<p>Yes, I’d like to know this too. My D was accepted into Siena with an invitation to apply to the honors program. Was wondering if it was worth it.</p>
<p>Med school admission is highly numbers based. Your GPA in the pre-med courses, your overall GPA, and your MCAT score will matter much more than the name on your diploma. Med School is hideously expensive, and there are almost no scholarships. You should choose the undergraduate college/university where you feel you will be able to get the best grades, and where you will graduate with the least amount of debt.</p>
<p>Please see the PreMed Topics forum as this has been discussed extensively and there is a very good sticky threads about how to choose an UG college. While it is in no way unanimous, the consensus seems to be that only the tippy top (like maybe 15 schools) and poorly regarded schools will affect med school admissions. For the vast majority, what counts are your grades, not the name of the school, honors program, coursework, etc.</p>
<p>Also, honors programs vary widely in what types of academics and opportunities they provide.</p>
<p>Money isn’t an issue. Predicting that I would get the same GPA/grades at either school, is it better to go to a highly ranked school or a lower ranked school in the honors program?</p>
<p>I just don’t know if honors program matter, and if honors programs are not looked favorably uponed by med schools then I’d go to the higher ranked school.</p>
<p>Great! I think that you will find that attending the school that best fits your needs (academically, socially, etc.) is the most important thing, as you will then be satisfied and are more likely to earn the top grades that you will need for Med school.</p>
<p>Either of those schools will get you there.</p>
<p>Honors colleges can be a great choice for those attending a larger school. Honors colleges offer valuable perks and let you meet some of the top students at your college. However they are often oversold with glossy pamphlets implying a small LAC has been set up inside the larger university giving ann elite private education at the public school price. On this forum you’ll read posters who also say/imply that.</p>
<p>Depending on the program offerings may range from separate honors classes to taking just one honors seminar per semester. And some of the “honors” offerings may just be a special discussion section of the regular class (at many U’s you meet 2-3x a week in a large class with the prof, then everyone meets weekly in a discussion section with a TA). You really need to dig in to find what a particular school offers.</p>
<p>Keep in mind honors programs typically offer the small classes and hand-picked profs only the 1st two years of college. They can do this because doesn’t take that many classes to come up with a set that will meet the lower-division requirements for most majors. It is rare to find more than a token amount of upper-division classes since the honors program simply doesn’t have enough faculty members to create entire major(s). So the last two years most/all classes are taken with the rest of the students in the regular U’s classes. The teaching of the profs will be geared towards the normal U level, the discussions and student involvement in class will be dominated by the regular students, and so on. Class sizes may balloon, too, if you’re in a popular major.</p>
<p>Peer effects are big, too; when almost everyone around you at school is a strong student you have lots of good student to emulate in class or outside it such as doing research or internships. If the top kids are a few hundred strong dispersed among tens of thousands at the U then strong examples may be harder to see. When it comes to finding a job, employers are less likely to send recruiters to a campus with a limited number of honors seniors when they can get a campus-full at more highly regarded schools.</p>
<p>Honors colleges do offer some valuable perks, in addition to the classes. Typical ones include registering for classes before everyone else so you get the classes you want (a perk worth its weight in gold!), special counselors, guaranteed housing, special library privileges. They will mark your diploma with special recognition. But I would be dubious about attending a college for its honors program in place of a more highly regarded U if finances are not an issue.</p>