<p>Has anyone started this application? If so, can you confirm if/what essays are required? We are trying to budget time among all the pending applications and this information would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>Parent of UW L&S Honors program student here – has your student been accepted to UW yet? The invitation to apply for L&S Honors goes out to all admitted students, with a link to the application. The invitation usually comes by email within a few weeks of the acceptance notification. This is important – the due date for the Honors app is tied to your specific student, and is not a general due date for all students. I think it was roughly 4 weeks after the invitation. Watching this board, there has been some frustration and anxiety related to missing the student’s Honors app date and having to wait to apply as a current student rather than incoming freshman. </p>
<p>As I recall, the application required general info plus 3 essays. In 2012, one essay was something about writing a lead article for a newspaper 10 years from now and another was responding to a prompt relating to diversity (not demographic but intellectual). They were not your typical application essays. </p>
<p>Good luck to your student.</p>
<p>Thanks Midwestmom. Yes, she was accepted a few weeks ago. We did receive the email with the link to the application. The due date for the application is 30 days from the point that you login to the application. We were putting off starting this so that we could prioritize the tasks ahead (one essay for Business school direct app, two for scholarship app, apparently 3 for L&S Honors app.) Has your son enjoyed the program? Thanks.</p>
<p>MWM, do you have any idea how selective the process is for admission to L&S Honors? My D is an admitted student who is interested. Thanks for your very helpful information here.</p>
<p>To the Op and saperne – my son has enjoyed the Honors sections in lecture courses but he does not spend a lot of time doing Honors program social stuff. From a parent’s perspective, this access to profs who lead the Honors discussion sections, rather than TAs who lead the other sections, has made the program worth it. </p>
<p>He generally does 1 Honors class a term, though next semester may do 2 in order to knock off some breadth requirements in Honors (you have to take 6 Honors credits in each of the L&S breadth requirements – Humanities, Science and Social Science). He declared his major in the fall, so works more specifically with his major advisor rather than Honors advising. </p>
<p>As an incoming freshman, one tangible advantage was that, at least his year, Honors students got to reserve a spot in a FIG (any FIG, not just Honors FIGs) before they registered at SOAR. As he was really excited about one FIG in particular, he was relieved to be able to hold that spot, knowing he would get it later in the summer at SOAR. </p>
<p>As a parent, though this is not an Honors specific issue, the structure of the FIG was great for a freshman. He said that second semester freshman year felt much harder than fall semester because he no longer had that structure from his 3 FIG courses, taking class with 20 kids he could bond with and study with. </p>
<p>As for selectivity for L&S Honors, I have no real information. I will say that my son was a close call for admission, could have gone either way, but once he was admitted, he was also admitted to Honors. I think writing fairly interesting essays helped, as his stats were not exceptional. </p>
<p>Good luck, and congrats to your students!</p>
<p>Agree that the social aspects of the Honors program are not needed to take advantage of the program. The program was good in my day and has only improved since then.</p>
<p>There are different Honors degrees in L&S- including in the major and comprehensive. See the UW website. The breadth reqs are for the more comprehensive one. Eons ago I did this while recently I believe son may have only done the major (he didn’t tell). You can take as many or as few courses each semester for Honors as you like. The science/math sequences (Calculus, Physics, Chemistry and Biocore) are excellent. They will have lab/discussion TA’s along with the lectures. Some courses have Honors sections with the professor leading the discussion section. Having a good TA to give a different take on material can be helpful.</p>
<p>I also like that there is no special housing as students choosing Honors are so diverse and get to live in the dorm/other that most suits their other facets.</p>
<p>The invitation to all students is a recent years change. This reflects the high caliber of entering students- getting lesser grades in HS can happen to top caliber students through boredom. The courses may not be that difficult for students, go for as many as you deem suitable. Sometimes prerequisites can be circumvented (but discuss with an advisor) and don’t think an entering student needs only entry numbered courses.</p>
<p>Students should look at course cross listings- son managed to take a 301 course (for Honors?) that was the same lecture as the 101 version and also in two departments- anthropology and Linguistics- his first semester at UW. He ended up with Honors math plus a comp sci major and took the Honors Physics sequence. I took the Honors Chemistry and most of the Biocore sequence eons ago- the course numbers remain today(but obviously with updated content). Son had an Honors advisor for SOAR who told him some tricks for getting into a full section later if he wanted to. Those advisors are professors who care about students- it may be a huge school but the interactions are personal.</p>