<p>Gees, my son's state uni has an Honors College, he qualifies, no separate application, he got no money from them :-( , and it is a very different program than most. Non-honors kids can take honors courses (if qualified) and honors kids don't have to take a single honors course. He will get a chance to live in honors housing but not guaranteed and have an honors advisor.
I begged him to apply to another state uni that has a more traditional honors college and heavily endowed, hoping he would get nearly a free ride but he refused to even apply there for no real reason other than he had a bad feeling about it. Had I known he wouldn't get any $$ from his honors college I would have been even more persistent about it. I am grateful that at least he got a couple of thousand a year from the engineering school.
His stats are fairly decent (4.1, 1420) and I really thought he would be offered a lot more. So much for academics. Bet the athletes got plenty more. The free rides for them seem to be much more plentiful.</p>
<p>"Among the students enrolled from high school, the average SAT was 1275 and ACT was 28. The average high school GPA (unweighted) was 3.88. UA continues to be the school of choice for Arizona's best and brightest high school students. 10 of 20 prestigious Flinn scholars chose UA (continuing a 15-year tradition); and 76 National Merit Scholars enrolled at UA as well. Seventy-seven percent of Honors freshmen are Arizona residents." </p>
<p>HMMM...D was accepted at Cornell and Dartmouth. My DW and I have a difference of opinion on this and I am beginning to second guess my own. </p>
<p>D wants to go to Arizona because she gets a free ride, it's warm, she likes the hispanic culture, and it has a good astronomy program. I agree with her but have to admit that a big reason is the free ride. DW says that she should look hard at Dartmouth and Cornell even if she and we have to take out loans big time. We could only scrape up about $10K a year in cash to help out. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Your D seems to have an excellent perspective and is choosing a school based on legitimate fit. What is a DM?</p>
<p>"Your D seems to have an excellent perspective and is choosing a school based on legitimate fit. What is a DM?"</p>
<p>Thanks...</p>
<p>A "DW" is "dear wife".</p>
<p>Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University -</p>
<p>The Barrett Honors College is featured in the Reader's Digest "Best in America" publication in print this week and online at <a href="http://www.rd.com%5B/url%5D">www.rd.com</a>. This is very exciting news! Please visit the site, click on "Arizona" and read about our college! For more information about the award please also visit the ASU website at <a href="http://asu.edu%5B/url%5D">http://asu.edu</a> .</p>
<p>National Merit Finalist Scholarship
National Achievement Finalist Scholarship
National Hispanic Finalist Scholarship </p>
<p>Residents:
$12,500 annual award renewable for three additional years provided you satisfy Renewal Criteria.
$50,000 total four-year value.
Nonresidents:
$21,500 annual award renewable for three additional years provided you satisfy Renewal Criteria.
$86,000 total four-year value.
If you are sponsored by a corporation, corporate sponsored funds are already included in the total award offered by ASU. </p>
<p><a href="http://honors.asu.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://honors.asu.edu/</a>
search for - Entering Freshmen Scholarships</p>
<p>See my detailed visit report on University of Maryland Honors program, Gemstone and Honors Humanities on the following thread:</p>
<p>Great merit aid - about 200 kids get free ride, there are also departmental scholarships and other awards for full or partial tuition.</p>
<p>As I said on the other post, I was very pleasantly surprised by Maryland, the programs, and the students. It has come a long way in the last 30 years.</p>
<p>This thread is really great! i am a hs senior who has been accepted to duke, georgetown and johns hopkins but due to financial reasons will probably attend u of maryland college park on a full scholarship....anbody know anything about their honors program aside from the avg gpa and sat scores?</p>
<p>Mine Is Different, read the link to the very detailed review that yulsie has posted today! :D</p>
<p>One thing also that hasn't been mentioned too much yet is the advantage that honors colleges have over so called 'elite' schools in the areas of science and engineering... namely big research universities vs. smaller schools.</p>
<p>This whole concept of some schools being more 'elite' than others is just utter and complete rubbish. An Engineering degree from Penn State is far more prestigious that similar studies at Harvard (which dosen't really even have proper engineering degrees)... but of course studying some sort of artsy fartsy liberal arts subject (yes I just said that ;-) ) is probably better at Harvard in this case. </p>
<p>Please note: I have the utmost respect for those subjects... I'm just saying if your going to college to study liberal arts or buisness just know that you will be busted on a bit by the science and engineering majors... that's just the way it is. </p>
<p>Anyway, my point is that most of the smaller private schools that are super expensive don't have anywhere near the amount of resources for teaching science and engineering courses compared with larger research universities with honors colleges. The slogan of 'small private school environment with the resources of a major research university' is very much true for some of these honors colleges (PSU's Schreyer Honors College is an excellent example). </p>
<p>As a few other posters have already mentioned, top honors collegs, such as the one at Penn State, boast acceptance stats that can stand up to basically any other school in the country and their graduates go onto the best grad schools in the world and in some cases with some of the most prestigious scholarships period (Marshall, NSF, NIH, Rhodes, ect.). </p>
<p>In the real world, having an 'elite' school name on your CV "MIGHT" help you get an interview (perhaps if an alumn is on the interview board), but your own experiences and achievements are what will get you the job. I have no doubt that some of these top honors programs will provide a motivated undergraduate with the best education possibile... and hey you might save $70,000 too! ;-)</p>
<p>yuiop, watch the "artsy-fartsy" labels - it isn't PC on CC. </p>
<p>However, to be fair - when I was spray-painting the stage today for the HS musical with a bug sprayer, the tech director's husband, an engineer, wandered in just as the pesky device stopped spraying. He took it apart, found and cleaned a clogged filter, and viola! Perfect pointillist art again. Evidence that an engineer can be just the thing when you need them.</p>
<p>Ha, yeah sorry I know it's not totally PC... but if we get yelled at for being nerds then we can call names too ;-).</p>
<p>On a side note... even though I am a scientist I was in my high school musical all four years and played in the band and orchestra and was in the choir too ;-).</p>
<p>Anyway, on this forum topic... I think these honors college are an excellent addition to choices one has for higher education and I'm glad to see that CC has featured the forum topic!</p>
<p>My D is at UofA in the Honors College. She has a full tuition waiver (in and out of state) and has been in the honors dorms for the past 2 years. She loves it there. The advantage of registering for classes before everyone except seniors is something that isn't talked about much but it is a big advantage at a state school. Because of this and AP credit she could graduate a yr early. But she doesn't want to because she is having to much fun. </p>
<p>jvd if your D's major is astronomy than I don't think those other colleges astronomy programs rank as high. Mt Lemmon has some of the best telescopes in the world and the UofA runs most of them. Look at each schools programs-- UofA's business college Eller is rank 12th in the nation.
