<p>What are the advantages of enrolling in the Honors Program at A&M? Is it basically there so that students can challenge themselves, or does it have other benefits? </p>
<p>Also, I read that Honors students must reside in certain dorms. I intend to join the Corps of Cadets, so would they make an exception in this situation?</p>
<p>You don’t have to be living in the Honors dorms to be in the Honors program or sign up for Honors classes. There are quite a few corps guys in the Honors program that live in Corps housing. I know upper class men honors students who really enjoy being in the Honors program and will say it is definitely worth it, or at least that is the general consensus. The classes, I don’t think, are necessarily harder, but just taught differently and to some degree, probably more enriching. I mean this, as in, more focused on student-professor interactions and in-class discussions. I think if you qualify for the Honors program, you should definitely go for it! It is not a big deal if you decide not to, but it’s worth giving it a shot. 
Hope that helps!</p>
<p>Source: I am a freshman honors student currently enrolled at A&M.</p>
<p>Home > Courses and Scheduling, Honors Programs News > University Honors Program Institutes Application Process
University Honors Program Institutes Application Process
September 9, 2011 Leave a comment Go to comments</p>
<p>For the first time in its history, the University Honors Program will be instituting a formal application process for students who wish to become full-fledged “Honors Students” at Texas A&M University. The change will go into effect beginning in the Fall 2012 semester, which means that incoming freshmen and continuing students alike will need to apply now.</p>
<p>“Although this may seem like a major paradigm shift, moving to an application will allow the office to better focus its resources on students who truly wish to engage in all that Honors has to offer,” says Assistant Director Jon Kotinek. “It may seem cumbersome at first, but I’m confident that all students will find that it will result in a more satisfying educational experience for everyone concerned.”</p>
<p>Honors Students admitted to the University Honors Program or any one of the college and departmental honors programs will have exclusive access to benefits such as Honors Priority Registration, the Honors Housing Community, Honors Course Contracts and Independent Study, and priority access to honors and fellowships advising and special programming. All students who maintain a 3.5 or higher cumulative GPR will be able to enroll in Honors courses.</p>
<p>“One of the biggest changes will be that all incoming freshmen who are accepted into Honors will be required to spend their freshmen year in the Honors Housing Community,” Kotinek adds. “In this way, we’re actually moving to a sort of ‘residential program.’ I think it will give us a real opportunity to develop some incredibly ‘high impact’ programming.”</p>
<p>Incoming freshmen can access the incoming student application via the ApplyTexas application. The continuing student application opened August 28, 2011 and close February 24, 2012. Students are encouraged to meet one-on-one with an Honors advisor to help determine which distinction(s) best fit their academic and curricular needs. A number of open briefings will also be offered; the schedule of these briefings is posted on the Honors and Undergraduate Research website.</p>
<p>“The application process itself will be relatively simple,” Kotinek says. “Students will have to answer three fairly short essay questions, and our review process will be holistic, taking into account not only the student’s academic preparation but also his or her personal vision, passion for learning, commitment, and risk-taking, not to mention curiosity, self-awareness, and creativity.”</p>
<p>The move to an application process opens a new chapter in the long and storied history of Honors at Texas A&M. Opportunities for Honors study at Texas A&M University were initiated in the mid-1960s in what was then the College of Arts and Sciences. Subsequently, the Colleges of Liberal Arts, Science, and Geosciences co-sponsored an Honors Program, and by 1968 all of the academic colleges had joined in the endeavor.</p>
<p>In 1978, the University Honors Program offered a modest thirty honors sections of twenty different courses, with only three upper-division (300-400) courses available. Ten years later, the number of honors sections jumped to 148 in 117 different courses but the number of upper-division sections available was still relatively small at thirty eight. Annual enrollments had climbed from 650 to over 2,000.</p>
<p>In recent years, the growth of Honors study opportunities has been dramatic – for the 2010-2011 academic year, over 300 sections of Honors courses are offered, and in the fall 2010 semester alone, approximately 3,000 students engaged in Honors study at Texas A&M.</p>
<p>Questions about the application process can be directed to Honors and Undergraduate Research, (979) 845-1957 or <a href=“mailto:honors@tamu.edu”>honors@tamu.edu</a>.</p>
<p>My son is a HS senior and when we met with an honors adviser they specifically said that they would make an exception for the dorm requirement for students in the corp. They had no yet decided if they would make an exception for engineering students who wanted to live in the engineering dorm.</p>
<p>Honors is great and everything, but from what I’ve heard from some Honors students, the biggest advantage would probably be that you get very early registration time.</p>
<p>I got the impression that the changes they are making with admission to the honors program are about trying to make the program have more depth than in the past.</p>
<p>I recently applied for TAMU honors and had to write a few short essays on my I wanted to get in. Im in the top 10% (I´ve already been admitted to TAMU) and have a GPA of 3.57 out of 4. My SAT score is 1650 so it´s not THAT great.</p>
<p>So what could be my chances?</p>
<p>When I went to visit A&M the admissions for honors college told me that they were basing admission solely on the 3 essays, that they were not even looking at grades or SAT. But that seems odd so maybe they told me wrong…</p>
<p>Eve411, my S has stats that are almost exactly the same as yours. He has also applied to Honors so it will be interesting to see how students are chosen.</p>
<p>If they are going solely on essays, that certainly levels the playing field for all applicants. I for one hope that they can see the determination and drive my son has in the “short” answers he gave to the essay questions. 200 words isn’t much but hopefully enough 
Mar. 1 seems like a long way off when your waiting…I just wonder if they will begin notifying as decisions are made, or if all notifications will go out Mar. 1?</p>
<p>Maybe someone on here will have an answer/guess to that question.</p>
<p>Sorry, no answers here, I’m waiting along with you. The limited space did result in info being concise on the the essays which did seem to limit the message but we’ll see. I don’t remember hearing that grades/test scores weren’t going to be considered but rather that there would be a wholistic review and no difined cutoff for scores. It seems that those essays were pretty limited to do a wholistic review from. The expectation of maintenance of a 3.5 GPA seems pretty major even for students who met the old grade requirements. My S did apply but is concerned about being able to maintain this. For now all we can do is wait and see. Good Luck!</p>