<p>DS rcv'd a nice scholarship but not an invite to the Honors program. He is considering petitioning to get in. We've read the website, but I still don't get a sense of whether it would be a significantly different experience for him if he is/isn't in the honors program.</p>
<p>Can someone talk to me about how his time at Tulane might be different if he were in the honors program. As a parent, I'm most fixated on the idea of honors housing (and hoping, perhaps wrongly, that there's less drinking involved). ;)</p>
<p>First off, unless something has changed like a jump in GPA or higher ACT/SAT, there’s no real chance to enter honors as a Freshman. However with a Freshman GPA of 3.6 or better he can apply to enter the program his second year. Generally the program is about more attention and opportunity. Butler, from what I’ve heard, is a bit more studious and quiet…but it’s still a dorm. I’m sure fallenchemist will weigh in, if he hasn’t already.</p>
<p>I haven’t because she asked for a student’s opinion. But I can tell you what my D, the freshman in Butler says.</p>
<p>What AVHS said, plus there is definitely less drinking in Butler. You can take honors courses without being in the HP, except maybe for the Honors Freshman Colloquium. I will need to check on that sometime. Otherwise to the extent the dorm you are in determines your friends initially (a lot generally), the experience won’t be much different, especially if the student goes in with the goal of moving into the HP by taking honors courses and making the grades (and bringing Dr. Luongo a cake for his birthday. Kidding!)</p>
<p>Certainly petition to get in if there is something new, or if you felt he was borderline based on what you pick up on here and now he has straight A’s after first semester in all AP courses (not literally, but you get the idea). All they can say is no, make the grades then apply for sophomore year. He would be no worse off.</p>
<p>Just to clarify AVHS Dad, that is a strategy I have sometimes suggested also, but there are no guarantees. I suppose technically there are no guarantees even for 2 honors students if Butler were over-requested, but the odds there are certainly higher than the other situation. I know there are any number of Honors kids that prefer the “typical” freshman dorm. Jym’s son, for example chose that route. I think the strategy is sound, and absolutely worth a try for that non-honors student that wants the Butler type atmosphere. I just wanted to be clearer than perhaps I had been in the past that it depends on the demand for Butler rooms. But then, how many things in this whole process are guaranteed, anyway?</p>
<p>Any current students that can weigh in on Wall vs. Butler vs. Sharp/Monroe in terms of quietness and partying? In other words, is a student looking for a bit of a “calmer” atmosphere more likely to find that in Wall as compared to Sharp/Monroe?</p>
<p>I’m sure you’ve read this from the web site: " Honors sections and courses are not intended to be more difficult, but they do seek to treat the subject matter in greater depth and with more sophistication than is possible in ordinary sections or courses." …and that the maximum class enrollment is 20. Also, as fallenchemist said, you don’t have to be in the honors program to take most honors courses.</p>
<p>Well, I guess more interesting is subjective, but the idea is (and I think it is largely true) is that the Honors section of a course will move a bit faster and be more discussion oriented, if it is a subject amenable to that. Plus there is likely to be a significant paper or research project involved. I think they definitely earn their grade in an Honors section course. They are capped to be smaller classes, so instead of 25-30 you will be in a class of more like 15-18.</p>
<p>Now the honors colloquia type courses I think would be very much more interesting and challenging to ones thinking. I am not just talking about the freshman colloquium course, but it is a good example. There is no course description on this, but here is what Dr. Luongo sent me in an e-mail last April:
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<p>Makes you want to go back to school, doesn’t it? Although my D says there is a TON of reading involved. There are a number of other colloquia courses offered on various topics, and here are the requirements for being in one (from the school handbook/course catalog):</p>
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<p>Any regular class can be made an honors class with permission of the instructor and some paperwork. The instructor will then require extra work of that student that demonstrates a high level grasp of the material, such as the research paper mentioned above.</p>