I finished my application for University of Arizona recently and I’m still debating about applying for the honors college. I have a decent GPA, class rank, and SAT score but I’m online schooled which is probably frowned upon and have almost no extracurriculars in the last 2 years of high school. I can’t find any data on their acceptance rate but I understand it’s competitive.
GPA: 3.90/4.34
Class rank: 1/196
SAT: 1470
Took 5 APs, 1 dual enrollment, and 10 honors
Also, my resume gets significantly less impressive going from freshman to senior year as I went from college prep to online school, and I know colleges prefer it to be the other way around.
My daughter did the honors program at her university. Was it worth it? Yes. 1. it came with a boat load of scholarship money. 2. she was exempt from gen eds. 3. early registration for classes. 4. bumping rights to get into a class that is full. 5. extra library privileges equal to that of a university professor. 6. interesting honors seminars instead of gen eds. 7. honors classes marked on the transcript.8. diploma marked with the highest honors level. 9. 24 hour honors lounge with access to a computer lab. Those who successful made it though the first two years could then apply for a higher level honors college where the top 20 were chosen to participate. That included a 2 year grad level research project in place of seminars. For her the down side was 1. a higher level GPA requirement. 2. due to her major, overload for 2 years. 3. requirement to hold an office in a club or organization aka campus leadership. 4. one weekend a year spent hosting and talking with prospective honors students. 5.being shown off like a prize poodle, but a well paid prize poodle. She would do it all over again too.
Each school does their honors program differently so it is worth it to research it. When job hunting it makes for a more impressive resume,and the honors marked on the transcript doesn’t hurt either.
As above, look at how honors actually works. It may only be a perceived advantage if you get more scholarship money. It might not offer honors classes in your degree core classes (e.g. engineering core classes) the advantages (like dorms) might just be more $$. If you have plenty of APs and don’t have many, or any gen ed obligations, adding extra might seem pointless. If though, you do have those classes to do, maybe honors means you are with your academic peers. In big state schools like U Az, HC might be more about showing level of entry stats. Look particularly with reference to your major, how many students bother continuing with honors after the first option to drop it (semester or academic year). In big state schools without particular prestige, it is about differentiation IMO. If it doesn’t actually enhance your academics but adds fluff classes, think whether that is worth your time or money (unless it is free with scholarships and floats your boat).
If you are likely to end up at Arizona, try the honors app. Your stats are in line even if your EC’s are weaker. You may be able to get in with good essays.
You would likely appreciate being able to register early in particular to get the classes you want. Arizona’s honors is “choose your own adventure” – there are choices for meeting the honors requirements (versus ASU where everyone takes the same honors core) plus optional opportunities you don’t have to use if you don’t want to (honors speakers, honors service trip, honors clubs, etc).
Another way to look at it is if your going for a job and it’s down to the final two. You both graduated from the same school with the same GPA. What makes you stand out is being able to state that you completed 4 years of honors college, a transcript that has clearly marked honors classes and (depending if you schools does this or not) a diploma that states honors college. It is a way to make you stand out from the rest of the crowd.
Honors seminars might not be offered in your major (they were not designed that way at my daughters university) but they can be more challenging and more enjoyable. It is helpful to be very organized and to read ahead in your classes. This way if your sick or have a project that takes more time than expected, you don’t fall behind. Yes a lot drop out of honors freshman year. Most because they either can’t handle the extra work or they don’t fine it worth it. It can interfere with your social life but living with other honors students puts all of you in the same boat and a quieter living experience.
I will agree with the above poster but with a twist. Honors gives you residency and registration perks while attending college, not to be overlooked but maybe not as important depending on your group of friends and/or major. The honors courses aspect is slightly overrated: if in a rigidly-defined sequence for your major and college, honors sections of those courses can be a good thing, but otherwise honors classes can be a bunch of funky electives that don’t line up with your interests or goals. It just depends. My niece was an English major at her college and abandoned the honors coursework because the classes were too funky, and she wanted to take Shakespeare, etc. She was one of a few who graduated Phi Beta Kappa without all the honors jazz, but some choose to do so.
The graduation/employment thing is possibly the most important: few employers will notice the “honors college” and none will know whether you took “honors classes” (because your transcript is usually merely reviewed by HR to verify GPA and degree), but they WILL notice whether you graduated “with honors” or with some sort of higher Latin honors, and usually you cannot obtain an honors designation without completing some sort of honors coursework. When you are in competition with graduates of Amherst, Duke, etc., and you graduated from a state flagship, you VERY much want to say “summa/magna cum laude” on your resume. (Graduate school is a different beast, and I think you should definitely pursue honors college if that is in your plans.)
I actually met two people who went to UC Irvine Honors, got good grades and went onto Harvard and Columbia Law School, and they told me doing well in Honors Program is important if your goal is to go to prestigious graduate schools. It’s like taking AP/Honors classes plus additional benefits such as getting classes you like.