<p>wondering if invitations to the Honors Program have already gone out for ED1.</p>
<p>GCMom,</p>
<p>Honors Program invitations have gone out to those students who were accepted either EA1 or EA2 (we don’t have an ED program). </p>
<p>Every year there are a few students who believe that they qualify for the honors program, but did not receive an invitation. If your son or daughter did not get invited, but they believe they meet the qualifications, I would encourage you to contact Ellie Hedden by calling 1800-SMC-8000. She is counselor in our office who works with the faculty member who coordinates the Honors Program. And don’t worry, each year she receives 5-10 phone calls from students. </p>
<p>If your son or daughter would like to look and see if they qualify, have them visit this website: [Saint</a> Michael’s College - Honors Program](<a href=“http://www.smcvt.edu/academics/honors/default.asp]Saint”>http://www.smcvt.edu/academics/honors/default.asp). Typically the top 10% of our EA applicant pool receive invitations. The site says we consider students with a 3.5 or higher, however we keep in mind that a 3.5 can differ greatly between schools depending on the grading scale and if they use a weighted system.</p>
<p>After checking out the website, just give Ellie a call. She’ll be more than happy to speak with your son or daughter about their eligibility!</p>
<p>Best,</p>
<p>Mallory Wood
Admission Counselor
<a href=“mailto:mwood@smcvt.edu”>mwood@smcvt.edu</a></p>
<p>Thanks for the info. And yes, I meant EA1!</p>
<p>She does have a 3.6, but I am not even sure it’s something she wants or I want for her. Really just wondered if the invitations had already happened. </p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>The link I provided in my previous post is also useful for checking out what the requirements are to graduate from the Honors Program. </p>
<p>When I was a student at SMC I participated in the Honors Program (however I did not opt to live in Honors Housing) and to be honest my favorite courses where those I took within the program. They cap the size of honors courses at 15 students, and most of them are taught in one of the “round table” settings - very discussion based, just what I liked! The professors also taught the honors sections differently than the regular sections of the same course - more discussion and reflection papers, less quizzes. The classes were more difficult, but in a different way than AP or Honors classes in high school are more difficult than the regular class.</p>
<p>Mallory Wood
Admission Counselor
<a href=“mailto:mwood@smcvt.edu”>mwood@smcvt.edu</a></p>
<p>Mallory,</p>
<p>Thanks as always for your information. You continue to be so helpful!</p>
<p>The Honors Program does sound like a wonderful opportunity. I guess I figure that a lot of thought and consideration was put into deciding who would be invited. And if my daughter was not invited for freshman year, there is likely a reason for that. I know that it is possible to be invited based on performance freshman year, and so I think that if she really should be in the Honors Program, she will be eventually. She is a great kid, who tends to be involved in A LOT, so I really would like her to be able to dip her feet in wherever she wants without the pressure of maintaining a 3.5 in order to remain in the Honors Program. Of course, I would like her to get a 3.5, but without the pressure!</p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>That is a really wise decision. You are correct, after the first year if a student has an average GPA of 3.5 or higher they can be in the Honors Program at that point. Great thing is, if she is interested, she could still take her First Year Seminar in the honors section to try it out. That might also help her decide.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks, that’s a great tip to take her First Year Seminar in the honors section to check it out.</p>
<p>What is meant by the Honors First Year Seminar? Is there a special selection of seminars available to the Honors students or do they take the same seminar classes at a higher level? I can’t seem to find a clear answer online.</p>
<p>Some First Year Seminars are designated as Honors. I can’t remember if the seminar topics that were designated as Honors, also had non-Honors sections, or if those seminar topics were only Honors. </p>
<p>My daughter ended up choosing a non-Honors seminar, because that was the one she was most interested in. She loved it.</p>
<p>I was in the Honors Program for 2 years at SMC, and I served on the committee during those years.
There are some Honors FYS that do not have a non-honors section. For example, I took Drama and Culture and there was not a non-honors section. There is usually a Peace and Justice FYS that has both an honors and a non-honors section.</p>
<p>Honors FYS means that students in the Honors program can take those classes and other students can only get in through a sort of petition by asking the professor. The classwork is generally more rigorous: more writing, more reading, and higher expectations in general. The professors usually grade harder as well.</p>
<p>Why were you only in it for two years?</p>
<p>I couldn’t keep up with the requirements. I took a class that dragged down my GPA, unfortunately.
I loved the program, though, and was disappointed when I realized it wasn’t feasible for me to maintain the required GPA.</p>