Maybe I’m confused. USNews 2023 Graduate rankings came out last March. Afaik, undergraduate rankings come out in September with the undergrad rankings.
Did USNews release something new?
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I should also add that the professors often email the honors college when seeking research assistants. My son has already gotten a research position and that would normally be pretty hard to do as a first year but is a big advantage to him as he plans on grad school.
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Fwiw, afaik, the new “hoops” a student needed to jump through for housing was clicking on “yes” or “maybe” indicating interest on the housing web site. Contract Renewal | Purdue University Residences My daughter had no issues renewing.
Class sizes - I know the finals room assignment spreadsheet indicated 3,000+ students in Calc 2 (or one of the intro math courses) and I believe some of the large lectures had 300+ students. Recitations in the same subject are more like 20-30. Common first year technology major courses are going to be large - there’s just not a way around this with thousands of students.
Regarding the Honors College - my daughter has been quite pleased with it. HONR199 was her favorite course first semester. She was nervous about her first required 15 minute meeting with her advisor. They ended up talking for 45 minutes and she was offered an opportunity to participate in a project based on her interests/minor.
She took an honors math course with 42 students across 2 sections - I assume the “Honors” title meant it was limited to HC students. Math courses are known to be large and rigorous - one of the more challenging aspects of the school, so that was quite nice.
Fwiw, my older daughter was not in the HC and was quite happy through her four years.
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My nephew at Purdue is also a freshman and has a research position as well. That is his career goal, so very glad he was able to secure one easily. Apparently there are lots of opportunities for interested students. He is not in honors college because he did not apply, but he is a Goss Scholar.
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Same at other schools too. I see them posted at both kids colleges. If a kid wants, they’re avail - engineering or otherwise, top school or not.
But they may not be handed to you - you may need to seek and obtain.
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Can anyone provide Purdue ROTC experience? My son is interested in ROTC and like to have a feel of how everyone manage ROTC and course load.
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I’m not sure if it’s the same for all colleges, but Polytechnic just sent out an email with a link to sign up for the 2027 Parent FB group.
Did anyone receive an Honors College decision today? Reddit has several “I just got rejected from Purdue Honors College” posts from today.
I’m wondering if they changed the process yet again - it used to be a later/~February decision, but last year it went out with the EA admissions letter.
Or are they, for some reason, sending rejection letters now when acceptances were with admissions? (I see no “just got accepted” posts today). That would be quite odd.
My D23 got email today informing she is waitlisted for Honors College. “The waitlist will be held until June 15, 2023, at which time all decisions will be finalized.”
She is excited as she is very much interested in research and internships.
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She can do both, Honors or otherwise.
Good luck though.
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My D got her honors acceptance with her overall acceptance letter on the 13th. Maybe they just didn’t want to rain on the happy acceptance day thing??
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S23 admitted to FYE ~10d ago , OOS
We are mentally committed at this point because only a yay from a solid UC would shake things up (unlikely because he selected Compsci and/or applied math which are lately harder and harder to get into)
He is painfully stubborn about his choices and kept the college app process somewhat opaque to us. Purdue seems to be in his top 3, so he’s happy. After he acquainted me with the college more, we are thrilled too.
Still, I’m a little nervous about FYE not guaranteeing his first choice major (computer engineering). They advertise 97% chance of getting in but I worry about how he will do in weeder classes.
@momofboiler1, What has your experience been? What do you recommend about housing? Will applying for a Learning community help, if so, which one? He did not apply to Honors college. He probably should have, but then again, he’s a selective listener 
.
Stats in case anyone wondering:
…12 APs (two 4s, four 5s, others in progress),
…2 CC classes, 4honors all STEM
…SAT 1520 submitted
…ECs include a competitive research program at Stanford that continued into school year and paper, class vp and pres, varsity + team captain. Not a URM.
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Our experience with the transition to major was that it was very smooth. My D only knew one student who didn’t get into their first choice major and she got into her second choice, which was very similar, and had the same career outcome.
My D truly felt there were no weed out classes. I honestly would not worry about the transition to major process.
I’m a fan of living learning communities because I think it makes a large school feel smaller, and it can help new students find peers with similar interests faster. That said, it’s not a requirement and plenty of students don’t do it and find their friends through classes and clubs. Totally a personal decision.
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Are Honors rejection letters/wait lists a new thing this cycle or has that happened in years past?
Congratulations! That must be a relief. May I ask what was his GPA, class rank?
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IIRC, it was 4.3w. He had a B in AP Physics, 2 Cs in mandatory art classes that were unweighted which I think dragged his overall gpa down - casualties of online learning. His physics B was due to a near miss (89%), but his teacher offered to write his rec letter. I assume it was good because he was accepted to Purdue (and 4 others so far)
I don’t have the official number for 12th grade first sem. I expect his GPA will be quite a bit higher now he got As in all of his APs and community college classes.
Annoyingly, the UCs won’t see any of that because they only count specific 10-11 grade classes and don’t take rec letters.
I’m trying to convince him to also consider some of the small private schools like Case western that he applied RD. I think the more intimate setting helps students like him, but kids here are so rankings obsessed that it’s an uphill battle.
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It is new to me. Daughter got her HC acceptance last year along with that from the university. I heard that last year there was a 33% acceptance to the HC. I think they are trying to be more selective because this year there’s a HUGE number of CS kids in the HC, but the HC is intended to have an interdisciplinary focus. Also, many are going for the HC to get a nicer dorm or to be guaranteed housing after hearing about the past two years. Perhaps they didn’t know the housing process was revamped in hopes of having a solution to that.
Interesting about the high number of CS students. My understanding was that HC was supposed to be representative of the university at a whole so no one major was over represented. I know they target to have 10% of the incoming class for HC so maybe there is a some formula they use to project yield???
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My D21 was waitlisted for Honors (that year, notifications went out mid-February). She ultimately didn’t make it off the wait-list, but found her smaller community in the Women in Science Program (in state, bio major).
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Fwiw, my daughter is current a Freshman in CS and HC and has had challenges finding work partners for courses. She hasn’t observed a CS overload. Iirc, at parents weekend, it seemed clear they try to underweight CS/FYE vs. the campus numbers to have broad representation. They also know these majors are less likely to stick out 4 years in HC, given the HC required coursework and the more rigid requirements of STEM majors, especially FYE.
The topic of “weeder” classes is always an interesting one. Yes, 2 years of math and Physics are very challenging. They are also essential skills to success in Engineering. Some students will find they don’t have either the skill or the interest in the level of rigor required (Thermo,Fluids, etc., don’t get easier) and change majors. I suppose you can say they are “weeded out”, but the term often has the connotation that a school is trying to cut a class size down to an arbitrary number.
Engineering has the highest graduation rate and 2nd highest year 2 retention rate of the 11 schools, behind Veterinary with its 81 Freshmen. I went through the detailed analysis once and seem to recall this only dropped to 2nd or 3rd highest within a student’s original major.
Also, fwiw, my older daughter was a 3.8/1400 high school student, with B’s in (advanced) math courses being her weak point. She was B/C borderline in Purdue math, with her only C- all 4 years in DiffEq. But she got into her first choice (the competitive MechE major) and graduated on time, with a 3.3, and an Entrepreneurship certificate. Of those predicted to worry about T2M and getting through the program, she would have been above average, I imagine. (She made up for raw talent with relentless dedication and effort).
And no, I don’t remember HC decisions being split in being announced, or a waitlist process in the past. But my kids were 1) rejected and 2) accepted - there may have been a waitlist that we just didn’t experience. I think the “let’s not spoil acceptance with an HC non-admit” theory is quite possible.
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