Honors Programs- Comments by experienced or current students/faculty/parents

<p>There is a good bit to read about UA putting lots of effort (and money) into its honors program since its founding in 2003 (I believe). Would anyone care to share observations about the program who has real knowledge of it? Does it live up to its billing of small classes, best professors, etc.? Can anyone compare the program to UGA’s, which is much older, or Ga Tech’s, which is very young?</p>

<p>I actually chose UGA's Honors Program over UA's Honors Program two years ago, so while some of my information on UA may be a bit dated, I can offer what I went through.</p>

<p>UA is trying very hard to improve, spending lots of $$ on scholarships and I believe is in the process of relocating (or did they already?) their honors program to a much larger space. The best part of UA's program though is not so much the program itself but some of the other opportunities UA offers like the Blount Initiative and the Computer-Based Honors Program, both of which are unique to UA. The staff there also was incredibly helpful and friendly throughout the entire application process and I still recall their generosity. </p>

<p>That said, I ended up choosing UGA. First, UGA has many more upper-level honors classes than UA, which is really important if you come in with lots of AP credit hours and can't take the honors versions of the intro classes. Second, UGA's CURO program for undergraduate research is amazing and gets students involved in high-level research from the start of their freshmen year- to the best of my knowledge, UA has no comparable program. Finally, the overall quality of students at UGA and especially in the Honors Program is significantly higher. UGA's strong international affairs department was also a major factor in my decision in addition to some other scholarship considerations. </p>

<p>Both honors colleges are excellent low-cost options in either case, but I give the edge of UGA for a stronger program overall.</p>

<p>Thanks, Vig, that's insightful. Anyone else out there? I know there are some Bama Honors folks on CC!</p>

<p>^^^^bump^^^</p>

<p>I'd do UGA and Tech over UA. W/ Pres. Witt growing the univ so fast the 'bama honor's classes are getting big and the personal att'n they were suppose to be about has been lost.</p>

<p>I'm a freshman in UA's Honor program and all of my honors classes have less than 30 people in them. Also, the honors college offers many seminars for its students and they are usually limited to 20 people. My seminar has only 14 people so everyone can be involved.</p>

<p>vig180-
I realize your post is a year old, but if you could update your opinion of UGA'S honors program, that would be great. Did you live in Meyers and if so/or not, is the general perception of that dorm normal kids? Did you get merit scholarship$, are you in state? What other top schools did you consider and what made you choose GA? Thanks</p>

<p>Can anyone tell me if you have had to pay income tax on any of your scholarship money, the laptop,etc?
I would think that if a student brings outside scholarship money to the school and if there are funds leftover that it might be taxable?
For example, if my D is accepted and enrolls, she is eligible for a 70% tuition scholarship through my employer. If I do the paperwork for my employer to send the money to the school(they do not ever give the money directly to the student) and if there is any money leftover after books,meal plan,fees,etc, would the leftover money that would be given to daughter be taxable? We are out of state so it could amount to a nice size check!</p>

<p>I believe any scholarship that is more than tuition, books, and required fees are consider taxable. Any scholarship for room and board is taxable.</p>

<p>That kind of sucks</p>