Hi guys. For some context, I’m a us citizen but intl applicant, but can claim CA residency since I have both a resdient parent and permanent address in Cali. I have applied to 19+ colleges, a mix of reach, safety and target, 13 of which are in cali as I could qualify for in state tuition rates and the other OOS. I have not applied to any honors programs yet ( for colleges that offer it now) and I am wondering if I made the right choice.
Each honors requires additional essays, supplements etc and without knowing if I’m accepted or not, it seems like so much effort to apply to honors for 19 colleges. And I actually started my app for one colleges, when I found out I was rejected. If I had finished, that would have been hours of work down the drain. So I thought I would apply freshman year, depending on the college I ultimately choose to go to, but I know that seats also fill up pretty fast. But it seems more practical to focus energy on 1 colleges than 18. I’m ok wit the extra work during college during honors…just that now it seems like a lot of pressure to submit extra essays if I dont even know my decisions.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this and what kind of approach I should take hence. Apply to honors after acceptance if wanted or now? Or some other path?
I feel like everyone is applying to honors and I dont know how to feel.
If you can still apply, you should do so if you are a competitive applicant. Because you are a US citizen, you should have applied to most schools as a domestic applicant, not an international applicant.
I am considered a domestic citizen ( would qualify for domestic tuition instate or out of state) but I’m evaluated as an international applicant since my credentials are from abroad.
Is it harder to apply as a freshman than as a prospective freshman?
This is one of the reasons that people don’t apply to 19 schools. Its hard to do a good job on that many applications.
Honors colleges vary quite a bit. Some come with lots of perks, some not so much. The most common perks are better freshman housing, priority course registration, and special seminars. Some colleges allow people to apply after freshman year but not all do.
Its interesting that you were applying to honors at a college that rejected you. Honors colleges are for the top students at a college. They are used as a way to attract students that would otherwise choose to go to a “better” college. Someone who isn’t a shoo-in for admissions would not be considered for honors college.
If there are still honors college applications open at schools where you are clearly in the top tier of students, then should probably apply.
Research the differences between the honors programs at the schools that still have their applications open. Some honors programs really don’t offer much, whereas others are amazing.
Generally speaking freshman year is when you can really benefit from being in honors so if you try to do it later, there may not be as much of a benefit. Again, varies greatly program to program.
If you aren’t above the 75th percentile with your GPA or test scores, I wouldn’t waste your time.
Yeah, the thing was with the pandemic and a lot of colleges becomes test optional, extending deadlines etc, the surge in applications was soemthing I expected and more competition and I didnt want to take the chance of being rejected from all the colleges I applied to if I applied to less.
I looked at the honors at some of the colleges I applied to and I see what you mean about the perks. I guess I’ll appropriately choose and apply.
Oh ok I dint know that. I assumed it had the maximum benefits being freshman year. I dont know much about the system as I’m not in it so thanks for the info!
I’m definitely top tier ( based on my rough calculations with my intl creditionals…a 3.6 GPA, with strong essays and I also did 2 honors high school courses at Northwestern). TAMU actually gave me a rank, since my school doesnt, putting me in the first quarter and I believe I would be in the top 10% of my school if my calculations arent haywire, so I think I should be a strong enough applicant?