<p>I'm looking to transfer to UCLA, UCI, or UCSD for computer science from a community college in the southern California region. My transcript doesn't look so fantastic earlier on as I made some mistakes and have been fixing them along the way. I'm now bringing up my grades and am intent on obtaining As all across the board from here on out.</p>
<p>I have the opportunity to do an honors calculus I course. It is certainly going to be a lot of work. I can do the work and am not uncertain that I can. The following is what we must do for honors (in addition to the main course, of course):</p>
<ul>
<li>Attend a meeting, solve an assigned problem, and typeset it in LaTeX</li>
<li>Participate in Putnam Exam practice sessions and participate in the Putnam Exam, earning at least one point partial credit out of 120, to be determined by the instructor</li>
<li>Attend AMATYC Student Math League practice sessions and earn at least a '10' in Round 1</li>
<li>Give a ten-minute SCCUR (Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research) talk in Beamer format</li>
<li>A six-page mathematical research project involving an unsolved math problem determined and assigned by instructor</li>
</ul>
<p>This is the only honors class I have the opportunity of doing as there are no more honors courses offered in more advanced math nor in any of the other major prep courses I need to transfer. As such, it will be the only honors class on my record.</p>
<p>My question is this: Is it worth it? Or will the work done mostly be negligible and/or invisible to admissions at UC?</p>
<p>Someone may have another opinion who is familiar with your major but it seems to me one honors course will have no real effect. Better to get an A in regular.</p>
<p>I think you have to weigh what UC’s prioritize, which is GPA > Honors classes. Honor classes help, but your GPA is significantly more important to them. So you have to decide, is risking a B or lower in an honors course better than achieving an A, guaranteed in a regular course? I think it’s a clear choice, but that’s just my opinion.</p>
<p>If you can keep your GPA up, I think this absolutely would be worth it. The research experience is valuable and it sounds like the Honors Program at your school is great. All the things they’re telling you to do can be put on your application.</p>
<p>But just like @fullload was saying, GPA > Honors classes. If you had a shaky start, honors classes are a great way to <em>show</em> the admissions officers that you’ve changed academically. </p>
<p>I might even roll with doing the honors class, if you had at least one more under your belt. Something about having just one feels too risky when it’s not that significant of an achievement as a whole. Hope that makes sense.</p>
<p>Update: I also have the opportunity to take an honors mathematics seminar that covers additional topics in mathematics (go figure) where I will write a 15-page thesis and give another presentation/talk. It is 2 units, but it is another honors addition.</p>
<p>Further, the honors Calculus I course I mentioned in the original post is an honors class with a non-honors class. The only difference is that the list I cited above is mandatory for honors students whereas any item on that list, or combination of items, is extra credit material for non-honors students.</p>
<p>My opinion: one honors class will not strongly affect your admissibility. Also, schools will not know what you did to earn the honors designation. Because the difficulty of honors courses vary so much class to class and school to school, your very challenging/time consuming honors course is weighted the same as someone else who just had to write a brief paper to get honors designation. </p>
<p>HOWEVER, it seems that this class would afford you a ton of really great experiences in higher education, peer interaction, and deeper understanding of the material. If you challenged yourself to take on two or three of the more engaging assignments (SCCUR presentation, math league, and the Putnam exam stand out) you would have a really great topic for your admissions essay, in which you could mention why you chose honors, the assignment you chose, and your experience/learning. Most of those assignments have a lot of merit and would really let you shine if you wholeheartedly pursued them and let the UCs know about it. </p>
<p>for the sake of honors alone, no, I don’t think it’s worth it. But you could REALLY make it worthwhile and get a lot of value from it. Because you feel confident you can meet the challenge, I think you should strongly consider it. </p>
<p>The key is your ultimate grade. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. I saw this time and again this last spring quarter with tons of high GPAs suddenly pulling Cs. Maybe if you did it last quarter, as the UCs are more lax at that point, but an honors course that is in-progress come spring won’t matter much when they’re looking at your transcript in Feb. </p>
