Has anyone heard back yet on their Honors application? How long did it take?
I just received my letter of Honors acceptance in the mail today. I submitted around January 11th, so it took less than a month to arrive.
Thanks. You submitted before my D and we live far away, so there is still hope! Hope to meet you there! Congrats!
One more question if you don’t mind. Did anything change on your portal when you were admitted to Honors? Is the only way to find out to wait for the letter? Thanks and Congratulations!
A few years ago, but my son just got snail mail letter congratulating him on acceptance to Honors program. No portal changes.
I just checked my portal and it does not indicate any changes to show that I was accepted to Honors so I believe you will just have to wait for the mail. Good luck!!
Thanks so much for checking! My D is so nervous! She loves Wisconsin! She has very high grades and scores (35) but knows that those stats are not really the key in Honors. Fingers crossed! I will post when she hears.
are you IS or OOS?
OOS. Is that bad?
No difference for instate and OOS for Honors program. Really seems to be a question of intellectual curiosity.
My kid graduated with Honors in the Liberal Arts, completing the depth and breadth requirements for Honors. He managed through the Honors in science breadth coursework, and simply “green sheeted” or did Honors optional in those classes, where it was basically an extra project/assignment for Honors designation. However, he loved his “Honors only” sections in his major and other departments which were seminars of 16-24 kids led by leading scholars in specific fields. He developed close relationships with a number of professors, was invited to participate in a research project with one professor he took Honors courses with as a freshman, and all around had a great experience. For him, the “a la carte” approach to Honors worked – he could do as much or as little Honors work as he wanted to any given semester, though he generally had at least 1 Honors course a term. The semester with 2 Honors majors research seminars (he was double major) was grueling.
D is so nervous! I hope she finds out soon and that it is good news! She really wants a big school for lots of reasons, our state schools are no where near as good as UW, and she loves Madison! She loves the research opportunities in her field also. Do you know anything about BioHouse?
Oh no I was just curious!!! There is no difference between OOS and IS Honors
Tell your D to relax. I assume she has already been accepted to UW and is waiting for that honors decision. Having high stats and grades means she most likely is well prepared for the Honors versions of courses. I refreshed myself on the Honors program since my comprehensive honors degree (both major and liberal arts) when son went to UW (honors in his major). They have so many of the same honors sequences and other courses that were great then and now. No pressure- take as few or as many as you wish each semester. Be with academic peers. If in the very unlikely case she doesn’t get into the Honors Program now she can always reapply in later semesters and can finagle a way (discuss with her SOAR advisor) to get any honors courses her first semester. My impression is that the application process is to be sure the student is serious about taking honors courses, not to eliminate students. In recent years they opened up the program to all students since all are capable but need to want to do the work.
Addenda. I like that UW has an honors program and not a college. You do it for you and live where you wish- friends and I in the same honors major had diverse tastes in that. No junky survey honors courses required that superficially cover too many areas.
Thanks so much for your posts! She was admitted! Hope to see some of you in the fall!
Congrats! My kid had so many wonderful Honors experiences. For what it’s worth, let me add that my kid loved doing a FIG fall of freshman year. I don’t recall when the FIGs for fall semester are released, but keep an eye on First Year program and other sites to see if there are updates, if your daughter might be interested!
https://www.figs.wisc.edu/ does a much better job of explaining it! But generally, FIG is First Year Interest Group – there are many different FIGs offered, each one is a cluster of 2-3 classes, which have some thematic connection. Each FIG is 20 students, and they take the FIG classes together. One class is a seminar, which is just the FIG mates. The additional classes within the FIG may be larger, traditional Intro classes, and FIG mates are all in the same discussion section. So, you have 2-3 classes with the same 20+ students, forming a natural study group, peer group, as all of you chose the same topic.
Wow! The FIGs sound amazing! I just logged in to ask if you had a recommendation on the Residential Learning Communities and you were here! I know that’s not the topic of this thread, but there are some posters here who seem very informed and willing to help! Thanks so much! She fell in love with the school when she visited it, as did I. She would be pre-Med and would major in Bio or Biochem. The BioHouse Learning Community seems interesting, but it is impossible to get any real sense of the Communities from OOS. Do most kids live in Learning Communities?
Many diverse options. Son spent his first year plus including the honors calculus and physics sequences. Meant meeting many with similar interests as well. If biology interests your D she will need to be aware of the Honors sequence Biocore which requires Organic Chemistry. This means waiting for biology instead of taking other courses. Something to consider when planning at SOAR.
Honors advisors are good- and they know how to work the system to best advantage for students (son chose not to follow steps to get into a full one credit class once the semester started, no big deal) but people run the school even if computers seem to be in charge sometimes. Professors cared about individual students back in my day and in son’s tenure at UW.
Always remember that premed is an intention, not a major. I was a chemistry major who chose medicine over research. Your D can choose ANY major, she just needs to meet course requirements and do well on the MCAT et al. Hopefully she will find a major she can be passionate about, regardless of future medical school hopes.
On learning communities – we encouraged our son to look at Chadbourne, which is a great southeast location, more of a mid-sized dorm, but he was not interested. We wanted him to find ways to connect with others who shared his interests (beyond parties), and he found that through his FIG.
The learning communities are also a nice because if you select the learning community for housing, you get to select your actual room (at least, that was the case several years ago) since the learning communities are in designated dorms/halls.
But again, my kid wasn’t interested, he lived in Sellery/Witte, made great friends in his dorm from all over – WI, MN, IL, NJ, MA, CA – and had a blast.
Thanks to both of you for your expert advice!
Many different paths for students sharing a major/honors et al. I preferred the Lakeshore dorms while my girlfriends with honors in the same major preferred Barnard (big yuck for me, as were the high rises). No STEM houses et al in my day. Son made his dorm choices for Lakeshore as well (got Liz, centrally located Lakeshore dorm).
All students are multifaceted. It will be interesting for you to see your D’s choices for housing and courses. There are pros and cons to every dorm. It is excellent that UW does not segregate honors students with housing- they are much too diverse to be stuck in the same environment! As well as academic interests- no same survey courses all in honors take. Looking back I remember taking mainly the same chemistry courses as my friends in the major but our electives (for breadth requirements and pure interest) were very different. Son’s choices were different than mine and eclectic as well. Despite the huge numbers of grads but also numbers of courses available I wonder if any two students have taken the exact same courses over the years.