<p>I’m a high school senior applying to schools right now, and I am fairly sure I can get in as I am National Merit, and I wanted to know some current students opinions on Barrett. Do yall find it academically challenging, are you enjoying it, that sort of thing! I got a letter today from it that made me aware of it, and I just wanted some opinions on the experience. Thanks!</p>
<p>There have been several threads on Barrett’s, but I would love to see more current students chime in on the experience.
Is the Honors College really like a small LAC in a big (enormous!) state u?</p>
<p>I would like some more information on Barrett too. My daughter received the letter yesterday (she is a National Hispanic Scholar) and now we’re seriously considering at least a visit (which they reimburse a good portion for airfare too)due to the outstanding scholarship. Something about this seems a bit too good to be true honestly. I know ASU has a big party school reputation but Barrett seems to be a highly regarded honors college according to my research.</p>
<p>I have a kid at Barrett and another one is hoping to get in down the road. We’re very happy with the Honors College. He gets the small college atmosphere and also has classes out in the “regular” part of the university. He does Honors contracts on many of those classes, or they have special honors sections. The dorms are fantastic, great atmosphere full of kids who care about learning, have fun but still pay attention to their classes. He’s had dinner with the Dean (in a small group), great access to advising, challenging coursework, etc. There are so many opportunities he can’t take advantage of most of them! No, it’s not an Ivy by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s pretty darn great nonetheless. :)</p>
<p>Thanks, flagmom for your perspective. We never had dinner with dean at my ivy fwiw 
I am looking forward to finding out more about Barrett and I am glad to hear that your student is enjoying the experience.</p>
<p>I wanted to follow up to say now he’s had dinner with two Deans… first the dean of Barrett. Then dinner with the dean of the Engineering college. One of his suitemates met that dean at a football game, mentioned his suitemates were all in engineering. Then the dean took them all out to dinner! :)</p>
<p>Barrett students generally enjoy the experience, based on what I’ve heard from my friends who are currently there. You do get perks such as early class enrollment and advising, but I think the benefits vary depending on your personality type and even your major.</p>
<p>My AP Physics teacher (doing his PhD at ASU), for example, noted that Barrett would be more beneficial for pre-med majors than for engineering majors. However, he tends to be anti-Barrett and has said that the Barrett students “need to leave their compound.”</p>
<p>I will be applying, and I’m confident that I’ll get in, but I don’t know if I would attend. I’ve heard from non-honors students at ASU that the Barrett experience is very much like high school, where the students stay within their own bubbles. This may or may not be a plus to you. On one hand, you’ll be surrounded by like-minded students. On the other, you might be missing out on the diversity that ASU has to offer you.</p>
<p>College is what you make of it. Barrett offers many resources and opportunities that are not available to the general ASU population. However, it is up to each individual whether to take advantage of those opportunites and resources or not.</p>
<p>"My AP Physics teacher (doing his PhD at ASU) … has said that the Barrett students “need to leave their compound.”</p>
<p>This teacher doesn’t know what he is talking about. The vast majority of a Barrett student’s classes are the regular classes taken right along with non-honors ASU students. There is no “Barrett” major. Even a large portion of HONORS credits come from “honors contracts” where an honors student just does extra work for a regular class. In fact, the vast variety of all those regular classes is a major reason why a good student would consider an honors college at a large state university over a smaller, more selective school in the first place.</p>
<p>Barrett offers the opportunity for students who demonstrate a strong work ethic and academic potential in high school to live in a smaller community than the university as a whole. Would this teacher say the West campus students or the Polytechnic students should “get out of their compound” just because they have chosen a smaller campus setting?</p>
<p>Are there any other students that can give information on Barrett? My senior is not a big partier but likes to have fun AND takes school seriously. Wanted are exposure to new opportunities, the best professors, engaging projects, like-minded individuals, and a fun place to live. Is this Barrett or a UC or a mid-size private school?</p>
<p>For those who derserve a free ride (NMF/NHF) going to a newly built honors college and graduating with zero debt seems like a terffiic way to start a career.</p>
<p>Just to clarify, ASU offers full IS or OOS tuition for NMF. It is not a full ride and living in Barrett is pretty expensive compared to other room and board options at ASU and other schools. That said, we think it is worth the opportunities for advising, smaller community atmosphere and peer interactions and my NMF D will be a freshman there next fall.</p>
<p>My son is in a similar situation where he has got admission to the Biomedical Engineering program at ASU/Barrett and has to decide between that, UC Irvine and Santa Clara University. We are still waiting for decisions from 3 other top tier schools but chance of getting into those is slim.
