Ohio State University Honors Program Discussion

Colleges and Universities A-Z Ohio State University
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Details on the tOSU Honors Program are pretty thin on the website. Essentially all info my son has gotten on it has been via current tOSU program participants who went to his HS. I fear what he heard was third-party folklore. So I thought I’d start a discussion to see if I can dig up some more reliable info.

I do know that tOSU is a bit unusual in that its Honors program is designed/managed within each of the distinct colleges of this massive university (it is decentralized, not centralized, like most). I also know that generally participants are the top 10% of the incoming class. What I don’t know is if the # of Honors participants in each school is proportional to the number of in each college, OR if the top 10%ish are selected for Honors, regardless of major. If the latter is true, then majors which are more selective (e.g., Egineering) would have a higher proportion of its incoming class in Honors. If the former is true, then acceptance into the Honors program within one of those selective majors would be much more difficult, stats-wise (the top 10% stats for the Engineering majors is super high). He is in the ballpark of the top 10%, stats-wise (and I know more counts than just stats, but his leadership stuff is weak), but no way he’s in the top 10% of all incoming engineering students.

My instate s20 is accepted into Engineering, and applied to Honors, but he is on the fence about it. He values all of the features, but he has heard from older students that the program has limited which classes they can take more than they liked. One other student took all of her engineering classes as the Honors option (but, she didn’t have to do that), and her GPA suffered and hence at the end of freshman year, she was unable to get into the engineering track she wanted (she chose another one, loves it, and all is well).

Then there is the dorm situation. My s20 was one of the lucky ones who got accepted in the first round, and five minutes after he got his email he sent in his deposit. Which means he’ll be high on the list for choosing housing. It is my understanding (via tOSU’s website - please someone correct me if I am wrong on this), that “roommate blocks” can be formed for housing (and this might be true only for non-freshmen - I am unusre). The student in the roommate block with the earliest timing for choosing a dorm is when the whole roommate block can choose their room. This helps my son’s popularity as a roommate, becuase he will be high on that priority list. Problem is - what if the roommates he wants are in Honors and he is not? Or vice versa? It is premature to worry too much about this, as most of his tOSU hopeful friends have not heard yet - but he has two friends who he would really like to room with, and one is a Honors program applicant and the other is not. So…that is going to get dicey eventually. He has a group of about 15 friends, all of which he’d be happy rooming with. If none of them get into Honors, then there will be no problem. If all get in, also no problem. If he and no one else does, then we’ll have a problem.

He places the ability to have the roommate(s) he wants, the location of the dorm and the configuration of the dorm room/suite above being in the Honors program. He probably would not be thinking that way if he were not in engineering (but he knows that engineering will be plenty challenging, Honors or not).

Please anyone correct me if any of my assumptions above are wrong. I know things change at tOSU every year…but I appreciate any corrections.

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D was very drawn toward a scholars program that was offered, so she applied to one of those and enjoyed that living learning community. She’d brought in a lot of DE credit and was able to apply to honors her first semester and completed an honors contract.

My S applied to honors as an incoming freshman and is only in his second year on campus. He lived in a south campus dorm with no air conditioning last year. He liked the location, spent the hot part of the day the first couple weeks in air conditioned libraries and other study areas. He took fans, opened windows at night, and kept shades drawn during day. A benefit we hadn’t thought of was that as an introvert, lack of air conditioning kept him out of his room, out and about meeting people. He got a very good position for choosing his dorm this year and got into his first choice, another dorm with no air conditioning on north campus, because he loved the location and some of its other features.

They both had room mate assignments from housing and both chose those room mates to live with again.

There’s information about honors participation in the CoE annual report (Honors Trends p. 55).

https://engineering.osu.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/annual_report_2018.pdf

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@BuckeyeMWDSG Be still my heart…THANK YOU. This set of data should keep me out of trouble for quite a while! Just what I needed. You rock.

We tried to convince our son (and this feels ridiculously premature since it will be months before these things are decided) that he should get a roommate from outside of his HS friends group. That was shut down, pronto. Not gonna happen.

