To parents of high-achieving, driven students...

Parents Forum
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<p>I sometimes post about one of the best programs in all of collegedom, but now that my son just graduated from the Honors Tutorial College (HTC) at Ohio University, I can say that it has been a great experience. I was amazed how many benefits the students received, although, as the article below state, much is expected in return from the students.</p>

<p>Ohio University is not usually the first college choice that comes to mind, but there are several programs there which rank in the top 10 in the country, namely Journalism/Communications and Media Arts and Studies. But any of the disciplines in the HTC provide a very concentrated plan for graduation. And one of the main benefits is that if you are qualified enough for HTC, automatic merit money kicks in for the full four years.</p>

<p>There are too many perks to the program to mention here (check out Ohio</a> University: Honors Tutorial College:Home), but there are some things to keep in mind:
[ul]
[<em>] It is crazy-selective (only accepts an average of two students or so per major per year for a total of about 60 students; they do accept a few more in Journalism and Media Studies);
[</em>] It is for a student who knows where s/he is going and is extremely self-directed and independent;
[<em>] It is for a student who wants to be in a close-knit community of scholars/thinkers/doers within the environment of a much larger university and all of the opportunities that implies;
[</em>] It is for a student who can work closely (one-on-one) with professors in a tutorial (vs classroom) environment.
[/ul]</p>

<p>The following is from a popular guide to Honors programs.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Ohio University's Honors Tutorial College is not a standard honors college; it is first and foremost a tutorial college based on the tutorial model of collaborative learning developed at Oxford and Cambridge Universities.... The level of expectation for tutorial performance is high. Successful tutorial students tend to exhibit a clear capacity for self-motivation, maturity, self-discipline, and creativity....</p>

<p>The HTC was founded in 1972 and is a full degree-granting college headed by an academic dean. The College has more than 900 alumni.... In this group are Emmy, Pulitzer, Grammy, and Clio winners.</p>

<p>Because Ohio University genuinely believes in the capacity of high-caliber students to enrich the intellectual life of the campus, it provides resources and privileges to HTC students that are not granted to other undergraduates.... The University is willing to make these investments as long as the recipients of these benefits maintain a high level of academic excellence and campus/community involvement. The quid pro quo is probably best captured by the quote "Of those to whom much is given, much is required." Consequently the College expects its students to undertake leadership roles and to contribute substantively to the cultural and academic realms of the university....</p>

<p>To assist students in making the most of their talents and in taking the greatest enjoyment out of their time as undergraduates, the HTC strives to create a close-knit community among its members. This is not to say that the College encourages exclusivity (quite the contrary), but it does provide a home base that promotes interaction between students and a homelike atmosphere in its offices, which are located in a house built in the 1930s in the center of campus. The staff members at the College take great pride in knowing each HTC student and in encouraging them to develop their interests and potential. Student of the College are highly supportive of each other and frequently form the type of friendships that extend far beyond graduation.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It is worth looking into, for the education and also for the scholarship money. It is great for my son to be graduating with no college debt. The campus is beautiful and the students there are famous for their extreme friendliness.</p>

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<p>Congrats–sounds like you & our child found a great gem and he was able to thrive where he was planted. Thanks for sharing this nugget!</p>

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<p>Digmedia - good to hear from you again! I remember when your son chose Ohio University - I’m glad it was everything you hoped (and more).</p>

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<p>fireflyschou and HImom.</p>

<p>Thanks. Yes, it was everything I hoped for and more. I sound like a broken record on this subject, but it was the perfect choice for him. Of course it’s not the right choice for everyone, but if a parent does have a kid who is bright, independently-driven who truly knows what they want and where they are going, they owe it to themselves to at least look at the program. I was extremely happy when my son fell in love with the place because - for us - it was a financial safety. He qualified - because of his ACT/SAT scores and his GPA - for the highest level of merit scholarship (automatic, btw). So, in our case, most of the tuition (out-of-state for us) was paid. The university and HTC gave him a lot of continuing financial support as well, funding a summer project, supporting his team’s capstone project with a hefty grant, paying for him to take a course at Stanford that wasn’t offered on campus, and on and on.</p>

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<p>dig. Nice to hear from you. And what a wonderful report. Congrats to the grad.</p>

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<p>Hi Cur!!! Any road trips lately…? I <em>still</em> do not have a comfy seat.</p>

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<p>Hey, Digi. Good notes. And congratulations to your S. And to you, from one POHADS to another. <glyph of=“” signet=“” ring=“” and=“” secret=“” handshake=“”></glyph></p>

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<p>dig. I rode the KLR through the Gila and the White Mountains back a couple months ago. Much fun on the dirt. :slight_smile: 490 miles in one day on a stock seat 650 single . Not so fun. :frowning: </p>

