How much harder are honor programs than regular admissions? This varies from college to college but what are their caveats? Are they worth applying for?
Pretty much. You’d have to research each.
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The only caveat that I can think of is that some honors colleges or honors programs require that the student take certain honors courses which may not be of interest to one.
Typically, the advantages outweigh any negative, but–as noted above–you need to research honors requirements school by school.
It definitely varies from school to school. My kids got into most, but not UMASS Amherst or Rutgers.
Huge variations school to school.
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For the schools that I’ve researched, you apply to the honors program after college acceptances. Are there any that require before?
What are some top honors CS programs?
Do you get a special diploma if you graduate from the honors program?
I think the biggest benefit to “most” is early registration of classes - so you can try and get the best profs.
My son is at Alabama - it’s ridiculous. Like 30% of the school is Honors. He has absolutely zero to do with it - which I’m not suggesting. But they have many kids like him.
They drop out of Honors as Seniors, all the while having taking advantage of early registration.
I think if the student wants smaller classes, interesting topics, supposedly better professors, and probably more writing intensity, it can be great. You’ll likely be with more motivated students.
Just depends on the school overall though - as if it’s better for you.
I don’t think employers generally care although at some schools, like UGA, you might have access to Honors only internships or Study Abroad, etc.
Most of my D’s schools required separate honors essays with the common app, not after admission. This varies school to school.
At Purdue, graduating with honors is on the transcript.
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I graduated from the University of Houston Honors College. It has its own dorms, classes, career advising, Dean, etc. In the Fall of 2019, 620 entering freshman out of 5680 were in the Honors College. They required that everyone take The Human Situation as freshmen and at least one course per semester thereafter. My honors classes would have 10-35 students vs. 60-300.
When I would recruit undergrads, I would first call the HC office and ask if there were any recent or upcoming grads they could recommend. Then I would also go to the College of Business and other relevant universities’ business schools or post on Handshake.
Meanwhile, other universities may have honors programs that are much looser with few requirements. As a parent, I like the option to be in honors dorms, priority registration and option to take some interesting, small classes. I’d also encourage my kid to do a senior thesis which may be emphasized in an honors program, although my kids may not wish to do that.
In short, check what each university offers. It’s interesting to determine the tradeoff of one large, higher ranked U without honors admission to a lower ranked one with honors.
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Not to be too confusing, there can be a difference between honors programs, honors classes, and honors degree. They may or may not overlap.
As well as departmental honors.
D20 is in HC at Clemson; it was a separate application. They take approximately 250 students each year. Early registration is a big bonus; that aside, they have special honors advisors and classes, which are smaller (20-30). The seminar classes aren’t necessarily harder, but some of the stem are with more difficult, but well-regarded profs. D20 was able to participate in research as a freshman, there’s grant money available for research or study abroad and conference travel, and they offer a lot of career and cultural enrichment events. They need to take at least one honors class per semester from various clusters of classes (lit, non lit, tech, various stem, etc). There is also an HC LLC available, with great location dorms, but even if they don’t choose to live in the LLC, they can still use the study rooms and lounge facilities and participate in any programming. I think the experience is similar at some of the more well-known HCs. I will say if you choose an HC path, it is what you make of it. Other than the required coursework, everything else is voluntary; it will be up to you to take advantage of the opportunities. The benefit isn’t the notation on the diploma; it’s the connections you make along the way.
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