Recently I was admitted to both the first year Engineering program and the Honors College at Purdue. I’m looking for thoughts on the Honors College combination with engineering. Being in Honors requires maintaining a 3.5 GPA, but the required GPA for Engineering is a 3.2. Is the Honors College worth the extra stress and work? I’m paying out of state tuition with no merit.
Hi,
Don’t know if you have visited Purdue and have seen the Honors Dorm? I believe most people think that is the best perk of being in Honors. I think a lot of kids do Honors College for the first year or two for the dorm, and for the perk of earlier class scheduling.
We are weighing the same thing with my daughter, Exploratory major.
I would look at the Honors Dorm online, and in youtube videos. We visited it on an Admitted Student day, and it was nice. The older dorms looked a bit worn down, and the lounges didn’t look that great, TBH. Honors dorm is also on a great location on campus.
We spoke to several engineering graduates who did not believe it was worth the extra work required. They felt like their internships spoke louder on their resume than the honors line item. The honors college also costs a bit more. We didn’t happen to speak to anyone in honors college for engineering for the other point of view.
The dorms look great but not sure how “social” the atmosphere is for FYE? Thoughts?
@Allonsy My son wanted the honors college also with engineering. He wants to interact and also take liberal arts classes. Have you visited and toured the honors program? My son won’t be able to attend as he didn’t get scholarship money but got into the honors program
@chantalc The honors dorms are like new, less than 3 years old i think. they are much nicer than the other dorms and you live with the other honor students. It has a huge room that looks like it came out of Harry Potter. They also have honors classes on the first floor. I think the rooms looked larger than the other dorms also.
I am a current sophomore studying mechanical engineering at Purdue. I was valedictorian of my high school, very motivated, and entered the honors program at Purdue. I think that it was a very good decision to do honors. The perks are pretty nice (I was in the first class to live in the honors dorms). That said, I am not continuing the honors curriculum. The honors first year engineering courses were VERY difficult (but certainly doable). It was worth doing them because that experience was invaluable, and VERY attractive to employers. I mention my first year projects in every interview. I can still put on my resume that I am in the honors college too.
To sum up, my advice is to do honors if you can, at least for a semester. You will be able to have a good social life too. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to continue. But the experience of just one semester in honors puts you in a very good position for school and your career. The dorms are great too, and the best location on campus.