Ohio State Class of 2022 Honors and Scholars Program Chances

Colleges and Universities A-Z Ohio State University
1

The following will tell you about me in a wide variety of aspects.

Objective:

ACT (breakdown): 35 Math, 35 Reading, 35 English, 31 Science (34 composite)
SAT II: Math Level 2: 740, Biology 730
GPA:
-4.0 unweighted (4 AP’s and 6 honors classes before senior year, will be taking 6 AP’s senior year)
-4.2 weighted before senior year(only weighted based on AP classes because our honors classes are on a 4.0 scale)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Not sending due to extreme competition at my very extremely competitive school (about 95th percentile)
AP scores: Macroeconomics: 5, Microeconomics: 5, Statistics: 4, Literature: 4
Senior Year Courses: AP Spanish, AP Calc AB, AP Language, AP Biology, AP Psychology, AP Governemnt
Major Awards: Academic letter 2x, Debate letter 2x, High Honors every semester

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): soccer (played every year of high school and was all-state my junior year while going to the National Championships for club soccer twice), volunteerism (150 quality hours at a Food Pantry that I am on the leadership board for (not a regular volunteer and have genuinely quality experiences over a 3 year span))

Teacher Recommendations: Getting them from debate teacher/coach, English teacher I’ve had twice, and gov teacher - all will be amazing. 10/10 on each.
Counselor Rec: Knows me extremely well, will be fantastic. 10/10

Other:

State (if domestic applicant): Ohio
Intended majors: Biology and Psychology (following the pre-medicine track)
School Type: Large public, very well respected
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male

Strengths: test scores, essays, recs, ECs, and progression from freshman to senior year in terms of challenging myself
Weaknesses: I should have taken more APs prior to senior year (less than personally desired GPA prior to senior year)

If I understand the Ohio State application standards correctly, my chances to be accepted are very high. However, can someone help me comprehend the significant differences between the Honors and Scholars Programs, my chances of being offered to become a member of both programs, and any opinions you may have regarding the difference between regular classes and honors classes at OSU. Any help and advice are sincerely appreciated!

2

I’m currently both an honors and a scholars student. There are several differences that I can highlight for you. Honors is generally regarded as the more ‘prestigious’ of the two. You get super early course registration and the ability to take honors classes. There is also an option for honors housing. But that’s where it all ends for those students. Scholars has better than the standard course registration, but not as good as honors. There are also many scholars programs, so you can choose what you want. I’m in Green Engineering Scholars, but there are other engineering groups as well as many non-engineering scholars groups as well. Scholars students also have housing as groups. I found this to be a great setup. The entirety of my floor were engineers in the same classes as me, and all of them had a strong academic focus. Also, the latest I’ve heard is that scholars is actually harder to get into as an incoming freshman.

Anyways, I actually started in scholars and applied to get into honors. So if you’re interested in both you are required to start in scholars, you cannot be placed in it after you start. Whereas for honors, you can get it at any time, provided that you meet the minimum GPA.

3

I can’t thank you enough for sharing your understanding and experience with me! The information you provided was extremely helpful and clarified essentially all of my questions.

Given my previously provided qualifications, do you feel as though I have a chance at being admitted into the Scholars program if I were to apply?

4

Congrats on your credentials…I love OSU and am an alum, but with those scores why wouldn’t you consider Ivy League kind of schools…you know your chances, you are locks in the top programs at OSU.

5

You should have no problem securing a spot as a scholar. I am in Business Scholars and your credentials are better than mine.

6

Full disclosure, you’re scores as listed are higher than mine when I entered. I don’t think you’d have much of an issue getting into Honors or Scholars. But being prepared for college is not the same as having great scores / grades, and you can have great experiences without being in these programs.

I forgot to mention it above, but it is important to note that in certain cases it can be hard to finish the honors coursework if you didn’t get directly into it. I am CSE and don’t think I’ll be able to finish. This is mostly because by the time I was admitted to honors, I had already taken my Calc 2, FE (part 1), and registered for FE (part 2) and writing 1. These classes alone would’ve satisfied my honors credit (or at least come close) had I taken the honors version. There were so few options left afterwards.

1 Like
7

Hey I made a video all about my scores and application that got me admitted to OSU (I am now a junior there). I also talk about the honor/scholars program. I did get accepted into scholars with my scores (definitely not as great as yours)… I feel like most people that apply to get in scholars do get in but maybe just not to the specific scholars program they wanted to be in. I am not as familiar with some of the info for the honors program but I do know that there aren’t any grade adjustments to honors classes. Honors simply just pushes you harder in courses if you find the material/classes are too easy for you. You do get to schedule early though like the scholars program… If you have any questions or want to contact me for more info please comment down on my YouTube video, I typically see those very quickly! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWIJnS1a9nM&t=47s

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Scholars program gives you the opportunity to live with other students from your scholars group for at least one year and then has required time during the year with your group. Honors is great because it gives you flexibility of who/where you live, and it has priority scheduling and goes on your diploma!