My dad wants me to apply for honors because he says I can get more scholarship money. But I don’t know if applying to honors is really worth it. I am going into Pre-Med and and am pretty set on going to med school. Do med schools care if applicants are in honors or not? Are there any other advantages besides scholarships and smaller class sizes?
Btw, these are the schools thinking about applying for honors: UT Austin, UT Dallas, UT San Antonio, Baylor, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech
Honors colleges and programs are more than just additional scholarships and smaller class sizes. They offer priority registration for courses (honors and regular), one-on-one instruction with professors, as well as a more family-oriented environment. Students in honors programs tend to have higher GPAs because of the tighter relationships with peers and teachers. I know GPA is crucial for med school - you’ll also be able to get better recs from your professors in an honors program I believe. If you feel no attraction to an honors program, that’s okay too - thousands of students from the schools you listed get into med school perfectly fine. Just know that in some honors programs, like Texas A&M’s, you’ll be required to live on campus is special housing for a certain period of time, to take certain courses during your four years, and to participate in certain activities during the school year. They’re not for everyone, but they do offer some great benefits. I’m applying to at least two honors programs this year - TAMU and UST - and they couldn’t be more different.
If you are applying to Texas Tech, yes the Honors College makes a HUGE difference. You get priority in registration, & you also get first dibs on research. They strongly encourage students to do research & they will make every attempt to hook up with the right professor for that. They also strongly recommend study abroad. Every honors student gets study abroad money. This year I believe (don’t quote) every HC student received around $2K towards study abroad. You also have of course have the better more interesting classes with the best professors. So yes, I would say the Honors College makes a HUGE difference.
Priority registration! I cant stress how great that is. The higher up you are in prioriy means you have much better shot at the classes you want with the professors you want.