<p>I'm having trouble finding the numbers on this: About how many students per year are there in the Engineering school, and how does that break down among the different majors? From a few sources, I'm thinking about 200 students per year in engineering -- is that about right? I think at the admitted students event they said 89 in Mechanical -- which I guess must be per year also?</p>
<p>Also does anyone know about how many of the approximately 200 Honors College students in each cohort are engineers? From the visit day, it seemed like there were very few. If anyone is an engineer in the Honors College who could comment on how those two sets of requirements work together, I'd be happy to hear from you.</p>
<p>Also, I would be happy to put you in touch with one or two of our students who are either in CEMS or in the Honors College if you are looking to hear their perspective. Feel free send me a message and best email contact so I can pass it along! If you have any other admissions questions, I would be happy to help!</p>
<p>@MarikoUVM, do you know anyone who is in both CEMS and the Honors College? Our concern is that since both programs are quite small (which is good - my son is looking for small) that my son might feel isolated as one of very few engineers in the honors college (and thus also one of very few engineers in his dorm). </p>
<p>@Mathmomvt - Unfortunately I don’t know any current students in both CEMS and the Honors College. If you are looking to get in touch, I would try reaching out to the Honors College directly as they may be able to help connect you. I would imagine that your son will easily find his niche in the Honors College. From my own personal experience living in the Living and Learning Complex for 3 years, it was nice to be surrounded with students that weren’t necessarily in my track of study. Because of that exposure, I was able to find that I wanted to switch majors (from Biology to Asian Studies), got in with different professors I would never have otherwise been exposed to, and made friends from a variety of different backgrounds. If there is anything else that I can help with, feel free to write back or message me directly! Good luck!</p>
<p>Yes, we do plan to reach out to the honors college – I’m sure they can put him in touch with a current honors college engineer. We had seen that checksheet already, but it’s a great pointer for anyone else wondering how it all fits together. They did answer that part quite well at the visit day we attended. </p>
<p>I’ll add that I agree that it’s nice to have exposure to students in a wide variety of different areas of study, but it’s also nice to have someone nearby who’s working on the same problem set as you are sometimes. :)</p>
<p>Hi @mathmomvt - I spoke with the CEMS department and they say they would be happy to connect you with a student that is in their college as well as the Honors College. If you message me I would be happy to pass along your contact info! </p>
<p>Hi @mathmomvt! I am a current senior in the UVM Honors College and College of Arts and Sciences. Although I am not in CEMS, I would be happy to speak with you regarding any HCOL questions that you may have. Also, I do have a close friend that is an Environment Engineering student in the Honors College. If you have any question that you would like me to pass on to him, I would be happy to do that as well.</p>
<p>@mathmomvt, just to give you an idea – and this totally varies by class – my friend says that as far as he knows, there are 5 or 6 civil and environmental engineers currently in our Honors College class. Keep in mind that this does not account for electrical or mechanical engineers, and also that we are seniors which typically results in fewer Honors College students than there were during our first year (people leave for a variety of reasons, the biggest of which being a GPA that does not meet minimum requirements). This also does not account for the variety of other majors that are in the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (Math, Statistics, Computer Science). </p>
<p>In my experience, the Honors College has definitely had a positive impact on my academic career. I feel like it has given me a wealth of opportunity, such as access to some of the best faculty on campus, priority registration, and extra support from the Honors College staff. The professors that teach HCOL classes love doing so, as it gives them the chance to teach subjects they may not typically get the chance to teach, as well as an opportunity to work with students that typically go above and beyond. I also loved being a member of a smaller community within my larger college (College of Arts and Sciences) and the large University in general. It was great to have 159 other students that were in the exact same boat as I was to go through my first semester as a university student with. Also, both my boyfriend and many of my best friends are people who I met through the Honors College, many of whom I may not have otherwise met had I not been a member.</p>
<p>I am a bit of a unique case because as a personal choice, I chose to forego the Honors College housing in order to leave my housing situation up to fate. I do wish that the Honors College had been a bit more open about the ability to do this and a bit more receptive to my choice. It took a few visits and many emails to understand that I could in fact choose not to live in University Heights North, which was a bit frustrating. However once I had officially made my decision, the staff did respect my decision and offered me extra support if I needed it. </p>
<p>In retrospect, how do you feel about not choosing the Honors College housing? Did you feel “left out” when everyone else in your honors classes lived together without you?</p>
<p>While the HCOL housing was definitely nicer (cleaner, newer, private bathrooms etc), I really have not regretted my decision for a second. I made amazing friends in my own res hall my first year, and now nine of us live together in a house downtown. Although yes, I may have missed out on living with my HCOL friends and seeing them every day in the halls as well as in class, I felt incredibly lucky to have two wonderful groups of friends, especially when they all became friends with one another! One of the things we all did was create an intramural broomball team – a few of us that were close created the team and I brought in some non-HCOL friends and they brought in some other HCOL friends that I did not know. That was three years ago, and we have played together every semester since then, and just recently finished up our final season as second semester seniors. </p>
<p>In my experience, UVM students are extraordinarily welcoming and friendly – this is really conducive to having different groups of friends and really never feeling left out regardless of the friends you make or the place that you choose to live.</p>
<p>Yes, thank you jslayton. It’s nice to hear such positive comments about being in the Honors College. Another question for you. Do most students in the Honors college stay in University Heights North for their entire college career, or do most move off campus in their junior and senior years?</p>
<p>Hi @momb2k! Across the university, 70% of students move off campus starting their junior year. I’m not sure how this breaks down when considering honors college students vs. non-honors college students, so I can really only speak from experience. All of my friends from the Honors College did end up moving off campus, but that may have just been a condition of all being friends with one another. I’m sorry I don’t have more specific numbers for you!</p>