<p>Would anyone care to comment on the pros or cons of UGA's Honors Program? I know it is decades old, and has earned an excellent reputation, which seems to even be spreading nationally. So, how has it been for those experiencing it recently? Any praise? Any complaints?</p>
<p>i've applied to UGA and done my share of homework on the honors program... there are quite a few advantages.</p>
<ol>
<li>you get a NICE dorm (Myers Hall)</li>
<li>you get to sign up for classes in front of everyone else except seniors</li>
<li>you can graduate with honors making you more appeasing to grad-schools</li>
</ol>
<p>cant think of any more right now... but from what i understand it has few downsides, if any.</p>
<p>The honors program at UGA really is amazing. The best advantages in my mind are...</p>
<p>1.) It really shrinks your class size. An intro to Chem class that your peers are taking with 399 other students, you're taking with only 19 others. I thought that was great.
2.) As booman mentioned, you get to register for classes before anyone else, so you basically always get the classes you want.
3.) You're the big man on campus. Most UGA honors students would have been average students at Duke, Vandy, or Emory, but at UGA they're the stand-outs. Businesses recruit them more and internships are more available to them. So you could either go to Duke, Vandy, or Emory and compete with the rest of the student body for opportunities, or come to UGA honors and compete against the other 2,000 honors students.
4.) You're not in a different college like some schools, you're still a part of your undergrad college, UGA just offers classes from your college that are smaller and taught by more experienced faculty. It's a win-win.
5.) They have a really nice dorm, but I personally wouldn't want to be surrounded by all the honors kids...</p>
<p>That's all I can think off right now, but it's definitely one of the best honors programs in the country.</p>
<p>You might want to check some of your facts. I have a friend whose daughter took Intro to Chem as an honors class - there were 70 students in the class. I was surprised as all the presentations, etc we went to concerning the Honors program said 20 was the limit, but that's not true for all the classes.</p>
<p>Also, it is very difficult to get into Myers for housing. There is not enough room for all the honors students.</p>
<p>There is enough room in Myers for all first-year Honors students. After that, it becomes a bit more competitive for second and third-years who want to stay on-campus and in Myers. Chances of being able to live in a Myers dorm after your first-year are also greatly improved if you are proactive and sign up on the waiting list early. </p>
<p>Also, I have played a small role this year as a second-year Honors student in speaking to prospective UGA and UGA Honors students and parents about the program. Honors classes are significantly smaller than regular courses at UGA, however, the introductory level science courses as well as a few others in other majors will have more students than an upper-level course because they are in essence, weed-out courses. Many students go into college as Pre-med, and change their plans when they encounter their first science courses, for example, Introductory Chemistry. Virtually all Honors science courses beyond introductory level-courses will have no more than 20 students, so I don't feel the Honors Program was misleading when they say Honors classes have on average, no more than 20 students. Even 60 to 70, after all, is a great deal less than 250-300.</p>
<p>I got into UGA Honors, and I am really debating the merits of going there versus Emory. Can anyone give me some info on this? Also, how “great” is the “great” Myers housing? I’ve heard some very conflicting pov’s…</p>
<p>Check out the recent UGA vs. Emory thread. It turned into a discussion about UGA honors vs. Emory 
Well, at least there was a lot of UGA honors stuff. Bernie takes a lot of our Emory questions.</p>
<p>ilikewater: It’s actually so much easier than what you make it sound like. Most students at Emory (or the others) will make decent grades when they get here, so it comes down to networking, which is ridiculously easy because of the size and the level of involvement of faculty members. There are so many opportunities that the competition is not as stiff as you’d like to think, especially when you make key faculty connections (I have so many it’s unbelievable, and my grades are nowhere near perfect). Getting something like research (rather on campus or through summer programs on or off campus. I have a friend who was significantly helped in getting his spot at Harvard’s Stem Cell Research Institute this upcoming summer because of his connection to a key faculty member, and lesser so his grades). or an internship is so easy. Given the popular belief amongst Emory students that one gets good recommendation letters by merely getting good grades (as opposed to actually talking to/meeting the profs. often), it makes it so much easier for those who are willing to interact with a prof. This is another reason it’s less stiff competition, you’re “competing” with motivated, but what may be perhaps somewhat ignorant students, in terms of networking ability. This knocks many players out of what would otherwise be a tough game. </p>
<p>aliyah: Competition aside, the coursework is pretty epic from my experience. I’m here to learn. The “standing out” comes as a result of it, and does not automatically happen. If you want an anecdote (my freshmen year experience was surprisingly solid), I can provide one, but you should first tell me your intended major so you can know whether it is even worth choosing Emory over UGA. For some majors, unless you plan to venture/dabble a lot, it isn’t worth it, trust me.</p>
<p>@aliyah definitely emory. here are some reasons from top of my head:
- better reputation
2)better teachers who will know your name
3)better networking and connections
4)better dorms
5)more likely to get into a better graduate school
6)better financial aid if you need it. emory meet 100% of your need. those who makes less than 100K only have to borrow the maximum of 15K for 4 years and those who make less than 50k dont have any loans so its practically free </p>
<p>when people think of emory, they think of “they are smart”. when people think of uga they think of “hm I wonder if they are sober” 
I mean uga is better than ga state but unless you want to be a teacher, uga does not stack up to emory even if you graduated honors. especially in this economy. my ap econ teacher graduated from uga honors and he have a lot of friends who also graduated from uga honors with bus. degree who are unemployed now. there is a reason emory is known as the ivy of the south.</p>
<p>A disclaimer - my daughter graduated from Emory in May, 2010. She was an auto-admit to UGA honors. She graduated with highest honors and Phi Beta Kappa, she was not an average student at Emory, nor was anyone else we knew that chose Emory over UGA. We believe that Emory was the right choice for her and that Emory provides many advantages over UGA.</p>
<p>However, there are many things you need to consider. There is a signifcant difference in cost, a significant difference in the size of the schools, a significant difference in the student body, a significant difference in sports. All these things need to be considered in your decision.</p>
<p>I will say one thing - the dorms - I’ve seen Myers and Emory definitely has the advantage on this.</p>
<p>Especially the freshmen dorms here. The new ones are quite solid. Sophomore year is the only year where most get mediocre housing (though renovations make Complex and Woodruff doable, the tower is okay b/c of the view I guess, and apt. style). It(quality) increases again starting junior year with the URC and CRC.
Average folks: A lot of the “average” people here are doing amazing things. Keep in mind that "average is actually quite high-achieving here. So rather one comes in with stats/credential that are average for Emory or not, the resources at the school set it up so that those students can easily do as well as those that would be considered above average. Also, beyond a certain point, HS stats. are not really a great predictor of college (or future) success. In fact, many would argue that other than GPA, they aren’t great at all. At least GPA somewhat indicates work ethic. If a great deal of the people here have around 1400, that’s already a solid score. One cannot necessarily expect them to perform or be significantly worse off than a person with a 1500+. There is probably a type of diminishing returns. In fact, I often see many students with stats. on average do better than say an Emory scholar in the same course.</p>
<p>Also, take a look at the programs you might want to go into and how they look at the two different schools. I don’t think Emory has any agricultural, wildlife, or forestry classes, so if you want to work with animals, that would not be the place to go. Also, if anyone is pre-vet, the Ag school at UGA is great and allows you to do surgery on animals as an undergrad. Additionally, I don’t think Myers is that great of a dorm, it is newly remodeled, but you don’t even have a sink in your room.</p>
<p>Why are you bumping up threads from 2007?</p>