<p>Can a current student give me some basic information about the honors program at OSU? Specifically, how is the dorm community like, and are the students academically competitive/diligent? How many people live in the honors dorm and how qualified were they in high school( in terms of sat/act and advanced classes)?
Most importantly, is there anything particularly beneficial about being a honors student, such as better administrative attention?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>You don't have to stay in an honors dorm just because you are an honors student. However, they are a nice option. I'm in Lincoln Tower and I absolutely love it here. We have a lot of fun but it's never a zoo or anything. I don't know how qualified they were - you can find that on the OSU website easily. There are 300 people in Lincoln, but I don't know about the other dorms.</p>
<p>We are not supremely competitive, but all of the honors students I know actually do their homework and go to class - though we do procrastinate on the homework part.</p>
<p>Honors students get priority scheduling. I am scheduling my classes for Winter Quarter tomorrow, and most other freshmen are scheduling sometime in November. That is awesome. We also get better classes (smaller, better professors, better curve) and a fancy "Honors" notation on our transcripts if we complete the requirements at graduation.</p>
<p>Honors students are great, and of course so are all OSU students, but I fit in with honors especially. Warning, though: it's hard. You wouldn't think any program at OSU (with its reputation) would be hard, but the honors curriculum necessary to graduate "with honors" is HARD. Lots of credit hours, all honors courses for the GECs - it's no place to coast. But it is worth it. Any more questions, I'll be back.</p>
<p>VelaenOscuridad, is Lincoln tower the honors dorm? And is there a vast diversity in the honors program in terms of race and nationality?</p>
<p>I seriously intend to go for a 4.0 gpa during my college career. In high school, I have been really dedicated about studying assiduously and getting straight A's(specially in my junior and senior years). This approach stems from the fact that I severely held back early in high school and even before that by failing some classes. So lately I have become much more academic conscious and now getting that high gpa is really a priority for me over partying or any thing. Is this attitude alien at osu or are there students that are also academically oriented and want to make very high grades?</p>
<p>Thank you for the help.</p>
<p>Also, since you appear to be an average osu honors student and is the only one here, may I ask you what your stats were from high school(sat/act)?</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>The requirements for the honors program are posted online. That's all you need to get in, though of course the average honors student has higher stats. There are many people who could have been or were accepted to "prestigious" colleges, but chose to come here (usually for reason of money, but once we get here we see that it is better!). My specific stats aren't important. If you have the minimum requirements, you will get in, and even if you don't, you can sometimes petition to get in. That's what's important.</p>
<p>There are many people here who think they need to get a 4.0 every quarter. However, I believe the average is about 6 people each graduating class get a cumulative 4.0. Shoot for a 3.9 - that looks just fine to graduate programs, and then you don't have to go kill yourself when you get a B. Sometimes you will have one of those professors who just doesn't give out As. You'll get over it.</p>
<p>Lincoln Tower is the "west campus" honors dorm. There are others on North and South campus.</p>
<p>great! thanks for the info and perhaps I will be joining lincoln tower and osu sometime soon.</p>
<p>Hey mark19,</p>
<p>I'm not a current honors student but a prospective student (as you probably could determine from a trip report), also interested in the honors program. Here's just some random stuff I thought I'd mention from what I've learned about the program and other misc. info.</p>
<p>First, Velaen said you can petition to get into honors, but unfortunately, they just changed this policy for '07 admissions. Because they're getting so many qualified students for the honors program, they have eliminated the application process by which you could previously apply to get into honors (the only way that I found out about this new change was from the honors visit). They've also revamped a lot of their academic/merit scholarships by upping the stats required (this is esp. for the maximus scholarship/writing competition).</p>
<p>Second, there are about four honors dorms -- Lincoln Tower (W Campus), Taylor Tower (N Campus), Siebert and Bradley (S Campus), and the Worthington Building, which is for upperclass/grad students only. Have you heard about the Scholars program? They offer living-learning communities for specific interests, ie drug free, first year, or, if you're interested in living with different nationalities as you implied, I think they have an international and diversity one.</p>
<p>Third, one of the directors at the program I recently attended noted that achieving that "4.0" is difficult because there is no extra weight for honors classes (about 1/4 of your entire course load usually) and like Valaen said, you will eventually run into that professor that refuses to give out As. At the program, they said only about a dozen people each year graduate with that GPA, which is a lot to say considering OSU's student body size. On the bright side, with the sheer size you are bound to run into somebody with similar academic pursuits and interests, especially with honors.</p>
<p>Good luck, hope some of that info helped. If you have any questions I might be able to answer, PM me or reply. =]</p>
<p>No, you guys elucidated pretty much everything for now. I will go to osu sort as a trasnfer student in the spring or winter although I will be a freshman--I will graduate from hs this semester due to particularities in my case. I am not a 100% sure I will be going there since I also applied to other schools , but since it may come out to osu and another state school, I am trying to get informed about my choices. I would love to go to osu if that turns out to be the case.</p>
<p>Shoot for the spring or summer quarter, Mark. We already registered for Winter Quarter and it would be difficult for you to get in on the game. Plus, scholarships won't be awarded until winter quarter has already started, and you want to know all the facts before you enroll.</p>
<p>Oh, and Scholars is a great program - but their learning communities are not interest-based, but more academic-based. For instance, my friend wants to be a lawyer and is a Political Science major, so he is in the Politics, Society and Law (I think is what it's called) Scholars program. They all live in the same building (no choice like honors), 4 to a room, and take a lot of similar classes. They also have special opportunities to go to events, like my above-mentioned friend got to go speak with former Supreme Court clerks in some kind of roundtable-type event. There are also Scholars programs for Engineers, Pre-Health professions, and...other things. You can find that on the website, too.</p>
