Swat Honors program

<p>can anyone tell me how many people are in the honors program? how hard is it to get into this program?</p>

<p>About 30% of Swatties do Honors---it's a selective program to get in, I believe you have to be approved (have a good enough GPA).</p>

<p><a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/ir/Degrees.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.swarthmore.edu/Documents/administration/ir/Degrees.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>At Swarthmore you apply to Major in a Department (or Honors major) by writing a Sophmore Paper with the assistance of a faculty advisor in that department. The paper outlines your plans for the final two years at Swarthmore. What courses you plan to take, whether you plan to study abroad, and how that fits, etc.</p>

<p>If you look at any academic department on the Swat website, the department will outline the requirements for the regular Major (called "in Course") or Honors Major in the department. It's usually under "Academic Program".</p>

<p>The difference between the two majors varies from department to department. The competitiveness of being accepted as an honors major may vary, too. Generally speaking, it requires a "B" or better (or a "B" average) in the courses already taken in that department. In most departments, it's no big deal. Most students who want to do the Honors track are accepted to do the Honors track. </p>

<p>To a large extent, the decision depends on what courses you want to take during your final two years at Swarthmore, how interested you are in the Honors seminars in your particular department, and how eager you are go thru the outside examination process at the end of your senior year. The Honors students do not include all of the really top students at Swarthmore.</p>

<p>My son was an Honors major at Swat and he happens to be home now on break from grad school, so I just asked him this question. In his experience, it would take a solid B+ average within many of the departments to be accepted into the Honors program. It is competitive. He thinks that for some of the less "populated" departments that closer to a "B" average might suffice to be accepted into the program. His opinion is that most of the "top" students at Swat are in the Honors Program, but not all. About 1/3 of each class goes through the Honors Program.</p>

<p>The Honors Program does tend to have a higher percentage of the "top students"--in part because it's a wonderful preparation for grad school, so those planning to go the PhD/academia route are more likely to choose it, and those people are more academically oriented. </p>

<p>However, Honors isn't right for everyone--some people just don't like doing seminars, or want to study abroad for an entire year, or change majors at the last minute...it's not like Latin Honors at other schools, where Honors = top students.</p>

<p>i'm a bit confused.
from what interestedad says, it sounds like in your two year outline you can chose to spend a year abroad. but from etselec's post, it sounds like you can't study abroad AND do the honors program. is it that you can only do a semester abroad if you chose the honors program?</p>

<p>momof3sons -did your son enjoy the program? ever regret not having bigger classes?</p>

<p>vesperlynd,
My S says that you absolutely can study abroad for a semester and participate in the Honors Program. Spending a full year abroad would be much more difficult and require special permission. He loved the program and loved smaller classes. He thinks that larger classes are never good. ;) I might also add that he has told me that the Honors Seminars at Swat were better than the seminars he's already taken in grad school. (Top 5, very well known University) Reason? Smarter people, better discussions. The Honors Program at Swat was a major attraction in his decision to apply ED.</p>

<p>thank you momof3 and son.
the more i learn about the college, the more i regret not having applied there ED...</p>

<p>Indeed. I should have clarified--it is possible for some Honors students to study abroad for a whole year, with department cooperation, an approved program and some good advance planning. But that's a lot of ifs. </p>

<p>Best of luck with your application!</p>

<p>Studying abroad for a semester should not be a problem for any Honors student -- although options for study abroad for science and engineering majors are always limited to some degree. </p>

<p>Here's the issue. You have to have four honors preparations. A "preparation" is usually a two credit seminar or two credit senior thesis. This means that you have to average one per semester, including your study abroad semester. So you either have to double up on honors seminars when you are back from study abroad or do a study abroad that you can convince you department should qualify as a two-credit honors preparation. This can be done, but don't expect the Econ Department to give you honors credit for a Euro-vacation style gut study abroad program in Rome. This all gets hashed out in the Sophmore paper process.</p>

<p>This can work both ways. My daugher did a **Cities of the 21st Century **Study abroad where she travelled to New York, Buenos Aires, Beijing, Shanghai, and Bangalore, doing a month each in homestays in the foreign cites, taking four courses on urban issues that roughly corresponded to econ, poli sci, sociology, and environemental studies. The courses were rigorous and included a lot of field study, studying massive cities in a way that would not have been possible at Swarthmore. Her department gave her credit for all four courses, so she was pretty much done with her major after fall of junior year, except for her two semester senior thesis. </p>

<p>I think the Swarthmore honors seminars are consistently at or above the quality of the best PhD programs in the country. It is very common for Swatties to find grad school a piece of cake after Swarthmore seminars (well, other than the indentured servitude part of grad school).</p>