<p>Gonna be up in your neck of the woods with the nephews in August I hope.</p>

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<p>His team’s capstone project was a film that has received a lot of recognition for the school. Right this moment he is at a screening of the film in the Stanley Kramer Theater at Sunset Gower Studios. It is set up for new filmmakers to meet and greet with Hollywood professionals. The screening is followed by a Q&A and then a reception. The film has received the Best Student Film Award at the Las Vegas International Film Festival, the Young Filmmaker Award at the Appalachian Film Fest and has been an Official Selection at the Griffon Film Festival, the San Antonio Film Festival, the Columbia Film Festival in New York (only 10 films chosen), and others. </p>

<p>But the most prestigious student film event in the world is the Ivy Film Festival held at Brown University. This fest is unique in that it is student-run and the final judging is by industry directors and producers (rather than some random festival officials). There were 350 student films submitted from 125 university film schools around the world. Only 22 undergrad and 6 grad films were accepted for showing. Being an “official selection” is a fantastic honor in itself.</p>

<p>The festival included advance screenings of several new films not yet released (then), including the new Star Trek movie in an IMAX version. Industry participation in the fest included Jack Nicholson, Tom Rothman (head of Fox Fim Entertainment), Peter Bart (former editor-in-chief of Variety, both the current and former heads of Paramount Pictures, and several director/screenwriters. Sponsors of the Ivy include Paramount and Fox Searchlight.</p>

<p>Awards are given in several areas (drama, documentary, experimental, etc), but the ultimate prize is the Grand Jury award - the best film of the festival, as judged by the Hollywood professionals. He texted me in the middle of the night with the news that they had won the Best Drama Film award. I was flabbergasted and texted back my congratulations, but then he texted, “Don’t get too excited by that award. We just won the Grand Jury Prize.” I almost fainted. This was the best of the best student film competition.</p>

<p>The film was also screened two weekends ago at the Lake Placid Film Forum along with a feature-length film that was made by Ohio University undergrads: Trailerpark, from the book by best-selling author Russell Banks, He also wrote The Sweet Hereafter, which resulted in an Oscar-nominated movie. My son was the Supervisor of Special Effects on Trailerpark. It got a standing ovation at the Festival. Now it goes back for more editing and polishing before that hits the festival circuit.</p>

<p>Very exciting.</p>

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<p>Digi, congratulations to your son. How exciting.</p>

<p>And you may need a new screen name someday…I think AndTheNominationsAre is still available…</p>

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<p>Cur… I think the operative word is “single” instead of “stock seat.” I test drove the BMW 650 for only a few miles and definitely felt shaken not stirred.</p>

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<p>Dig, this is great news and the film sounds intriguing. (Yes, I googled :slight_smile: ) Please let us know if the film is ever available online to the masses.</p>

<p>Wonderful to witness such happenings for those kids who have “grown up” on this site.</p>

<p>Thanks for your contributions, particularly the info on the Ohio U Honors Tutorial, and the updates. </p>

<p>Hearty congrats to your son.</p>

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<p>Congratulations! As others have said, it’s great to hear about the “before” and “after”. Especially when it’s so overwhelmingly positive.</p>

<p>Too bad it’s probably way below DadII’s radar. Could be a financial safety for his Onio son…</p>

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<p>fireflyscout… my typing was not the best above, but you knew who I meant. :)</p>

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<p>Diggi:</p>

<p>I am so glad you’ve posted. I’ve missed your brand of humor.:slight_smile:
I remember your S taking part in various film festivals and I’m thrilled he’s done so well. There certainly are some great programs at a number of state universities that are not always on the radar of high achieving students and their families. Your S is a wonderful example of the excellent education one can get at Ohio!</p>

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<p>marite - Thanks for the thread. </p>

<p>After reading your post I spent an hour pouring over the HTC pages. That’s a learning environment my D would love… she is irritated when kids in her HS aren’t interested in learning and mock those who want to talk about the content. </p>

<p>It sounds very difficult to get into HTC, so it’s a big question mark (but what isn’t in this area?), especially since they only take 5-6 Journalism kids in HTC. She makes the minimum SATcut-off and is a great match for a tutorial learning environment, but I’m betting she’s not stellar enough on paper for admission… and not in the top 10% of her class (but likely is in her English/Writing/Reading classess). Rats. If only they would look at CR + W instead of CR + M! :slight_smile: </p>

<p>I giggled inside when I read the link called “Something Compeltely Different”, thinking of how my D loves all things Python, but assuming it wasn’t a reference to anything, but then when the document had the silly-walk image at the top… I cracked up totally!</p>

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<p>Honors offer a lot of opportunities at other public schools as well. At my D’s school qualifications for Honors were top 2% of graduating class, ACT=32, and they accepted top 200 applicants. Most kids happened to be valedictorians from private schools. They had great privileges and opportunities.</p>

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<p>Congrats Digi and kudos to your son. I know Ohio U is a great school. Know several kids who went there and are doing very well, loved the experience. A close friend of mine had her son there, and it was an excellent experience for him.</p>

