<p>Has anyone had any experience with the honors seminars? Is it too much to take two in one semester? Is there more work than a normal class but worth it? Trying to decide if it's worth it to go for an honors diploma.</p>
<p>Unless there has been a real change, you’ll be lucky to get one honors seminar. D got one that was about her 4th choice in fall of freshman year. S started in Engineering before switching to A&S . I think he wanted one, but wasn’t ever able to get one since you can’t change colleges until the end of the first year.</p>
<p>Did your daughter enjoy the class?</p>
<p>There should be plenty of spots in the honors seminars. There are only 60 honors scholars per class year. There are about 7 seminars offered each semester. The courses usually have like 50 waitlist slots in YES, and then the professors determine the class size based on how many sign up.</p>
<p>I saw on my YES account that most were filled and that taking the wait list spot is the only option. Pancaked gives me some relief!</p>
<p>Do most students only try to take one seminar per semester or do any double up? Just wondering about the work load of the seminars vs. a regular class.</p>
<p>Sorry, georgiaonmymind, I misread your post. I was thinking of the freshman seminars that fulfill the writing requirement. D did enjoy her class in the American Studies area. I don’t remember the specific topic. </p>
<p>I’m not sure how exactly they decide the size of the class-- They may try and accommodate everyone on the waitlist or limit it to keep the class small-ish. Feel free to email the professor.</p>
<p>Our Vandy son did complete his honors diploma via Honors Seminars. He was admitted spring term freshman year --the last time you are allowed to apply. I would say that the Honors Seminars were one of the things that made his Vanderbilt education sing for him. On the other hand, your entire class at Vandy is made up of honors students and there are a million ways to Nirvana. Very lab oriented students may prefer to spend their extra hours in research for instance. Foreign language majors may prefer to max out immersion semesters. There are academic juried Vandy magazines where you can submit work for publication in the arts and sciences. There is declaring your decision to earn honors status in your major.<br>
But back to the seminars. I will ramble a bit from what son told us. There is no place to hide in Vandy honors seminars because there is usually a table and a highly rated professor you might otherwise never meet…and maybe 12-15 students, few of whom are the same age/year at Vandy around the table. So perhaps as a freshman, you may feel a bit cowed by the upperclassmen on your left who is a physics major when you are a film major…but the opposite is really true. The seminars are an opportunity for academic indulgences like true interdisciplinary discussion, and having a full professor in the position of having tons of time to share with you. For our son, who turned down Swarthmore and others for a scholarship at Vandy, the seminars turned Vanderbilt into a combined big broad research university with at least one class a semester where he could experience what he would have experienced in a great liberal arts college classroom. Our more liberal artsy son knocked off several of his core requirements through these seminars, including a quantitative and a science requirement.<br>
On the opposite spectrum were students majoring in quantitative subjects or sciences who used the seminars to knock off their more liberal artsy requirements. My son might have been a better writer but the guy on his left was a math ace, who might really enjoy the chance for an interdisciplinary discussion based approach to a subject. The head of the Astronomy department taught one seminar I recall, and our son was able to grasp a great deal without taking the introductory astronomy course, but he talked to us about many memorable seminar professors. </p>
<p>I would in general not recommend two in one semester unless you are someone who loves reading and writing as most have a writing component. I know our son did take two seminars at once…but I believe he had to have his advisor sign off on that or something. For someone with strong verbal skills, I do not believe these courses are any more difficult than other Vandy courses re time involved. However, they all seemed to require interdisciplinary thinking, broad reading and the ability to intuit and to synthesize. (an ability I personally didn’t have till I was further along with my education–I was still focused on rote learning at age 18). But our kids are in general much more prepared for college and for “discourse” than we were back then. </p>
<p>The honors seminars are not there to make your life harder. They exist to give you a place to study outside the box and beyond the usual progressive steps in a department. The professors all seemed rather thrilled at the lack of rules and at the ability to create a course that may never exist again. Grading. Our son was a strong writer and likes to talk/discuss ideas. The seminars helped his GPA in general, not that he made full on As or never saw a B. There was not an atmosphere that was punitive where seminar students worried about bad grades although I imagine most grading in these courses is subjective. If I recall correctly, you will be developing writing ideas of your own and you will be able to consult with your professor re your direction and even get a draft reviewed and commented on. There are dates where things are due that require discipline. Is it worth it to pursue the degree? I don’t know. It was a privilege and a pleasure for our son. However he missed magna by a couple hundredths of a point. And perhaps that is more understood in the work place. Not that this stuff matters much after your first job.</p>
<p>But for those of you taking on majors that are going to beat you up more in the GPA department, stay your course. Believe me when I tell you that the workplace rewards those who are ready for the information age and putting themselves through the paces in quantitative coursework.</p>