, that would depend on your son’s interest, but I would highly recommend doing only a 2 year program. Specifically, I would suggest looking closely at EIP. My son did Hinman CEO’s which is an upperclass LLP that inspired the EIP theme program for honors. Many engineering students find that they have an interest in entrepreneurship, but even if they don’t, understanding the lingo/terminology used by entrepreneurs from a business perspective is highly invaluable. They have great speakers/programs and many students in that program do go on to do Hinman CEO’s as well.

As for honors college compared to engineering honors, they are entirely different. Honors college is based on high school performance and has the LLP component, which can include themes. The Honors college has a lot of programming and enrichment and commences freshman year. Engineering honors is something you can only apply to for starting junior year. It is entirely based on college performance and college recommendations alone. There are 1 credit seminars each semester and a research component. My son did the engineering honors, found it manageable with all of his other programs, and the research he participated in was published.

Note that if your son sticks with Aerospace, they have their own Aerospace Honors program that commences sophomore year and has h-versions (honors versions) of the aero classes. From my understanding (via a friend whose son is doing it) it is very challenging/intense.

As for research, yes, yes, and yes to research! My son LOVED research and found it was where all the hands on action was. His only regret with research was not starting sooner (he started junior year with engineering honors). They absolutely welcome and encourage freshman. There are many resources/pages I can point you to, but prob best to start here https://eng.umd.edu/research-opportunities.

@einyfine Sorry for the late reply! I’ve been really busy the past few days! I’ll keep this short, though!

None of the Honors curriculum really overlaps with any major requirements, but depending on the Honors courses taken, some could count for Gen-Eds.

Gemstone might be a lot for an engineering student, especially if he wants to do engineering departmental honors. Here’s the difference between the two: GEMS is student-conducted research that’s based around a topic that students make. Engineering departmental honors allows students to join a professor’s existing research project and help them with that. (Joining departmental honors also allows regular students not admitted to the Honors College to take H-level classes and Honors seminars). GEMS could potentially give your son some prior research experiences before he goes asking professors if he can join their projects.

However, choosing an LLP is all about fit! He should join a program he likes (not just one that complements what he’s majoring in) and a program that would be realistically feasible, knowing that engineers have generally busy schedules. I would just ask him to choose programs that actually interest him, since people are way more likely to enjoy their time at UMD and in their LLP if they’re doing something they like.

@maryversity @whenyoubelieve Thank you for the feedback which seems to confirm my thinking and the direction my son should take in signing up for his Honors LLP.

maryversity, thank you so much for your kind and thorough reply to my question about class size within Maryland honors. It is very much appreciated. Class size seems to be among the most important considerations for my D. For her I sense honors programs are not really about the student cohorts so much, but more about having pathways right from the start into small classes. She’s one who likes that small classes give her built-in opportunities - even kind of “force” her - to participate and be engaged, as I think she feels like she’d get lost in large lecture classes and she’s not one likely to knock on a lot of professors doors during office hours to shoot the breeze and build relationships.

I like big schools. I went to a big state flagship, appreciate their strengths, and experienced what you described, namely a place where one’s dorm floor, res hall, ECs, and discussion sections attached to large lectures created many small environments within a vibrant whole. She understands, but is also attracted to environments where small class sizes are baked in. Lots to balance and consider.

Again, thanks for taking the time to write such a helpful reply. Our family appreciates it, along with all your other posts!!!

Could really use some help figuring out which honors program for my son to choose. He’s looked at the individual pages and checked out the videos but it’s really hard to get a sense of where he’d be the most at home. Have seen comments that EIP has a kind of “bro” vibe. DCC looks interesting but my son isn’t really artsy. I know generalizations can be too broad, but if anyone could break down the vibe of the different LLPs, it would be greatly appreciated!