<p>@Bear87: Yeah, that was partially my worry as well - that the schools would not weigh my honors class as heavily as one would like because they wouldn’t know that this honors course would entail quite a deal more work than some other honors course at a different community college. </p>
<p>It certainly would be great experience. I don’t have a choice of completing two or three of those assignments. As part of the honors requirements, I must complete ALL items I listed in the original post.</p>
<p>@CSB111: While I’m not majoring in mathematics, I do eventually want to go into cryptography, so I figure more math can’t hurt in that regard.</p>
<p>@lindyk8: Very valid point. While I do feel that I can get through this hard work, there is a part of me wonders if this isn’t too much too quickly. That is, I’ve never had to deal with any research in this capacity in community college. Sure, maybe a short essay in an English class or very mild research in a political science class, but not to this level. Further, the honors courses mentioned would be completed by the end of this fall and I still have about two years before I’ve satisfied requirements for transfer, so it would definitely already be on my transcripts before admissions at a university had even heard about me.</p>
<p>They likely need the class whether honors or not. </p>
<p>It’s an amazing opportunity to take the honors course, BUT keep your eye on the real prize - transferring to a top UC. Do what you need to do to keep your GPA high. Get into UCLA or wherever then explore. Once you transfer you can take oops for research or more in depth studies of subjects you’re interested in.</p>
<p>OP says he doesn’t need the class, so depending on his current GPA, taking it and withdrawing is a possible option. The mere fact that he doesn’t need it would make me hesitant right there (and probably you too, candles) because it’s a risk. But the good news for OP is if he really wants to try it, he has an option that shouldn’t affect his GPA - unless it unduly impacts his other courses, which is a clear possibility. But only he knows his limits and skill set. And since OP says he has never done anything like this before, that is a real red flag as it means he has no idea what is in store. So there is no real educated guess. Decision being based more on emotion. But again there is an out, which limits any possible damage.</p>
<p>@2016Candles and @lindyk8: I need Calculus I. No getting around that. What I don’t need is to take Honors Calculus I. As far as the math seminar, that’s just an addition and is not necessary as per articulation agreements with the colleges I am considering. As such, that would purely be an addition in the hopes of putting a little more on the transcript, learning a great deal, and getting research experience. But no, the seminar is not necessary whatsoever, non-honors or honors. Calculus I is necessary, but it doesn’t matter, for transfer, if it’s honors or non-honors.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure you can’t. They are different section numbers and honors required specific clearance with a signature from the honors program and then a counselor verifying and removing the block. On my transcript, it’ll show a very specific class with honors in it, so, they’d have to go back and change that around and that sounds like more work than a CC would go through. Further, I don’t think they’d like a student starting honors then dropping the honors part a bit through. Seems like something they’d be against.</p>
<p>Re looking your earlier posts, my layman’s recommendation: do regular calculus with as many of the components as you wish. Those are extra credit, you get the knowledge but not the pressure, and the extra credit will most likely lead to an A.</p>
<p>Do math honors, as seminars are notoriously easier than lecture classes. If it ends up otherwise and you get overwhelmed, simply drop it.</p>
<p>You should speak with the professor. Ask him/her how many hours/week he/she thinks this extra work would take. Discuss your reservations and your reasoning for wanting to do it, and let them advise you as well. The professor will have a good idea if you are a good candidate to do it or not based on previous experience. </p>
<p>That is a lot of work to get honors designation. It’s not worth it for the honors alone. However, some of these experiences would benefit you as a student immensely. And as I previously stated, discussing even one of them would be a fantastic essay topic. If you are simply looking to improve your admissibility, don’t bother with this. If you want to improve yourself as a student and think you can utilize this experience to its fullest potential, by all means pursue it. </p>
<p>Thank you, everyone, for all the advice and attempts to work this out with me. As it stands, I will be sticking with non-honors Calculus I. I will do the extra credit assignments, but without the pressure of a mandate.</p>