It will be great if a current BME student or parent at Barrett can respond about the program, the research/internship opportunites in the BME field and any insight into the future for Barrett students after undergrad degree. I am wondering if the school can provide some historical data on where Barrett undergrads end up in terms of jobs, grad schools, medical schools etc.</p>
<p>You should contact the biomed honors advisor, Christopher Buneo, for more info.</p>
<p>[Honors</a> Opportunities in Majors » Barrett, The Honors College](<a href=“http://barretthonors.asu.edu/academics/honors-opportunities-in-majors/]Honors”>http://barretthonors.asu.edu/academics/honors-opportunities-in-majors/)</p>
<p>My D will be a freshman music student at Barrett this fall. She plans to double major-math, and contacted the honors math advisor. He has been quite responsive, will meet her during orientation this week, explained the double major process for math/music, connected her with a current math/music major to talk to, etc. I haven’t asked for data on grads of the program, but that is a good idea, will tell D to do that. In general, people there are very helpful. If you contact the Barrett staff, they will do whatever they can to assist you. We scheduled orientation for this week very last minute as we were waiting for music audition results. They worked in an overnight for her at Barrett at our request, though they are crazy busy this week, with it being spring break for many high schools, and decision time.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure our Barrett tour guide when she auditioned was a biomed major whose older brother also was in Barrett and is now in med school (UC-San Diego??, can’t remember, sorry shoulda taken notes.) He was telling us about various friends and relatives who have gone on to great things from Barrett, all anecdotal, but he was such an engaging personable kid, natural ambassador. I’m sure he would be happy to talk to your S if you asked the Barrett staff.</p>
<p>If you visited, you already received the Barrett folder that has ‘Honors Grads at a glance.’ If not, you can ask for that. It’s also anecdotal, not data, but list of some programs 2012 grads are enrolled in, like ‘PhD Cell Bio, Genetics, USC; Phd, Immunology, Stanford.’</p>
<p>Thanks celesteroberts for the information. We have scheduled an overnight visit next Sun-Mon (spring break) where he will stay at the dorm Sun night and they have arranged a full day tour, shadowing, lunch etc for us on Mon. We are looking forward to eating at the Barrett cafetaria that we have heard so much about 
We haven’t scheduled the orientation yet since still waiting to hear decisions from 3 schools. Yes, our experience has been the same as yours whenever we have contacted the Barrett staff regarding various thing.<br>
Goodluck to your D! I am also hoping my S goes for Barrett over his other choices.</p>
<p>@NorthCAMom, thanks, hope the visit goes well. You should post something here after. I think it would help people making decisions right now and also for future prospective Sun Devils to have these threads to look back on.</p>
<p>We were impressed with our visit of ASU/Barrett last week. Our son stayed at the Barrett dorms last Sunday. His host was a sophomore and so he got to experience the Quad living arrangement (only for sophomores and above) which he really liked. He got to enjoy the dining and next day breakfast at the Barrett dining hall and was impressed by the food variety and choices they have. </p>
<p>The next day, Monday morning, we joined him for a very well organized day that the admissions office had arranged for us. There were 5 other accepted kids and their parents who were also visiting just like us. We met with various representatives from the admissions office, the school of Biomedical Engineering (son’s major), the Ira Fulton school of engineering and also had a session with the Dean of Barrett, which we felt was really special. </p>
<p>All these sessions were arranged to give us information and answer all our questions. Some sessions we attended as a group and couple of major specific sessions were arranged just for us. We had lunch at the Barrett dining hall, they gave us a full ASU campus tour and a Barrett campus and dorm tour. Our son also got to attend the much talked about Human Events class, along with two other visiting kids.</p>
<p>At the end of the day we were pretty impressed by what we heard, saw and experienced. ASU/Barrett made us feel special and felt that the school is going out of the way to enroll students with high academic caliber. They are working on increasing the Barrett enrollment, which I believe was about 800 freshman about 4 years ago, to about 1400-1500 this year. </p>
<p>Our son was skeptical before the visit but now sees ASU/Barrett as his top choice. He still have a visit pending at Santa Clara University next Sat, after which he will finalize.</p>
<p>We also attended Barrett this week with our daughter. She spent the night and attended a human events class. She said of all the classes she has visited across the country from top UCs to small liberal arts colleges, that class was the most interesting and engaging. Barrett rolls out the red carpet for National Scholars and sets up meetings with deans and professors in your major. The four-year residential campus is fantastic and the Barrett dining hall is a key component of the program. Most of the students living in Barrett were freshman and sophomores. Seniors tend to live off campus. A student at Barrett will receive extra attention from faculty and be prepared to stand out when applying to graduate school due to the research and internship opportunities provided to Barrett students. It seemed like a great place to get a stellar education.</p>
<p>A little late, but I’d like to just chime in. I was accepted ASU and Barrett, then decided to take a tour. I absolute loved Barrett, but the rest of the Campus was just… terrible. I hated it. I couldn’t live here. Ideally, I’d spend most of my time at Barrett and only leave for some regular classes. But that’s the problem. How could I bring myself to leave the beauty and go into the nasty? I know it sounds snobbish, but honestly Barrett is too good for a school like ASU. I love Barrett, but ultimately said no because of the rest of the school.</p>
<p>^ Hey, so have you chosen a school? Where will you be going? How do you like it?</p>