<p>i've been getting many brochures from schools that would normally be in the lower part of my match range or higher safety schools but for the schools' honors colleges... i'm not sure if it's worth going to an honor's college at a second-tier versus just going to a first-tier school in their regular program...</p>
<p>do honor's college kids ineract with everyone else on campus or is the college pretty exclusive? are dorms and classes for the honor's college kids seperated from everyone else? what were the classes like? </p>
<p>some schools that have sent me their honor's college brochures:
Tulane
Indiana University of Pennsylvania (Robert E. Cook Honors College)
University of Delaware
University of South Carolina</p>
<p>if anyone is in the same situation or has gone through an honor's college, i'd like to hear your opinions. thanks! :)</p>
<p>I think you should go to the very best regular college you can get into. The advantages of an honors college are negligible and you wind up getting a degree from a lesser school. An exception might be the honors colleges at the Public Ivies: Berkeley, Michigan, UVA.</p>
<p>Some schools have really prestigious honors programs (such as Pitt). I haven't heard anything about the ones you've listed though.</p>
<p>I agree that because those programs aren't as well known, it might be in your better interests to go to an overall stronger school. The exception to this, I would say, is Tulane (which is actually a very well-regarded school that gives out tons of full-rides).</p>
<p>Usually, they offer smaller classes for honors students and yes, the majority are housed in a specific honors hall. But you are primarily attending the main university with the honors program adding a few bonuses. So, you will be taking mostly regular classes and constantly interacting with regular students, but it depends on how large the program is, of course.</p>
<ul>
<li>I would say fot the universities you mentioned, you are better off going to an overall stronger/more prestigious university since their programs aren't that recognized.</li>
</ul>
<p>UMD itself is a really strong school, so I imagine that the honors program would be good enough. Even if it's not the best honors program out there, you still have the name of the school as a whole. </p>
<p>I believe a frequent poster, cathymee's son attend the honors college at Univ. South Carolina. You could pm her for more information. </p>
<p>My S was invited to the honors college at USC. We attended an informational meeting and thought it sounded good. It offered small honors classes, priority registration, honors housing in historic (pre-civil war) dorms on the beautiful historic "Horseshoe" area of USC's campus. They made it sound like the honors kids were a pretty cohesive group.<br>
USC also offers nice scholarship money to out of state students. S chose to attend our own state u. instead but we would have been happy for him to have attended USC if he had chosen to.</p>
<p>A student poster ,GetOuttaBuffalo, was offered USC's big scholarship for honors. You could PM GOB for info . on that too.</p>
<p>I think known programs like schreyer,along with upitt/osu honors, can make it worth attending instead of a better ranked state school like UT or some privates, but they don't quite measure up to stronger schools like nyu, rice, etc.</p>
<p>you'llsee, have you applied to schreyer yet? it is supposed to be as selective as the ivy's to get in.</p>
<p>I think you should really reconsider your decision to use Schreyers as a safety. Admission to the program is on par with the best private schools in the nation and most of the students in the program were also accepted to Ivys.</p>
<p>I wouldn't attend a school because of an honors program. Each one is different and many offer certain perks (early registration, smaller classes, etc.) but I would look at overall universitys and THEN decide if you want to join the honors program there. There are a couple well known exceptions, like Pitt.</p>
<p>The only good reason for attending an honors college is if you are committed to going to your state university anyway, honors or not, such as for financial reasons.</p>
<p>One of my daughters attends a state university (FSU) in the Honors program and has just finished her Honors thesis in her major. Based on her experiences, I would strongly recommend this path especially when money could be an issue. She's had small classes with full professors in all important subjects and has participated in extensive undergraduate research leading ultimately to her thesis completion. She's had some great experiences and even won a subject matter scholarship, enabling her to travel and present her research at various organizations. It's likely she'll have some work published, which will help her in her later goals.</p>
<p>I've been amazed that an undergrad a such a large state university has been treated so well. I would recommend taking advantage of this opportunity.</p>
<p>just a note for those of you who are making an honors college your "safety" school. Some are VERY selective. Schreyers at Penn State rejected lots of stellar kids from our high school this year, a couple who went on to be accepted Ivy and other top tier schools. So...make sure you like the college and would be happy to go there without the honors college. Love thy safety.
BTW, my son is at Schreyer at really likes it. The kids in this school are amazing. It is true though that you should be OK with the larger environment.</p>
<p>Uhh the honors program here at College park is the best in the country. Our program surpasses Hopkins honors program and i am not stating this because i am inclined, but because ive seen several books rank our Hon. Pro. higher than most school. H.P dished out a lot of money to its students for tuition.</p>
<p>I would just research the honors programs for each school a little bit more. Does it offer smaller classes, more involved advising and programs, etc, or do they just stamp your diploma with "honors"? I would not worry about prestige at this point.</p>
<p>SarahLitke, what's your source, i.e., which books rank honors programs. I haven't found a good source to compare and contrast these, but some mentioned here seem really worthwhile.</p>