In that same light, I thought the scholars program sounded cool. That got an equally negative reaction a few weeks ago. He’s not that open to our suggestions, come to learn.

His older brother graduated from tOSU about 7 years ago. Back then, even sophomores moved off campus. He lived in a south dorm and is insisting that his brother does also. This is not open for negotiation, according to older brother. But, as you know, the honors option in the southern block has no air conditioning. His only concern is being able to sleep well at night. So, older brother has offered to foot the bill for a hotel in the off chance that it is THAT BAD that he can’t sleep. I’m good with that.

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We know the feeling!

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@cypresspat Congrats to your son! Re: honors - don’t underestimate the value of priority registration. Honors kids get to register before everyone else. My son is a sophomore in Honors and he has gotten every class that he has wanted. This eliminates lots of scheduling frustration/disappointment. He gets to take the classes he wants when he wants them.

I know your son feels strongly about living with roommates from HS, but … our son was randomly paired with another student in his scholarship cohort in a certain un-air-conditioned dorm on South quad. It worked out well (although it was pretty hot at the beginning of the academic year). My introvert S and his super active, outgoing roommate were good for each other. They are rooming together again this year and have already signed a lease to live together again off campus next year.

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@browniesundae - thanks for the insight! Am in honors next year and trying to decide between applying to learning community or living in honors dorm.

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Engineering honors at OSU is a real bear. I am on the Facebook page for the Parents of the Class of 2023. According to some of the parents, their kids suffer from depression and go to counseling to cope with the workload and stress. You will need to be a better-than-most kind of student for the engineering student body as well as be a grinder. My engineering freshman daughter is above-the-curve student-wise but did not want to go through that.

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For an incoming freshman at Fisher, and as an honors program student, which of the three honors dorms is best to live request… I was thinking Taylor in the North section

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I was informed this past Saturday of my admission to the Honors program. I have already sent in my acceptance fee and I am leaning towards participating in the Honors program but my worry is the additional stress that might come from the more rigorous course load.

As for housing, I want to preference North Campus - Taylor Tower because Bradley Hall (South Campus) does not have air conditioning and Lincoln Tower (West Campus) seems to be too far removed from the main activity hub of campus. However, I am slightly hesitant because Taylor is set up so that the majority of students will live in quads, and I am wondering if it is better for a freshman to live in a quad or a double. Taylor has doubles as well but they cost significantly more because they are “super doubles”.

I am still waiting on word from the Morrill Scholarship Program as well.

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Congratulations @music394 on your acceptance! I’m a parent of a current Freshman daughter in the Honors program. She lives on South (Bradley) which is getting A/C next year. I also have family members that lived on North. Both sides have advantages and you can love either. Honestly, if you get a good roomate(s) it will be awesome. My daughter was very fortunate. She lives in a “quad” and has had a fantastic experience with her roomates.

As far as honors, I can share what she says and what her friends are saying. Yes, it’s more stressful. There are many that do not plan to stay in honors after their freshman year. My daughter has found that the extra push has helped her. Having a GPA to maintain, even in her first semester, caused her to refocus how she handled school in High School.

Face it, you’re awesome. You don’t get into OSU and honors if you aren’t good at academics in High School. This isn’t high school anymore though. Studying for a test a day or so before, or never going to see your prof, or not using tutors because ‘that’s not you’ may not work now. Being in honors even makes that harder. My daughter was embarrassed to have to say, “I need help in Chemistry!”. She got over that and realized it’s not embarrassment, it’s another step in her maturity. Learning that reading the syllabus is important…learning to talk to other students and get advice… to listen to those before her that knew what to expect. My daughter solved it and I’m sure you can too. Go in with open eyes and an open mind to new ways to study and organize!

You got this. Don’t stress over North or South or even what dorm. More importantly, decide what you want out of your circle of friends, go in open minded and go get 'em!

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When will the next round be released? I got accepted on dec 13 and I have not heard back yet.