Has anyone been accepted into either of the Honors Programs?
Are you talking about freshman honors programs or…? There is SJLA and a couple others but then there is the actual honors program, which is only open to sophomores and up.
The SJLA program. D is interested.
Well, I guess I’ll answer my own question lol…SJLA invite arrived today. The top 60 incoming freshman are invited to join this selective Honors Program. Yeah! Now to wait on financial aid package.
Congratulations on SJLA! It is quite an accomplishment and an awesome program!
Thanks kitty56. We looked over the requirements and it appears it might be difficult for her to double and minor while fulfilling the SJLA requirements at the same time. She hopes to double in Forensic Chemistry and Latin American Studies with a minor in criminology. Depending on the FA package, it might require a trip down to speak face to face with someone who can enlighten us a bit.
There isn’t much information out there about UScranton other than their own “propaganda”. We did visit, liked the campus well enough and were sold due to the Forensic Chemistry major, the nearby skiing, and the potential intern possibilities within short distances, all top considerations in the choice.
Anything you can tell us about Scranton itself would be helpful. The posts I’m reading are from 2010, five years ago, so a little out of date. Has the city itself begun to prosper? Also, do you know much about the Loyola Science Center? TIA.
I don’t remember exactly how it works, but I know many of the SJLA courses satisfy the gen. ed. requirements, so they are doing double duty. It might be hard to double major and minor in those areas even if she was not doing the SJLA program. Perhaps some of the courses in the majors or minors might satisfy some GE reqs. Yes, it sounds like you may need to speak with an advisor and actually map out what your D is interested in.
The Loyola Science Center is beautiful! I was given a personal tour a few months ago. I’m not quite sure what information you are looking for. Did you tour it when you visited?
We love to go out to Scranton. Our relative there has taken us to so many great restaurants and cafes. My husband and I have gone out to attend shows several times at the Scranton Cultural Center. We saw the touring show of Jersey Boys which we preferred to the show on Broadway. We had much closer seats, could hear the dialogue much better and paid less than half the cost for the tickets vs. NYC. And it was every bit as high quality as the Broadway show.
Will she be doing one of the overnights for accepted students? If so, she will sit in on classes (hopefully in the science area, maybe you can request that) and get more of a feel for campus life.
Unfortunately, the overnight programs are all this month and, because we’ve already visited once, we need to wait until the FA package arrives before anymore funds are allocated for this school choice. They did not show us the Science Center when we toured and because we were limited for time we were unable to see the city itself.
As far as double majoring with a minor, D should be able to do this without the additional requirements because she’ll go in with a minimum of 10 credits, possibly more. But if she chooses the SJLA program it doesn’t look likely. They do mention that they advocate that the gen eds be language oriented. She may have to major/double minor instead. I’ll have to look at the study abroad component as well as this is a major piece in the choice to be made.
If UScranton makes the final cut (and it all depends on $$) we’ll definately go back, spend a couple days in the area, make sure we tour the Science Center and meet with the advisors.
Thank you for getting back to me. It sounds like the city Scranton offers good culture events. D loves all plays and music shows, that sort of thing, and it would be a big draw for her to have that at her fingertips, especially if the price is right.
The Loyola Science Center is amazing. S is interested in Loyola - our pastor, who has degrees from numerous Catholic universities, thinks highly of Scranton. We stopped by just before Christmas on our annual trip north to at least see the campus (no tours going on at the time). Loyola was open, so we wandered around for a while. H, who is a chemistry professor, had serious envy. Beautifully constructed building, makes great use of natural light. Great equipment available for research. Lots of common areas where students can gather and work or just hang out. We look forward to going back for a tour.
I agree that the double major and minor would be difficult even without Honors. There’s no overlap at all between the two majors, some overlap between the Forensic and the Criminology, as Forensics appears to be a lite Chemistry degree with criminology courses. But add in the core course requirements and that’s an awful lot of courses. Is your D coming in with any AP or dual enrollment credits? If so, check to see if they will be accepted and whether they apply towards core courses or would just be considered general electives. Especially in Honors, not all credits may be accepted (for example, D is Honors at a different Jesuit institution, and Honors students automatically place out of Freshman comp so she didn’t get credit for AP Lang) D has a double major and minor along with Honors, but there’s overlap between all three, and even with that and lots of AP credit she has to very carefully choose courses to take greatest advantage of requirements overlap. You might want to ask about whether the criminology really adds that much to the Forensic Science - it may be unnecessary. Forensics with Latin Studies as a minor might be more feasible. You should be able to find the requirements for each program on the site.
~NEPatsGirl~ I’m not sure what you mean about “they advocate that the gen eds be language oriented.” Here is a link to the GE reqs and if you scroll down, it gives a pretty good summary box. There are 2 Theology and 2 Philosophy courses required plus an elective in either area. Those are both satisfied thru the SJLA courses. It says the public speaking requirement is satisfied with PHIL217J and I am pretty sure it also counted for the writing requirement when my D was there. Because I know she did not take the writing classes and PHIL217 had PLENTY of writing as well as speaking. The Computer literacy course requirement can be tested out of if your D has the skills necessary. The natural science and quantitative reasoning reqs will probably be satisfied thru the courses in her majors/minor as well as the cultural diversity, social/behavioral science, and humanities http://catalog.scranton.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=28&poid=5518
Also you said she may go in with 10 credits or more. Are these AP credits? If so, depending on the course, those may also satisfy some of the gen eds. Have you seen their chart for AP credit? http://admissions.scranton.edu/apply/_documents/ap-credit.pdf
She’ll be going in with the IB diploma but they give credit only for HL classes and not in your selected major which leaves 4 credits in Math and 6 credits in Spanish, not sure if they’ll credit her bio or if no natural sciences are allowed. She’ll most likely test out of Intro to Psych and Bio 101. The Forensic Chemistry BS automatically includes a minor in criminal justice at UScranton. Her hope is to have that auto minor in criminology instead, which is really just switching out the two cj electives. The SJLA information part of the website states that they encourage students to take languages for their elective choices. D already has four years of both Latin and Spanish but wants to study another language or further her studies in Latin American culture/languages. At another school she’d most likely study a middle eastern language/culture.
Thank you for the information about the Loyola Science Center, it means alot that your husband, a Chemistry professor, believes it is good. This is our biggest dilemma. Neither of us has any background in the sciences and would have no idea what is a good lab or not so good or how to determine what schools will provide the research and intern opportunities necessary to advance in the sciences. Of course, every school we’ve toured has said they have fantastic facilities lol. She is not interested in pre-med but is interested in lab work, DNA testing, research, etc. Her ultimate goal is working for the FBI in some capacity and for the most part, they are not really concerned with what your bachelors is in but they do prefer sciences and languages.