Honors Housing vs Engineering Housing

@twoinanddone There are additional scholarships associated with the honors college but I don’t think / know if they are predicated on living in the honors dorms. Also, I’m not sure we’ll know about those extra scholarships (not including merit based which came with his acceptance letters) until the spring.

Also, each of the honors programs have honors classes that are taken in lieu of other core classes but are smaller and more seminar style in nature rather than the larger settings. This style of learning is something he gravitates to. I don’t’ think it’s a question of whether he can be a part of the honors college if he doesn’t choose to reside in the honors housing but rather which housing is a better match for him. Some honors students majoring in engineering simply choose one or the other.

Be sure he checks into material covered in those honors classes. Some sound junky- ie survey instead of in depth in a given subject. He may rather want a full course in a subject rather than a smattering of knowledge despite it being directed at honors students. One reason I think an honors program has merit over a “college” system.

@wis75 Excellent point about the content of those classes. One school admittance counselor even intimated that some of the regular classes could be made into honors just by having the prof sign off on it without changing any of the content. If I understood correctly, it sounded like a really lazy approach to an honors program and one that had little to no benefit to the student.

All of the schools he’s considered also have volunteer requirements attached to the programs - anywhere from 20 hours per year to 75 per semester. Yes, 75 per semester.

Yikes on that volunteering. Hours is meant to benefit the student academically, not prepare their resumes for getting into a college. Time spent doing junky volunteer work (let’s face it , even the most brilliant student lacks skills to do more than HS grad level stuff) is time taken away from studying. Being a tutor does not usually help the tutor. Honors should be about academics, not being “well rounded”. I wonder how many of the better students don’t bother with honors but opt to get more of the education they are paying for.

This year my daughter was hired to be a tutor. They assigned her a student who is in the SAME class she is taking.

So basically she gets paid $20/week to study with another student.

Northeastern has many merit scholarships which require 100 hours of volunteer work a year. Yes, many of the kids tutor, usually math to inner city HS kids, but they do all kinds of volunteering. The idea is to make them a part of their community. They do things from shoveling after a big storm to working at the Shakespeare in the park show to alternate spring break in a poor country. The 100 hours is sometimes hard to do during a year where you spend 6 months on a co-op or abroad, but they are flexible during those non-regular semesters.

I’ve been intrigued to se at several (many?) colleges, the honors housing is farther away from the central campus. Because honors students less likely to skip? Because that is where the newer, nicer dorm is? I’m fascinated.

My older D did honors dorm at Pitt her freshman year and liked it a lot, even though it was far away. 7/8 girls in her suite were majoring in something STEM.

Thank you @Booajo . That is interesting. Our son is thinking that he’d like to stay in the Honors Dorm because he feels that it is a diverse atmosphere with intellectuals. Even though his 2 best buddies are also planning on Engineering degrees he’s really enjoyed all the Gifted program students at his high school. We’ll be revisiting his #1 choice soon and I suggested that he ask to tour both the Engineering and Honors housing to see which he feels most comfortable in. I don’t think distance will keep him from classes so that’s not a consideration.

@“Garden Mom” I had no worries about D skipping. But my current applicant (S18) I’ve encouraged to live closer to classes (not in honors dorm–too far away!). He is lazy like me.

My daughter loves her honors housing @ Pitt because it is suite style and the dining hall, mail center and mini-market store and coffee shop are all in the same building. She likes having non-engineering friends.

BUT. The girls in the engineering LLC are tight she says and she is envious of their group and always having study friend access. She still maintains she would choose her current dorm all over and the engineering LLC is too far away but she does admit there are benefits.

I don’t think you can go wrong either way.