All right so i am confused.
I am looking to go into chem. engineering and am interested in Madison’s honors program. So, from my knowledge there is a engineering honors program for each major (ie honors in chem engineering). If this is true, is it something where you are invited to join or is there an application for the program?
L&S has an Honors Program you can apply to be eligible for honors courses in your first year- the math. physics and chemistry sequences may or may not meet your needs for engineering. They tend to be more theory than problem based for the calculus ones. Very recently Engineering introduced honors in the liberal arts which requires L&S courses for honors. Otherwise engineering courses are considered rigorous so they haven’t had special honors classes in that. Currently I believe all incoming freshmen can apply to the L&S Honors program- an essay and application is required and you must do it soon. See the UW website for info- look at both L&S and Engineering Honors subsites. Go ahead and join if you want any Honors courses as a freshman. You are not required to take any Honors classes/sections of courses any semester but the sooner you start the easier it is to have the required number of courses to get the Honors on your diploma.
The Honors is school/college, not major, specific. In L&S there is an Honors in the major plus more comprehensive Honors which involve taking a range of different courses to meet requirements.
Your best bet is to look at the two sites and become familiar with them. If you have any questions about which Honors courses to consider first semester send an email with questions to the Chem E department- chairman works. Then by SOAR you will be able to plan a schedule around those courses. btw- then and now the UW Chemistry department is excellent (got my Chemistry- comprehensive Honors degree eons ago). You may want the regular calculus for the problem solving approach instead of the Honors sequence math majors may choose (son did honors math and physics sequences). Consider honors versions of electives for your breadth requirements- and look beyond the 100 level if available. They have added extras for honors students- having the internet makes it a lot easier to do than back in my day (general structure the same).
Wow…that pretty much answered all my questions. Thanks!!!
Like wis75 said, there is not a specific honors in chemical engineering. You can take some classes for honors, but the only honors degree in engineering is Engineering Honors in Liberal Arts.
http://www.engr.wisc.edu/current/current-student-undergraduate-honors-liberal-arts.html
The chemical engineering classes are hard enough as is. But if you want more challenge later on, take a graduate course as an elective (you would have to ask a professor/advisor to make sure you meet the prerequisites) or find a research group to join. There’s Honors in Research (CBE 489) which looks like an intro to grad school–there is a thesis at the end. You could also join a club.
http://www.engr.wisc.edu/che/current/undergrad/honors.html
Your first year or two, the honors choices would be in your science electives and liberal arts classes.
Thanks @aqsewfqq! both of you guys have been very helpful
You are not restricted to just lower level courses- eg there was the same lecture for Linguistics 300 something as 100 something that freshman son took- I think he ended up with a better discussion group… You may want to consider those liberal arts classes for honors if you can. The more classes you take sooner for honors the fewer you would need when your engineering classes take more time and energy. Even if you do not finish the honor degree reqs you will have gained knowledge and meet some other very smart people.