Might seem like a dumb question, but is GMU Honors college significantly more difficult than regular? I know that Honors makes it easy to get through gen ed requirements, but besides that, is the Honors curriculum much more difficult and/or rigorous?
Hard is a relative concept. My teen has a friend in the program who absolutely LOVES it. LOVES IT! It’s described by the teens as a liberal arts experience in a larger university. The classes are more intimate and the discussions generate thought, development, and growth. So the students engage rather than sit back and receive; so to that extent it’s hard because you cannot sleep through the classes. During the tour by the honor students, there were no dark circles under their eyes, no horror stories (unlike W&M tour guide who said, “Hey, we’re all nerds. So studying all the time and panicking doesn’t bother us.”), and no scripted statements to avoid the question. The student guide spoke of using Google Docs to send papers back and forth for peer sanity checks before they are due and of lots of group extracurriculars. So the impression was that the honors college is expected to encourage you to think (individually and collegially) and then engage in the community or in research in some capacity. Whether by design or default, the Honors Tour reflected the inferred goal of the Honors College: “We will give you pieces of information, but we want you to take them, digest them, and apply them in a way that works best for your growth.” The tour achieved that impression (again, I don’t know if that was the intent or it was just somewhat disorganized) and the school leaves that impression (the school leaves that impression because the giddy students and professors directly provided it, they were legitimately excited about what they were doing). Anyway, you can see my comment on another post, I was impressed with the “I CARE” factor in the Honors program and I was not left with the impression of busy work, just work to grow. I’d love to read if anyone had a different experience.
Hmm interesting! Thanks a lot for your comment. I went on the gmu HN college info session meeting, and it was enlightening too. I can see what you mean after visiting.