Just came back from Purdue’s course registration and have more to share about their honors college. My daughter is in engineering so some of this may be specific for engineers but we were super impressed and met kids from all different types of majors. There were a number of honors college specific sessions through the day, most with only 18-20 students in attendance. We learned that aside from the residence component (in a gorgeous space), HC students have priority scheduling, have multiple faculty advisors, have in residence tutoring and staff support, have honors sections of certain classes, have upperclassmen peer mentors, have honors specific study abroad opportunities, and honors specific research.
Univ of Florida- Kids accepted into the honors college get a tuition waiver, live in honors dorms, are able to do study abroad much more easily than kids who aren’t in the honors college. It’s a big school that’s know for it’s crazy amount of spirit.Has a fair amount of oos students.
Univ of Central Florida-Their honors college is wonderful and is know for great honors specific classes with the largest class-size being 20 kids in them. There are also honors dorms and there are many ways to do research and study abroad. It is one of the largest schools in the country (68,000+ kids this year) and the school has strong spirit. It isn’t much of a party school either while UF definitely has a bigger party scene. Has a fair amount of oos students.
Some schools have honors programs while others have honors colleges. In FL, I would put UF in the Program category while UCF is in the actual Honors College category. It’s a far more developed program than UF. Part of that is likely to due to overall admissions to UF is much more difficult so they are already getting a stronger student. Their program appears to be a way to get the stronger students more involved with campus right away. They are developing it into a more meaningful experience.
Regarding my post #15 and the University of Washington research grants.
Johns Hopkins is the top school for receiving research money.
The list that I was trying to recall noted that the University of Washington was #1 for receiving the most federal research grants of any public university in 2017. The Univ. of Washington was #2 overall when adding in private schools as Johns Hopkins is #1. (Univ. of Michigan was right behind the University of Washington for federal research dollars received.
UF honors program is excellent but it was not quite what we thought it would be going into the admitted students days.
And I am not criticizing it’s the best shcool in FL. And I am not saying they are wrong in their approach. Just we were surprised what it was and what it wasn’t when we explored this before decision day. It’s not based on profile strength or even academic rigor. It’s chosen based on a supplemental essay that is written after admission. This year I think they also extended it to a very small number of students purely based on sat and act. I believe it was 1550 or 35. The rest of spots are chosen via the essay. And the essay is evaluated by students in a freshmen and sophomore writing class of some sort. Perhaps honors but I do not remember exactly.
It chooses great kids don’t get me wrong. They already got into UF which is no easy task these days. But it’s not the pure academic laser beam and cohort in other honors programs. And you can also apply after freshman year. We just thought dd would get all honors classes and more academic focus. Not community building although that’s a good idea as well.
The dorm is a bit further away than some of the others I recall. But could be wrong on this point But it does give priority class registration which is fantastic. And they have events etc.
UCF and FSU have more fully formed versions and it’s a bit of big deal at those schools.
“The list that I was trying to recall noted that the University of Washington was #1 for receiving the most federal research grants of any public university in 2017. The Univ. of Washington was #2 overall when adding in private schools as Johns Hopkins is #1. (Univ. of Michigan was right behind the University of Washington for federal research dollars received.”
Cite your source please.
Here’s mine:
https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/profiles/site?method=rankingBySource&ds=herd
Washington seems to be dropping, not rising, in total r&d $$ rankings.
^ Yes the admissions into UF honors is a bit odd but that wasn’t my point. The program itself is not nearly as comprehensive as other Honors Colleges. Kids get a nice dorm and preferred access to class registration. They also get some specific Honors classes (versions of regular but limited to 25 students vs the large lecture halls or online classes) but that is very limited. They do have some programming / events. Many have told us that a lot of kids drop out of the program by junior yr because they are more focused on their major and don’t see the benefits. It’s a tool to make the very large UF campus seem smaller for the top students and to get them engaged. The feeling is most of these kids would prefer to be in smaller, more intellectual setting so they are trying to create that within a very large student body. They would be wise to make admission far more metric based to ensure they are capturing the right kids in the program.
Not my battle but it was quoted in the earlier uw vs um thread of a few months ago. @rjkofnovi
So far as I can determine, Washington has never led Michigan in r&d $$$.
https://ncsesdata.nsf.gov/profiles/site?method=rankingBySource&ds=herd
FEDERAL research dollars.
Google" The 20 universities getting the most money from the federal government." It is an April 6, 2017 article.
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JHU $2.0 Billion 2015 Federal research grants
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University of Washington $960.6 million 2015 federal research grant
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University of Michigan $756.1 million 2015 federal research grant
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Stanford University $679.6 million 2015 federal research grant
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University of Pennsylvania $617.5
Another article to google: “UW ranks 1st among Public Schools and 2nd overall for Federal R&D Funding”
The article states: “Year after year the same schools consistently receive the most money…and this holds true for UW which has ranked first among public schools since 1974.”
This article then shows a chart for 2012 which lists the top ten schools that received federal r&d money.
We may want to steer this conversation away from R&D funding, toward a discussion on strong psychology, anthropology, sociology, etc., programs. 
@Gator88NE: Great point, but OP specifically asked for information on great large public schools with honors programs/colleges–all of which are likely to offer the majors stated in your post #51 above.
It is important to know the research universities with the most significant funding for R&D–regardless of whether the source of funds is from the federal government or private industry or other interests as this is a sign of cutting edge academic research activities from which OP’s student can benefit-- as an example,possibly by assisting in research & getting credit when results are published.
Two of the most valuable posts in this helpful & insightful thread are :
Post #19 by @Notknot77098 &
Post #45 by @rjkofnovi.
Both posts direct readers to a wealth of valuable information.
P.S. @Gator88NE: Plus, post #19 makes the University Of Florida look like an amazing option for smart applicants to consider.
Also re: U of Utah
There are honors tracks in psych and soci, for Honors College students only:
https://psych.utah.edu/undergraduate/honors/index.php
https://soc.utah.edu/undergraduate/sociology-honors-track-with-the-honors-college.php
And Utah allows student to establish residency and pay in-state rates after the first year
I’m surprised no one has mentioned UCONN. And University of Kentucky has an honors program and is actively recruiting OOS students, so you might find yourself with quite a bit of merit money!
This was the original statement where I directed my initial response:
“ UDub gets more research money than any other university in the nation & has done so for a lengthy period of time save for a one year exception.”
Publisher added the word, “federal” funding to the equation afterwards; which I missed.
The large southern state schools have MOST of what she is looking for, except most are very Greek. As a result of that, there are a lot of Greek parties with a lot of drinking. And not being in the Greek system doesn’t exclude you, but on several of those campuses, you will be in the minority and unfortunately, on some you will be treated differently. JMO.It’s not that way at all of them, but certainly on some of them.
Agree with @janjmom UConn has a great honors program. Great state uni overall really.
I know several kids who are very happy in the honors college at Rutgers or who have been well-launched from there. No idea how it stacks up against the others.
As for federal research dollars, the lion’s share of this is for medical research. Some for defense-related engineering. Some are huge, multi-year single grants while others are smaller, one year grants. Some require that a portion be paid to other institutions (or even corporations!) for their work on the project. It might be relevant to what you are pursuing. Or not. Certainly questions worth asking, but but the number alone reveals very little.
My D really liked the Scholars program at Ohio State. https://honors-scholars.osu.edu/scholars
Gave her some smaller designated courses, 17 communities to choose from and only had to commit to a year. She added Honors later and was able to have the best of both. Her roommates since have almost always been other scholars from the same program. Studious, smart and driven.