<p>The Honors program was recommended to me by a UW Admissions Advisor but all I was given was the application, without much information. Can someone familiar with the program give me the pros & cons? Thank you!</p>
<p>Pros: ?</p>
<p>Cons: Less flexibility with your classes; detracts from time that could be devoted to your major(s); graduate schools only care about departmental honors; and no one at UW will care that you’re honors except people in honors. </p>
<p>All my friends and I were in the honors program, and we simply neglected to complete the requirements. It’s in your interest to maximize the amount of classes within your major if you intend on going to graduate school. If you want a PhD in physics, the school won’t care that you took honors classes in history. That said, you can always be in the honors program and just not finish it. Definitely do departmental honors regardless.</p>
<p>Couldn’t disagree more. The only situation I would advise someone against Honors is if they came in with all their general ed requirements out of the way.
Otherwise, your honors core is basically just what others have to do for Gen Ed requirements. Except you get cooler, more thought provoking classes that are smaller and more discussion based. Joy!
You’re not wasting your time at all…just instead of psych 101 you’re taking, say, What We Know and How We Know It. And the GPA grades are inflated.
Not to mention the study abroad opportunities. The great faculty and resources out there available. The smaller community (UW is huge). And, frankly, it does look good to be in honors. Not in a snobby way, but it’s still a distinction from the rest of your classmates.
And honestly, why not? It’s not that much of an extra commitment. Heck, depending on your major and what you do it might even save you time (say an engineer that takes two science sequences in honors, you’d only need 3 courses to have ALL your gen ed requirements out of the way). </p>
<p>So, in short, unless you have all your general education requirements out of the way through AP credit or something of the like, I cannot think of a legitimate reason why you wouldn’t do honors.</p>
<p>Sorry to hijack this thread, but will UW look at my application if I do/don’t apply to the honors program? Is it possible to get into UW without getting into the honors program?</p>
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<p>Good point. I came in with 50 AP credits, so completing the honors program didn’t make any sense. </p>
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<p>Grades are not only inflated, but the classes are easier. As for study abroad opportunities, there is no honors study abroad program that isn’t open to people who only do departmental honors. If you’re departmental honors, you are technically a part of the Honors Program as a whole. That means any scholarships for honors students only are open to departmental honors, including the Bondermann.</p>
<p>No one knows or cares if you’re in the honors program while you’re at UW (most of the time I didn’t even remember I was honors), and few honors students actually take advantage of honors resources or belong to any kind of honors community. I was in it–I know. A huge fraction of people who go into honors stop caring after freshman year and don’t finish. “With College Honors” looks better on your degree, but graduate programs will only care about “With Distinction” and the the breadth of classes you’ve taken in your major(s).</p>
<p>Once you get into junior and senior years, and especially if you’re humanities and/or social sciences, you should be taking upper-division classes/seminars anyway. Most of my classes after sophomore year were 25 people or less. </p>
<p>Having said all that, if you make the calculation that it won’t interfere with what classes you take in your major(s), it won’t hurt to do honors. BUT, since I neglected to finish honors and had 50 AP credits (over a year’s worth of credits at UW), I was able to finish two degrees and a minor. That wouldn’t have been possible had I not had my core requirements taken care of from the start.</p>
<p>Yes, you can be accepted by UW but rejected by the Honors program.</p>
<p>I’d say smaller class sizes are a big plus to the honors program. Also, in a school with over 20,000 undergrads, it’s nice to live with and have multiple classes with some of the same people. Of course, you can also manage this with a FIG (freshman interest group), but as far as I know FIGs only last for the first quarter of freshman year.</p>
<p>Cons? Honors 100</p>
<p>Also, not getting into the program is not a reason not to attend UW, and if UW isn’t a good fit for you, the honors program won’t change that… that said, the UW and the honors program are both great.</p>
<p>Someone I know got into Honors program last year. He was very disappointed with honors college staff. Apparently, they were not at all helpful. I think departmental honors carries more weight.</p>
<p>I applied last year and was rejected, but right now I am actually living in the Honors community dorm with a friend, so I have an interesting perspective of the Honors program. I would say that the program is great and the classes are probably more thought-provoking, interdisciplinary, and catered to you as an individual. The classes are smaller which is a huge plus, but I have noticed that the classes are not that much smaller than the regular sized classes depending on your major. </p>
<p>From what I’ve heard the honors program is tough if you want to do pre-med, have lots of credit coming in to UW, or want to do a double major. These things are all possible to accommodate with the honors requirements, but they present a more challenging plan. </p>
<p>Even if these apply to you I would still apply. The opportunities for the honors program are quite impressive although it is similar to the rest of UW being a place where you can really discover many incredible opportunities if you have the individual will to seek them out.</p>
<p>i’m in my first quarter at the u and i was a little nervous about the honors program. i didn’t know if it would be harder or if there were only upperclassmen. but all of my worries were quickly absolved. it’s wonderful having a small class size where you can interact. the class topics are extremely interesting and my professor is awesome. it’s my favorite class. i recommend trying out the honors program and if you don’t like it then you can always switch out.</p>