Honors Program

<p>I was just accepted to Loyola's Honors Program. I was wondering if someone could offer how rigorous the curriculum is? Would you recommend participating in the program? How many students are in it? Thank you!</p>

<p>I was accepted as well. Wondering the same.</p>

<p>My D is a soph there, not in Honors P but has a 3.6. I say, go for it! There are not a lot of Honors students relative to the whole student body, but you get terrific courses and develop great rapport with the profs. The honors workload is heavy but you would expect that & if you were accepted, I assume you are used to working hard.</p>

<p>My D did not apply for it because she was sure she would not get in (probably incorrect but what Mom will not say that?). Now she takes courses that are nearly as demanding, go figure. She has friends who are in the program & they do have a lot of HW, which they moan & groan about, but they also say they love it. </p>

<p>I think they had a harder time with all the work in the freshman year and have adjusted since. You have to remember if you are invited to a school’s honors program, you have been used to being at or near the top of your own school, & sometimes you have not been quite as challenged by some of your courses, yes? So when you are with your intellectual peers in college doing work that is supposed to challenge you, you are going to find it a bit stiffer than what you are used to. That beats heck out of being stuck in a room with a lot of dunderheads who only try to get out of doing assignments. </p>

<p>As to stats, I think you can find them on the honors program pages within L’s website. I think the Honors students are the top 10% of the class, roughly.</p>

<p>Are these part of the merit packages that they said would go out by February 15? We are waiting for this info and counting on some scholarship $. My son has a 3.9 unweigted GPA. #10 in class of 340, SAT 1460/2210. Or is it something we needed to apply to separately that we didnt know about?</p>

<p>@Disneydad You had to apply to the honors program separately and submit 2 essays. There was a link on the application website. I believe it is separate from the merit money awards that go out on Feb 15th.</p>

<p>DS is a junior in the Honors Program. Honors usually has 40-45 students in a class, or roughly 4%. I believe there are 43 total in the junior class. I believe 10%-12% of a class would receive an academic merit scholarship. Loyola’s common data set would shed more light on the scholarships. Most honors kids are awarded Presidential scholarships, but not all. Merit scholarships are separate from the Honors Program.
The Honors Program is rigorous and you will read and write a lot more than the regular classes. Jesuit honors programs are known to be challenging. There is a love/hate relationship for a number of the students in the program, but you will learn a lot, make some very good connections with your professors, and be well prepared if later you plan on graduate school. There also are some nice perks like free trips and access to the Honors lounge.
Good luck to all. For DS Loyola was the right choice.</p>

<p>Thank you all for the input! I’m awaiting the financial situation before making my final decision, but your comments were extremely helpful!</p>

<p>DD is a freshman in the honors program and ambivalent about continuing. Her experiences are similar to those described by funfatdaddy, and 90% of the people in the program stay in it. She’s had great and not so great professors, but all are very helpful. There are a few perks, but also scheduling headaches when trying to get the honors core classes fulfilled while also pursuing a major. The classes are small and have a 20/80 male/female ratio. The honors classes require more work than those outside the program, but she also learns more and has become a better writer. The honors students are all in the same dorm (Flannery) but there is no honors housing or floor since the honors folks don’t seem to like to coordinate with the housing folks or other departments. Best wishes on your decision.</p>

<p>I have decided not to attend Loyola, but I cannot find my Honors Program letter ANYWHERE with the email to reply to saying I will not be attending… can anyone tell me it, and the format which we need to organize the subject line in?</p>

Anyone hear about the Honors program this year?

Not yet. Hopefully today!

I got deferred from the honors program. I got a letter in the mail yesterday.

littlet4lks…My son graduated from the Loyola Honors Program in 2014. For the Honors folks it is a love hate relationship as a lot of work is required and course choices are limited. As side note, Loyola’s only Rhodes Scholar turned down the Honors Program as he found the course choices too confining.
My son loved Loyola and it was a great fit for him. Good luck with your college decision.

littlet4lks…same here. On the fence about the Honors Program anyways. Thanks for your post funfatdaddy, that was good info. Want to study business and don’t want honors program to affect course of study. Already received a Presidential Scholarship, do you know if Honors students receive any additional money?

@schmoopiez…In my son’s class most Honors students received the Presidential Scholarship. A few Honors students received no scholarship. Honors did not bring any additional scholarship monies. As a business major you are eligible to apply to the Sellinger Scholars Program after your first semester with a 3.5 or higher GPA. Good luck with your college decision.

So, my thought is Honor program best fit is with Liberal Art degree? Still waiting…

@phunt01810 …Honors courses replace Core, so all majors will work with Honors. My son’s class had science, business, humanities. and engineering majors in Honors. Good luck.

@funfatdaddy - I have a junior in the honors program too! @marylandd - not caring to coordinate with housing is not why honors kids are scattered throughout Flannery. Just a few years ago Honors had their own floor. The feedback was that was too limiting and didn’t give the Honors kids enough opportunity to spend time with non-Honors kids. So they changed to having all Honors kids in the same (really nice) building, but not so isolated. And then after freshman year they can live anywhere.

Honors is extra work. More reading, more papers, a more demanding core curriculum. But also smaller classes - Honors classes are capped at 15, D has had classes as small as 9. Great opportunity for in-class discussions, which is how D prefers to learn. As was mentioned, there are numerous cultural events sponsored by Honors - D loves trips to museums and plays. Loyola in general offers a lot of outings, but Honors even more.

D has built fantastic relationships with her Honors adviser and faculty within the program. They have helped her find summer research opportunities and apply for grants to pay for them. That might have happened anyway, but my opinion is honors helped.

You should do Honors if you want to challenge yourself. Scheduling does get more challenging with some of the more structured majors, such as the sciences, but kids manage.

My son received his Honors acceptance letter a couple weeks ago. His stats are 4.0 UW at all Honors magnet high school. 2290 SAT, 800 Math 2, 780 Physics, Eagle Scout, many ECs, job 2+ years. Applied EA, accepted mid December with scholarship offer in acceptance letter. He was awarded the max Presidential Scholarship. We are going to the Live Loyola day and scholarship breakfast next weekend. He likes small, challenging classes and graduating debt free is very attractive.