<p>Is it worth it to be in the Honors program at a university? Would having an Honors diploma weigh at all on a medical school application? If anyone knows anything about this, please respond soon.</p>
<p>Whether or not it carries any weight on the application, I’m not sure. However, the Honors program at my school offers a lot to the students who are in it like more research opportunities, trips all over for “field trips”, service projects, etc., a lot smaller classes, gets rid of most if not all gen. ed. requirements, and more access to faculty. As long as you get the same GPA as you would in the regular program I can’t see why it would hurt, but I think the real benefits are in the program itself, not the part where you put it on your transcript.</p>
<p>Those are great points, I have thought about these things, but I think I could easily obtain access to all those as a regular student regardless. I think if at my school being in Honors meant you could waive gen-ed requirements, I’m sold! That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard! But other than that, my school has so many opportunities that I can get access to, that being in Honors wouldn’t really add much to my benefit (in terms of things like research). However, the main plus I like is priority advising - having first choice for course selections, registering for full classes, registering for classes after registration deadlines have passed, registering for full classes after registration deadlines have passed, etc. but I figure at least for year 1 & 2, I won’t have much, if any at all, trouble with this. Everything is pretty much introductory, so getting into classes and having priority decision won’t do much, I don’t think. Any thoughts on that?</p>
<p>As well, any other thoughts on whether or not completing an Honors diploma/program is weighed significantly on medical school applications? I’m really hoping someone has insight on this. I don’t typically see students asking about whether or not to be in honors as a pre-med, so there seems to be a gap of hidden information.</p>
<p>Well the regular gen ed classes are waived and they are replaced with Honors classes, so it isn’t like you get off completely. It’s just that there are a lot fewer required classes so you can take more of what is pertinent to your major and more classes that you want to take. (Keep in mind this is my program) </p>
<p>Look into the other aspects of the program at your school. What else is required? Sometimes there is a required service project or number of volunteer hours and other non-academic activities that are part of the program. Are there classes that are offered to or required of honors students that you want to take instead of the normal classes?</p>
<p>Honors has been a blessing for my D. Lots of Merit Scholarships, priority registration, one tuition free summer, Grant from Honors college for her intership project at Med. Research Lab. The last is a very good point on resume, since she wrote proposal herself and got 2 grants for her lab. I do not even mention that Honors will be in her diploma. She never was bothered with any additional reguirements, I am not sure if there are any at her school. She also stayed at Honors dorm for first 2 years. I do not understand why not to be in Honors, just benefits, no disadvantages.</p>
<p>You’d be surprised at how much the priority registration helps. Yes you do take many introductory classes your first two years but getting to register before regular freshmen and sophomores means that you can choose the times for those classes that fit best for you. This applies mainly to recitation sections and laboratory sections because those tend to fill up quickly and the best time slots go first. Also, there have been instances at my school that certain classes have filled to capacity and some of the non-honors students could not register for them.</p>
<p>Unless you really think you can’t handle the requirements, I would do the program. If need be, you can probably drop it later, although I would ask your adviser about that.</p>
<p>Was not the case at D’s school in reference to “take many introductory classes your first two years”. She could use some APs, others she was required to take intro, despite “A” and “5” , not because of Honors requirement, but because of major reguirement (Bio is the one). She needed to take 1 semester of English because of “4” on AP exam. She refer to her Honors English as a joke, learned nothing, easy “A”. Honors Stats that she never took in HS was very easy also. This one was also her major reguirement, not Honors. Had to take Honors Spanish at 3rd year level because of placement test. Was easy class, but she learned a lot because prof was using only Spanish in class. I cannot think of any single intro class to fullfill Honors requirement. She has only 1 credit hour left to be done with Honors reguirements and will be done after next fall semester. As I mentioned, go for it, not a biggy.</p>
<p>I’m not expecting the requirements to be a problem. What do you guys think about applying to the Honors program after a year? Do you think it’s harder, easier, or neutral? If anything it would be easier if you had good HS GPA & great SAT’s (right?), because since it’s only been one year, you could reuse all of those, get an excellent LoR, and then strengthen it even more with (hopefully) a very strong first semester (don’t laugh - I’ve heard from someone who heard from someone - I’m already laughing - that applying as a sophomore is easier than applying as a freshmen, do you think this is true?). I think ultimately I will apply to the program, but I’m thinking about holding off applying just for a year, any thoughts?</p>
<p>^No idea about applying after a year. D. applied to Honors when she applied to college, because application to Honors was reguired for being considered for selective program of her choice.</p>
<p>A close friend entered the Honors program at UMiami as a sophomore. He was not interested in starting it as a freshman. He is taking the Honors classes he wants and he will graduate with General Honors, in addition to any latin honors he may qualify for. I think it depends on the university.</p>
<p>It’s very dependent on the university. Unless we know what school you’re talking about and the honors program associated with it, it’s very hard to give suggestions other than what’s already been said.</p>
<p>I’m attending Virginia Tech’s Coll. of Engineering, I don’t think anyone will really know specifics about this school. Would you say that applying as an already enrolled student bears relatively the same level of competition to applying as an entering freshman?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It is less competitive as a sophomore. Some schools will automatically invite you as an upperclassman, if you have made the Dean’s List or President’s Honor Roll, etc…</p>
<p>Why don’t you want to apply for your freshman year?</p>
<p>I don’t know why I was contemplating the decision, primarily because I was being lazy. I ended up applying anyhow, sending out the application later this morning.</p>