<p>I was accepted out of HS last year with respectable stats. I declined UW's offer in place of a university in IL due to scholarships and financial stuff. I'm now dead set on transferring becuase my current school is bleak and intellectually stagnant. </p>
<p>While UW Madison is a very viable option for me, it honestly is my fallback for UChicago and Cornell (so there's a good chance I could wind up in Madison next year).</p>
<p>My question is (and this is primarily directed toward barrons or anyone knowledgable about UW Madison): How is the academic and intellectual atmosphere of the honors program? Is it challenging? Also, how difficult is it to find undergrad biology research -I'm aware of UW's excellent bio research reputation, but do professors take on sophomores?</p>
<p>Challenging courses and caliber of students in the Honors program. You will have missed the Honors Chemistry, Physics and Math (the math sequence makes it worth repeating AP Calc) introductory sequences but will be able to take the prerequisite chem courses to qualify for the up to 4 semester Biocore sequence. There are regular courses with Honors work/credit and straight Honors courses as some options. To get an Honors degree in L&S you do a Senior Honors Thesis- for a lab science you could spend many hours per week in a grad lab situation working on your project under a professor's supervision. There is also an annual undergraduate research symposium begun in recent years- you can look up the details on the UW website. For Biology you might be in L&S or the Ag school, the online catalog will delineate the various reqs, as will the Honors Programs site. I would imagine it would be easier for a sophomore who was at UW freshman year to develop the contacts with a professor to work with them. I do remember eons ago (they have revised/improved the Honors program since my day) spending time in grad labs for parts of some of my Honors chem labs. Some students also find paying jobs in labs. Spend some time nosing around the UW website for the best answers to your questions about opportunities, you may want to sign up for the Honors weekly e-mail newsletter to get ideas on available activities for Honors students (do so via the website). I know you may wish I put in the links, but exploring the website on your own is easily doable (if I can, you can) and worth your while.</p>
<p>In all honesty, I have not been that impressed with the Honors program. The honors advising is nice and being able to take this honors only classes too is great, but the people in the program don't seem too intellectual. It's not a hard program to gain acceptance into and so many students are in it without the appetite for knowledge as you'd hope they'd have.</p>
<p>You must not have taken the above math-science courses. Do not equate people in the program with people taking the Honors courses. Some will not make use of the opportunities, some will find the courses more difficult than they realized. At the freshman level you will find students who discover they don't belong in the Honors program after taking an Honors class. UW casts a wide net to gather in the best students into the Honors programs, then the "sifting and winnowing" (I hope you get the reference) process occurs. Many hard working HS achievers would meet any criteria used, we have no test for "intellectualism". Some new students need time to realize they can show their ablities and discuss at a higher level than in HS. There are others who take Honors courses out of their field to meet breadth requirements and not for a great enthusiasm for a subject. You will find "nonintellectual" students even at the most elite schools- consider that many or even the majority of students at those schools do not go beyond a bachelor's degree. Max out your own education. PS-remember scientists are just as intellectual as humanities majors, just with a different interest/focus.</p>
<p>Check the UW website under Academics, Honors Programs. If you don't get in you can try to take courses for honors credit with permission; you can try to get into the Honors program in later semesters also. A check of the L&S Honors website states a typical HS core gpa of 3.9, is in the 96%ile and ACT of 30 or SAT 1340. Don't worry if your stats don't quite match, the "typical" isn't the only. They invite top accepted students to apply to the Honors program as freshmen, but you can join anytime (it may be harder to meet reqs for and Honors degree if you start many semesters later-read the site for accurate info).</p>
<p>thanks so much. my friend definitely has those qualifications, but i was surprised to find that I'm pretty close myself lol! GPA of 3.97 uw, 29 ACT, and top 2% in hs class. Think it's worth retaking the ACT to try and get a 30? or will it not matter since I already submitted my app anyway? Do they just self-select you, or do you have to fill out a separate honors app? Thanks for all the help, btw. :)</p>
<p>For 2008, all students will receive an email or letter inviting them to apply to the program. From there, you will submit an application sometime in March. With a high gpa and class rank, your ACT should be just fine.</p>
<p>Remember, the stats were for a typical student, not a minimum. Only those top students (based on whatever criteria they decide) would get an invitation. For those who don't - you can always choose to join later.</p>