<p>Saint_Paul, I am disappointed that they don't allow people to apply for honors anymore! I realize there are many qualified students (and know this from experience), but there are also lots of qualified students who didn't have the GPA because of some kind of external situation, or didn't have the ACT scores because they were throwing up the day of the last examination. It's unfair to imply that "stats" define who you are and how you will succeed in college. It's often a good indicator, true, but not always. There are exceptions.</p>
<p>Velaen, I completely agree with you, I was disappointed to find out they removed the entire application process. It seems like they've completely eliminated any sort of route for appeal for students that are just on the border in terms of stats who don't end up automatically selected. Plus, I know a lot of people who would be qualified for the program, but have no interest or passion in the opportunities they offer, and other, marginally less qualified people who would love to have it but don't have the stats. I'm starting to feel like OSU is going too far with their jumps of selectivity.</p>
<p>Thanks for the correction on the Scholars program, though. My prospective major is actually political science, and I've heard about the learning community you're talking about (politics, society, and law or whatever it is exactly) but not specific info on what's offered. It sounds like the dorm set up with people of similar interests is really nice. I've heard in honors they TRY to do that, but it doesn't exactly work out.</p>
<p>Scholars all live in quads, so that is the only disadvantage. My good friend is actually in the PSL Scholars program, and he is really into it. If you want to be a lawyer, that is definitely the program for you.</p>
<p>I'm really looking into the Honors program but my ACT score isn't sky high and I don't have a perfect GPA. I'm afraid I'll be one of those people VelaenOscuridad spoke of (deemed not smart enough to be admitted because though my stats are good, they aren't "good enough"). I go to a tiny college prep boarding school though and I am used to small classes and working hard to get good grades, so <em>shrugs</em>.</p>
<p>Is your ACT above 29 or SAT above 1300? Are you in the top 10% of your class?</p>
<p>No one said your scores had to be sky-high or that you have to have a perfect GPA. If your stats are at the minimum I state above, you will be invited into the honors program. If not, the Scholars program is amazing too (and not as many strict requirements).</p>
<p>Velaen, I was actually looking into living in a quad -- are there any major problems with them? I was kinda hoping it would be an advantage, not a disadvantage, hah.</p>
<p>Quads are tiny and cramped - all Scholars live in them. The good thing about living in the Scholars housing is that you are with people in your major (or area, at least), and you have all these amazing opportunities. If anyone wants to know more about Scholars, just ask and I can go into detail. I believe quads are cheaper than doubles, though, so if that's an issue, I think you can live with the small space.</p>
<p>Of course, three roommates gives you a better chance of having an instant friend than just one roommate, and since the rooms are so cluttered, everyone on the floor hangs out together instead of staying holed up in their individual rooms.</p>
<p>If you aren't in the Scholars program, though, there's no need to live in a quad if you don't want to. If I were you, I would not preference it on my housing application. But of course it is your choice - if you love being really close to people and their stuff, quads are fantastic! But they definitely are worth it if you're in the Scholars program.</p>
<p>VelaenOscuridad: First of all, thank you very much for answering questions and sharing information about OSU. My D is a high school senior who's applying to OSU and is particularly interested in the Scholars Program. However, we were concerned after reading your post that all scholars program students live in quads. My daughter was worried that adjusting to three roomates, rather than one, in such a small space would be a bit too much. So she went on the OSU admissions live chat to ask about that. According to the Admissions staffer that she spoke with, not all Scholars Program students live in quads: For example, the program that she's interested in, International Affairs is housed on South campus, in a dorm that consists of double rooms. Does this sound correct to you? Apparently, some of the dorms where the other Scholars programs are housed are configured differently so that most, if not all, of the rooms are quads...? </p>
<p>Since you're a current student, there are a number of questions that I would love to ask you, but I don't want to stray from the thread topic. Thanks again for sharing.:-)</p>
<p>momonthehill, here is the website for Scholars <a href="http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/current/scholars/%5B/url%5D">http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/current/scholars/</a> If you go to the specific Scholars program that she is interested in, it has a link to the housing site and will tell you which dorms are doubles and which are quads.</p>
<p>My S was accepted into a Scholars program last year. He decided to attend another school but was very impressed with the Scholars program. We were invited to a Scholars Day, I think that it was right before the deadline to submit your app for Scholars. It was very worth while to attend and I highly recommend attending. My S went from not being very excited about any of the Scholars house (none were specific to his major) to very excited about the house where he was accepted.</p>
<p>At the Scholars day, they have meetings for the different houses and you can attend more than one. You also have to opportunity to tour the dorm of the house that you are interested in.</p>
<p>Thanks, deb922. I guess I asked my friends in the PSL and Biological Scholars program, "Geez, you guys HAVE to live in quads because you're Scholars?" and they said yes, but of course they probably didn't know about the other programs. Thank you for the correction.</p>
<p>Momonthehill - You can start a new thread or PM me about any other questions. I would be happy to answer! It may take awhile, as next week is finals week, but I would definitely get to it.</p>
<p>Deb922, thanks so much for your response. I did check out your link and was able to confirm that the residence hall where the Scholars group that D is interested in is housed consists only of double and single rooms. Glad to have that concern resolved. The Scholars Day sounds interesting, but we'll just have to wait until D receives her decision. Right now, it looks like her decision might come down to Penn State, where she was recently accepted, and OSU.</p>
<p>VelaenOscuridad, thanks again for your response. It's getting late but I'm planning to start another thread with my miscellaneous OSU questions, (campus dining, campus safety, etc.).</p>