I’ll be attending UMich next fall and will be participating in the LSA honors program. Truth be told, I only joined honors for the housing perks. I’m planning on dropping honors my sophomore (most likely) or junior year when I’ve made some friends who I can move off campus with.
Housing benefits aside, I’m quite worried about the honor’s core. I read that we have to take some classes called “Great Books” or “Classical Civilization”. I’m that STEM kid who really struggles with anything humanities-related, so I really don’t think I’m going to do well in classes like that. Is it possible for me to not take those classes my freshman year, and then drop honors my sophomore year so I never have to take it?
I also read that we need to take honors courses in natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities over our freshman and sophomore years. I can deal with NS, but SS and HU is a no. Is it possible for me to say that I’ll cover the NS requirement my freshman year, and save the SS and HU requirement for sophomore year, and then drop honors in soph year?
I’d just like to know if a lot of kids do what I’m thinking about doing, and if UMich can tell our sneaky motives and not allow it. Sorry if some of you find this unacceptable, but I’m just trying to sneak my way into having housing perks while not having to go through some of this intense humanities courseload.
One must take FYWR (First-Year Writing Requirement) class during freshman yr:
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/english/writingprogram/firstyearreq.asp
As far as I’m aware of, NS Core has never satisfied FYWR. Only certain HU or SS Cores do, i.e., only HONORS 240, 241 and GRTBK191 for Fall 2016. See the list here:
https://lsa.umich.edu/honors/current-students
My S never finished taking all 3 of his Honors Core classes after completing only 1 that satisfied both HU+FYWR, but he was allowed to continue living in South Quad both his Freshman & Sophomore years, because he fulfilled other Honors requirements by taking various Honors-level STEM courses (upper/grad-level) during his years living in Honors Housing.
So, I guess you will just have to tough it out taking an Honors Core class that satisfies FYWR (can be either HU/SS) your first year. That’s pretty much the mandatory part. As for the rest, there are different ways to fulfill the Honors requirements to keep your eligibility to stay in the Honors Program, thus, Housing.
Don’t be sneaky. Rather, take advantage of this opportunity to be in the honors program. Embrace it and apply yourself to it.
@willowhearted
I am pretty sure most Honors students do not return for their sophomore year. It is true that many do it for housing benefits. The other tangible benefits are being around other rather high-achieving people and some more personable/interesting course selections. Other than that, the “resume-boosting” benefits, as far as I know, are limited. This is especially because there are a variety of ways to have the term “Honors” attached to your name. You can be in the Honors program, you can get good grades and get awarded “University Honors”, you can write an Honors thesis, you can join an honors society, and there might even be a few things that I missed.