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<p>1sttimemom…</p>

<p>I would not suggest it for most other majors, but the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism is a very highly rated Journalism program and is itself competitive to get into (they have rolling admissions, so early application is important). So here is what I suggest:
[ul]
[<em>] Apply to the HTC (Ohio U application plus a separate HTC portion)
[</em>] Prepare a dynamite portfolio of writing examples (hint below)
[<em>] Get some kick-ass recommendation letters (hint below)
[</em>] If not admitted to HTC, then the Scripps School is still well worth it, but the key will be to request the honors housing (more below)
[/ul]</p>

<p>My son was not in the top 10% either (just missed it, but at his school, there were 24 valedictorians (all straight-A students) and if you were not a valedictorian, then you were not in the top 10% (he got 3 B’s over the course of his HS career). But he did have a passion for what he was going for and he had a history of leadership and involvement in that passion.</p>

<p>When he made it past the first round of cut-offs and had to go for on-campus interviews for HTC, I was nervous as heck and tried to coach him on what kinds of questions he’d have to answer. He would have none of it. When he got back and I asked how tough the interviews were, he said the the interviews consisted of them trying to convince him to go there. That tells me that they had their minds made up before the interviews (at least in his case). He said that it seems like everyone had seen his portfolio DVD.</p>

<p>His portfolio was itself an expression of his talent - very professionally self-produced. It consisted of him talking and introducing each of the film segments he wanted to include. He did that all on his own, without advice from Mom and Pop (good thing) and included things that I NEVER would have advised him to include. For example, when he was about 9 years old, he did some stop-action movies with his Playmobile characters. They weren’t Oscar material, obviously, but they showed two things: First, that he had had a passion for making films for a LONG time, and Second, the films did make you laugh. He also included some film segments he did for the football team (he was the team film technician for his HS years). I think that showed that he could do projects where the goal was not so much creativity (team films are relatively boring), but to achieve with the films what the coach wanted and needed. He also included some of his more interesting later film projects, but the portfolio DVD tied all of those into a narrative “history” of his work.</p>

<p>I’m not exactly sure how to translate that into a portfolio of writing examples, but it for sure would not be a folder of separate papers and HS newspaper articles. Perhaps she could weave examples of her writings into a narrative magazine-type article about herself, with sidebar examples of excerpts of her writing, tracing her writing history and experience from early days to now. Don’t be afraid to put in stuff that now looks kind of silly. Let the portfolio trace her development as a writer. Then, use a good desktop publishing package to put it all together into an attractive readable product (eith Apple Pages for the Mac of Microsoft Publisher for the PC). NOTE: Take all of this with a grain of salt - I know nothing about writing or journalism or portfolios, but it seems to me that this would be exactly the kind of thing that - if well done - could grab some attention. Look at the layout of some of the articles in Ohio U’s student-produced magazine, Backdrop: [Vol</a>. 1 Issue 1](<a href=“http://issuu.com/backdropmag/docs/winter08]Vol”>Winter 2008 (Vol. 1 Issue 1) by Backdrop Magazine - Issuu)</p>

<p>If she can get some, make sure the recommendation letters are above the norm. Rather than ask teachers to write a letter cold, have a “cheat sheet” ready for them to remind them of some of the things your daughter has done. Pick teachers who could really be enthusiastic. Enthusiasm is very important.</p>

<p>Even without HTC, Scripps is worth considering because of its reputation. And I would HIGHLY recommend honors housing (I <em>think</em> that if she qualifies for any of the merit scholarships - see the Gateway Awards - then she could qualify for honors dorms). Then she would be with the very people that would be in HTC anyway - many are, and many aren’t, and from housing seems to be where the first friendships arise. My S was in Hoover, and their “mod” arrangement led to close friendships (eighteen people (co-ed) living together in a “mod” with three hallways (single-sex hallways) off of a common, shared area). Didn’t seem to matter whether you were HTC or not - you were a mod-mate.</p>

<p>Sorry to make this so long, but it sounds like she would really love the school if she visited. It is definitely worth a shot. (I don’t know if this is true or not, but Ohio U. needs some geographical diversity, so if you are from out-of-state, I think that gives a slight nudge in your favor. Just a guess; I don’t know for sure.)</p>

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<p>dig</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your thoughtful response. I really appreciate it. </p>

<p>I’m a firm believer that there is a school for every learner. Finding that intellectual match is so important. This has been the first school description that jumped up and grabbed me (and her when I showed it to her)… the sentence that sealed the deal was “there is no back row”… that’s so her. She’s not the valedictorian type, but she does love learning and she does have passionate interestest. The other match-y piece is that she wants to have relationships with her teachers… she wants them to know her and her to know them. </p>

<p>I will take your advice in hand. I’m looking forward to seeing how she puts her portfolio together. I think she’s planning on doing it similar to your description… layout, headlines, telling the story.</p>

<p>A major downside is that her school doesn’t have a school paper. There are ways to explore the field without that, but that would have made it so much better. I suggested that she start one, but she didn’t think she could do that as well as feed her passion for Drama.</p>

<p>Scripps does look amazing. Once of her concerns has been finding a J school which can prepare her for the changing face of Journalism… looks like Scripps can do that in spades.</p>