Save your money for the master's degree that is what really opens doors.</p>
<p>A good friend's D went to William and Mary last yr on scholarship hated it. Found everyone talking about themselves and their SAT scores. Came home for the summer and enrolled in the local college and is much happier.</p>
<p>Each school has it's pro and cons--- Your D needs to go where she wants, if she isn't going to happy there she won't stay and graduate. My husband is an Air Force Academy grad. He went to school with more people whose parents wanted them there and those were the people who left. </p>
<p>Also if your D does go to UofA have her go to "Bear Down Camp". It really makes a difference for kids that are out of state. They also have mini sessions on managing money, doing laundry, staying ahead, where to go for any kind of problem, how to find a ride (bus, CAT trans), and all the clubs and sports. Plus traditions of the school like the phrase "BEAR DOWN" and tips on some of the best classes.</p>
<p>Thanks afa81. All things look like a go to UofA . D is in Baja Mexico right now on a 2 week outdoor leadership/ecology/kayak trip. She is already sunburned and loving the heat! Ugh...I like it cool. </p>
<p>D did visit the honors dorm and loved it. Can't remember which one it was but she already put in a request for it.</p>
<p>I'll mention the Bear Down camp.</p>
<p>Schreyer Honors College is listed as the best honors college in the "America's 100 Best" May issue of Reader's Digest. (Go figure, it's the first time I've ever bought one.)
"Other top pick": Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College at the University of Mississippi and the Barrett Honors College at Arizona State, in that listing order.
No one has mentioned U Miss on this thread....</p>
<p>Maybe not on this thread, if not it was simply an oversight by me. The SMBHC at Ole Miss is a fantastic program I have posted about many times as D really likes it (and no other college vaguely resembling Ole Miss). The Dean there is a wonderful fella and has energy in abundance and is definitely a motivated individual. The campus is lovely, the Honors facilities compact and cohesive, and the reception you get cannot be topped. Anywhere. If D decides that a flagship is where she needs to be, Ole Miss is probably it. Are there issues? Yes. Merit aid doesn't seem to be flowing like water and the prevalence of Greeks in the student body at large may be wearing after a while , but Oxford is a wonderful town and the HC kids seem to have the run of the place-register with the Ballplayers and cheerleaders, separate and close-in dorm floors. Attentive profs. 24 hr honors lab access, etc. 1380 average SAT. Could be a fun and rewarding four years for the right kid.</p>
<p>Does anybody have any experience with the University Honors College at Pitt? The people there were very welcoming and quick to respond to questions and problems. How are the honors classes in terms of size and content? Is the BPhil offered with completion of a thesis valuable in graduate school admissions?</p>
<p>Big article today in the education section of the NY Times on State U's....they use ARizona as an example......haven't read it yet so not sure if they talk about Honors or not.</p>
<p>I read the article in NYT. It was very depressing concerning the general ed program at Arizona; huge, impersonal classes, poor to non-existent advising. After 6 years, only 55% of entering freshman graduate. They don't mention the honors program.
I have a friend whose daughter is a freshman at Pitt in the honors program. The application process is nowhere near as demanding as PSU's Schreyer College. In fact, I think she was just invited to join when she applied to the school. There was no separate application, so it may not weed out the people who are not dedicated. She has been happy with the honor's dorms and likes her roommate a lot.</p>
<p>Arizona is required by the state legislature to admit Arizona applicants who graduate in the top 25% (top 50% are admitted conditionally) of their hs class. We have a huge number of poorly prepared hs students in the state and a certain number of those students are in the auto admit category and choose to attend one of the state unis (U of A, ASU, NAU, ASU West). These students are not prepared for the rigors university and promptly flunk out, hence the horrible figure cited by mkl. The universities would like to change to a tiered uni system a la the UC's and CSUs but the legislature doesn't want to pay the transition expense. The honors college is a great way to attract and retain top students.</p>
<p>The article did mention something about a move to change the admissions process. Two of the kids interviewed were clearly not ready to take on the responsibilities of college, as freshmen, although both of them had either graduated or were on track to graduate.</p>