Honors Program: Anyone trying out or in it? I have questions

<p>So I was accepted ed as an open options social science major. last week i got a letter inviting me to try out for the honors program. i was wondering: did anyone else get this letter? or is anyone in the honors program that can tell me how it is?</p>

<p>I was disappointed with the invite. It would have been nice if it was automatic instead of having to write another essay and obtain two more teacher recommendations - although recommendations weren't required by TCNJ they were 'encouraged' and I submitted several (more than two) when I applied. </p>

<p>At this point in time, I am done with the application process. I have been accepted to all the schools that I applied to and have been informed of all the merit offers from each school. My decision is made.</p>

<p>Sadly, it was not TCNJ.</p>

<p>Good luck to all!!</p>

<p>buuummmpppp....</p>

<p>Based on the website the honors program looks pretty neat. It looks like it mainly involves taking five honors classes at some point, and a lot of them look really interesting. </p>

<p>Personally I haven't gotten anything about it yet :-/. It says on the website that people who have SAT scores of at least 1300 and are in the top 15% of their high school classes get the invite, but not what they do if your school doesn't rank. Anyone who applied RD and goes to a school that doesn't rank get an invite yet?</p>

<p>my school doesn't "rank" but they divide us into either deciles or quintiles (i forget) so they somehow knew that i qualified. but maybe you could apply even if you're not invited?</p>

<p>Hi everyone,
I am freshman in the honors program at TCNJ, so if you have any more specific questions, I will try to answer them. First of all, congrats for being accepted to the college! My basic advice is that if you are seriously interested in attending the college, you should apply to the honors program and if you're still unsure about the decision to attend, it couldn't hurt to at least apply. For those that haven't got any letter about the program, sit tight! I know that several people hadn't received letters by the accepted students day last year and ended up being in the program.
The website gives a pretty good overview of what the honors program entails. It is essentially taking 5 honors courses, with one fulfilling a global requirement and one in religion/philosophy. You also have the option to take an honors FSP (first year seminar), mine was "The Beatles and Their World" and it was very cool :) Also, the program sponsors various talks and seminars throughout the semester and has several summer programs abroad where you can take an honors course for about a month abroad with the class.
The downside is that there is not really any "perks". I know that some other colleges get special honors housing or at least priority in the lottery as well as first choice during course selection, but the TCNJ program offers neither. Freshmen year you are housed in Cromwell (suites composed of 3 rooms sharing a bathroom) but you don't necessarily have an entirely honors floor. My roommate and everyone else in my suite besides one other girl are not in the program, but really I think that's a nice thing.
Lastly, I'm sure they take into account those whose high schools do not rank. I'm not entirely positive the process, but I think they have a system to see the percentile you fit into within the context of your specific high school but I don't really know. You could always give the office a call and ask for specifics perhaps? Sorry I couldn't be more helpful for that because my high school did rank.
Overall, I would recommend it as a good thing to have on your diploma/resume post-graduation for those that are seriously interested in TCNJ. Who knows, maybe if you are choosing between different schools, being accepted to the honors program here may be the deciding factor! Good luck throughout the process!</p>

<p>My D is OOS. She applied RD and has the supposed stats to be considered for the honors program. She has not heard a thing. Did anyone else hear?</p>

<p>my child got the notification yesterday. I think they're going out in waves.</p>

<p>if i recieved a presidential scholarship is there a good chance i will be getting an invite for this?</p>

<p>cherrrrrrrrrrryl I also got the presidential scholarship and received an invite so you may have a good chance too</p>

<p>Lynn, do you think it helps at all for med school?</p>

<p>I saw something about it on the website saying its great and helps you stand out but I emailed one of the professors from the Med School Committee and he says he doesn’t think it’ll matter that much.</p>

<p>Some of the classes really do look interesting and they’d be filling other requirements anyway but I don’t want to be “competing” for the highest grades and end up with a lower GPA or something. </p>

<p>Thanks for the help</p>

<p>david91613:
Hey, I’m not sure to what degree being in the honors program would factor into consideration for medical school. I am not exactly familiar with how that works but I would think the most important aspects are MCATs and GPA, whereas additional academic programs (like the honors program) wouldn’t hurt to have but would be of a lesser importance. I haven’t found the courses to be overly difficult to the point that my GPA suffers. The courses (at least that I’ve taken) are writing intensive and more in depth, and do cover many other requirements (global, world views and ways of knowings, etc.) and are interesting at the same time. It’s a great way to take courses that are challenging and interesting and I definitely recommend it! Hope that helps, sorry I couldn’t be more specific about the med school particulars!</p>

<p>hm, well I hate writing lol.</p>

<p>I went to the accepted students day yesterday and the guy at the biology presentation was saying its basically

  1. MCATS
  2. MCATS again
  3. GPA
  4. other stuff</p>

<p>It said the info had to be in by April 15th but yesterday I was told I could apply even when I’m there, I’m not sure if I will though.</p>

<p>Thanks for the info</p>

<p>does anyone know when we’re gonna hear back from them?</p>

<p>i heard we would get an email between the 15th and 30th of april</p>

<p>The Honors Program is a very liberal program at TCNJ. If you’re an engineering major, you’re going to have a hard time fulfilling the requirements simply because engineers don’t have much say in their courses until Senior year. I have a little animosity towards it because I was rejected. The deadline was around April 15, and I sent my application in a day or two earlier. I was rejected because the program was already filled by the time I sent in my application (I had heard that they accepted people who hadn’t even formally announced their decision to attend TCNJ.) However, I do have a few friends in the honors program. I wouldn’t go into it for the FSP’s. Most people tend to get into an FSP other than one of their five original choices.</p>

<p>I just got my acceptance email! It started out sounding like a rejection…“thank you for your interest…it’s highly selective…” but I was pleasantly surprised to find out I got in! Good luck to all!</p>

<p>i got in to! yeah, mine started off the same way. i don’t think i’m gonna take an honors fsp though; i really don’t wanna live in cromwell. what are you thinking of doing?</p>

<p>I just looked up the honors fsps and I also would rather not take one! I’d only be interested in about two of the topics…the others seem really boring and don’t fit my interests at all. I’m thinking maybe I’ll choose three of them and three regular fsps and then just let the college choose where to put me. Cromwell seems nice I’ve heard it’s much quieter than the towers. I’m just not too sure about the whole suite thing. I think I’d rather just room with one other person and deal with the communal bathrooms. I’m also afraid it’ll feel isolated from the rest of the freshman class seeing as the majority will be in the towers. Then again I might not mind having a few quiet nights.</p>

<p>Where do you find the Honors FSPs. All of the FSPs we find seem to be “regular.”"</p>