<p>When I went to Husky for a Day, the Honors people said that the program is like a community.</p>
<p>Are there any "community building" activities or is just because everyone's in the same dorm and taking similar classes that everyone knows each other?</p>
<p>Either way, what's your take on the Honors Program?</p>
<p>There is specific honors housing, but there are also activities put on by Honors, such as International Night.</p>
<p>I was also wondering about the honors program…what are the pros/cons of it? My D is looking for a fun college experience, in addition to challenging academics. Can you be in the honors program and still participate in Greek life or is it one or the other? Any insight before the final decision is made???</p>
<p>You can definitely be in both honors and greek. Pros of honors are that you form close relationships with people of your same academic level. Cons may be that you do spend a lot of time with them. Honestly, you can always join or drop out of the honors program during your four years, and no one will say anything about it.</p>
<p>My S just accepted UConn Honors over BC and several good merit offers @ Brandeis, BU and GWU. He got merit aid at UConn as well, but he was greatly influenced by the apparent strength of the honors curricula over the other honors programs he was admitted to in the other schools, and a lot of perks that go along with the program from the Dorms, to preferential choice in class registration, to activities, special intern programs and advising. Lastly, he plans to apply what money he an save for Grad/Law school in 4 yrs.</p>
<p>My experience is a little dated – graduated from the UConn honors program 25 years ago (one of the early grads). It was a great experience then – and it is amazing how much they have done with the program. I would highly recommend this path. It will allow students to go deeper in a subject area and work more closely with professors. At a large school like UConn – it also allows connection with a smaller group of students with similar academic interests. The Dean of the Honors program was the former college president at Simmons College, really doing great things with the program.</p>
<p>I believe the honors programs at schools like UConn rival Ivy League level academic experience. It also opens doors (think it was a major reason I got into Harvard B School).</p>
<p>Best of luck</p>
<p>Thanx, Doc. I showed the post to my S and he appreciated the perspective you brought. We’ve had several conversations with the Dean during honors Husky-for-a-day and a recent awards dinner at the Aqua-turf club. Every contact to date has been positive and gave you the impression that for a State school, they were really investing time, talent and effort to make the honors program competitive with the top-rated programs while delivering value. </p>
<p>It sounds like it’ll be a bumper crop for the honors program this year - they will likely fill up Buckley Hall with Honors Freshmen!!! No wonder they’re moving out of Shippee.</p>
<p>My S also accepted UConn honors over Tufts, CMU, Bucknell and a few other great schools. He was impressed with the CSE program, the facilities, professors, and the caliber of graduating seniors. Cost was a factor as he is the first of four kids.</p>
<p>We are optimistic about the opportunities he will have at UConn.</p>
<p>I am asking for advice about dorm living. He is considering both the Honors dorm in Buckley and perhaps the new Eurotech community in McMahon. Each seems to have its advantages but I would like to hear from some honor students and engineers about their experiences with dorm life. Is there a reason he should NOT consider the Eurotech community? Will he be missing out by not living in the Freshmen Honors dorm?</p>
<p>He is still not sure about the Eurotech program and he will have to decide during orientation but he has to request the LC by the 15th.</p>
<p>I’m anxious to hear about the experience too!!! </p>
<p>Deedles, you might want to have your S check with the Honors advisors to see if he is required to live in honors housing to stay in the program. I remember a similar question coming up during our Husky-for-a-day session, although it was in regards to a staying in honors but housing in a regular dorm. The LC’s may have different rules in this case, but he may have to choose between the 2 programs.</p>
<p>He can opt for the LC but he has to let Honors know his choice. I communicated with the LC folks and they said that they are expecting quite a few freshmen to be part of the Eurotech community even though they would not yet have declared the double major (clearly too soon).</p>
<p>McMahon seems like an interesting place to live because it also houses the Global House LC with the international students. Check them out here:</p>
<p>[Global</a> House Website](<a href=“http://www.globalhouse.uconn.edu/Global_House/GHome.html]Global”>http://www.globalhouse.uconn.edu/Global_House/GHome.html)</p>
<p>Anybody with info on plans for the Eurotech LC or any related advice would be appreciated!</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about the honors program if you look through some of my older posts in this board (in this UConn board).</p>
<p>Actually maybe I haven’t, at least not recently. I’ll copy some excerpts from PMs I’ve sent:
</p>
<p>Regarding honors community stuff:
I wasn’t in honors as a freshman, but it seemed like most of my honors friends in Shippee (the freshman honors dorm at the time) were somewhat close-knit, though I wouldn’t say it was really that different from any other dorm. I currently live in the upper classmen honors dorm in South and it’s just like any other dorm.
I mean, there are “community building” activities that some people take part in that are set up by the Honors Council but I don’t really pay much attention to those, nor do a lot of my friends. It’s like any other club or organization, totally optional and it can be fun if you do want to participate in it. But I would definitely not use it as a reason to pick honors or even to tout as some advantage of being in the honors program. There are other legitimate advantages to being in honors, but I would not say that a “community” feeling or “community building” activities qualify as advantages or reasons.</p>
<p>
Absolutely can do both. The two are entirely unrelated.</p>
<p>
There’s no reason he has to live in Buckley, and it is pretty far away from the center of campus and most of his engineering classes (although it is close to Wings, Subway, and Store24… decisions, decisions!). Buckley rooms are also below average, and Buckley Dining Hall is pretty bad. I’ve only eaten there twice in the past three years, and one of those was during orientation. Most Shippee/Buckley kids make the five minute walk to South dining hall to eat.
And although I don’t honestly see the point of a Eurotech learning community (or any other learning community for that matter), McMahon is definitely a better place to live than Buckley. It too has its own dining hall (food is tolerable) and is also pretty close to South dining hall; it is also much closer to the center of campus (close to the Co-Op, library, gym, and student union) although engineering classes will still be somewhat far.</p>
<p>Global House is pretty useless, from what I can tell (I lived in McMahon last year). I don’t know, maybe for the people actually in the Global House community, it might be better; maybe they do activities or something. But my experience last year was that it was just a bunch of international kids who got their own comfortable, exclusive study lounge on the second floor. They would go there to study and occasionally have movie viewings. I don’t think there’s anything special about Global House unless you’re actually in Global House.</p>
<p>But it wouldn’t hurt to do the Eurotech LC. I would choose McMahon over Buckley any day.</p>