Just announced top programs for 2016. http://publicuniversityhonors.com/new-top-programs-by-category/ Clemson, Georgia now have top ratings along with S. Carolina, Schreyer, Barrett, Plan II, Kansas, etc.
LOL, no. Fake rankings are fake.
@informative You do have a point but the schools that @Uniwatcher highlighted in the original post (Georgia, Kansas, South Carolina, Penn State, etc.) are definitely great honors programs to consider.
@informative I don’t know what you mean by fake. These are not rankings in the first place, but ratings. The previous edition was mentioned very positively in the NY Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-a-prudent-college-path.html?_r=0. This is a 400 page book with more data about these programs than you can find anywhere else.
I have the previous edition. It’s terrific.
@JMS111 shoot me a message and I’ll send you a complimentary Kindle of the 2016 book when it’s available, very soon. The 2016 edition is the culmination of five years of research and dialogue with more than 100 honors deans and directors. I’d like to know your thoughts about the latest edition! @HigherEdData let me know if you have questions about a particular honors college or program.
Ratings need to be made relative to top schools yet these listings don’t have data on some top programs such as Michigan.
Thank you Uniwatcher, that is extremely kind!
Here’s my view FWIW: it is difficult and time-consuming to unearth what an honors program at an institution really looks like and how it is experienced by students. The nature and quality of an honors program depends on a number of factors, including if there is a residential component and if so how it functions; what the availability, structure, course offerings, and persistence are of “honors” classes and discussion sections; the inclusion of features like preferential registration priority; the culture and integration of the honors program within the greater university; how admission to the honors program is handled; and whether the honors program is an institutional feature that is maintained through the entire course of a student’s studies (rather than say just the first two years).
The book does as thorough examination of those sorts of things as possible with the data the author has available to him. I believe his efforts have triggered some institutions to send him data not generally available and/or data organized around the honors college that is otherwise found in different, unconnected corners that would be difficult to pull together.
Are there limitations? Sure. Is he open about them? Seems so based on my reading of his materials. He basically uses tiers instead of straight ratings, but he downplays even the tiers (noting lots of schools have strong sub ratings in areas that may be particularly important to a given student), and the value here is really in the depth of treatment. He is absolutely transparent that he does not have the resources (I.e. time - he isn’t a national magazine or Princeton Review) or in some instances the data to do a write up of all colleges every year that have honors programs. The data matters to him - thankfully. Read the page he linked above, and you’ll find transparent and substantive disclosures about why some schools are not evaluated based on available data, and that he takes on some new schools every cycle but does not purport to review them all.
There is, in my view, no resource on honors programs that is as focused and helpful as this one. Schiols can say they have an honors program, but finding out how they operate is a tough slog that the author has taken on. Like any resource, it has its limits and should be used alongside other resources, school visits, etc. But its limits are disclosed by the author and do not detract from the information that is provided about the schools that are discussed.
And I would have said every word of that without the kind Kindle offer!
@wayneandgarth Good point, and Michigan LSA and UVA Echols were in the highest rated group in the two previous editions. They are reviewed in the new edition as well, but not rated because I was unable to obtain all the data necessary for the revised, more in-depth methodology. One thing about LSA and UVA Echols: they are in universities where students are likely to attend regardless of the honors option, though Echols has some nice perks. Given the mean test scores for all students at both universities, they are practically “honors” universities as a whole, similar to UC Berkeley, where there is no university honors program. Michigan and UVA would have changed the current metrics, but mainly in the category of prestigious scholarships.
@JMS111 Thanks for the kind and thoughtful comments. You are correct that after five years of entreaties directed at honors deans and directors, they have been remarkably forthcoming, especially in providing data for the new edition.
The 2014 edition is outstanding. I am a fan of the honors college model, and the book is a one-of-a-kind gem. It provides the kind of detail that has helped in our search, providing information clearly that we use when asking questions at honors colleges as well as at private schools. Looking forward to the 2016 version.
Seconding this, times 100!
An essential resource, easy to use, which I recommend alongside Fiske Guide or other guidebooks.
I’m especially curious about NJIT’s and UHouston’s inclusion.
Can one apply directly to a uni’s honors program during their initial college application?
@MYOS1634 First of all, thanks! You are curious about Houston and NJIT, and here is the explanation: There are about 30 programs that are included in each edition. The remaining 20 rated programs (plus 10 with summary reviews) are included because I invite them or they ask to be included. In either of these cases, the programs submit detailed questionnaires, followed by spreadsheets with all kinds of course and section data. Sometimes programs do not follow through on one or the other of these requirements. Then we invite or accept other programs. In the end, we are looking for those with the most comprehensive data. Houston and NJIT certainly complied in all respects.
One of the most enjoyable things about this work is the discovery of what some might consider to be hidden gems. Honors colleges, especially, are created to concentrate excellence within universities that may not have high US News Rankings. Honors programs are generally older and are often a part of higher profile publics (Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Washington, UT Austin, UVA, UC Irvine). While we identify top programs as a group in each edition, we do not claim that the data set in each edition includes all “top” programs and colleges in the nation. As the 2016 book shows, there are always such programs out there deserving of recognition.
@insanedreamer Most honors colleges and programs have earlier application deadlines, partly because those approximate many scholarship application deadlines. We list deadlines for 80 programs on our site, but you should also go to the school site to verify these and find out if there is an essay requirement. http://publicuniversityhonors.com/2014/10/07/fall-2016-honors-application-deadlines-for-80-public-universities/
Where do you find the book for purchase @Uniwatcher? Is it on Amazon? Thanks!
Yes, the Kindle is out, print version in a couple of weeks.http://publicuniversityhonors.com/yes-we-have-a-book/ Thanks for your interest!
Do you know what pricing will be like for the print version? I’m thinking of purchasing one for my kids’ schools if they don’t have one already.
@pittsburghscribe The same link has info about that. http://publicuniversityhonors.com/yes-we-have-a-book/
Neither UA nor Ok U, both of which are pretty popular on CC and among nmsf, made the top 10 list.
I have the 2014 version as well, definitely more steak than sizzle and well worth the purchase. It’s unique.