<p>Gee phair, I’m glad that the Ivies, Duke, etc didn’t hear how crappy we were here! They’d feel pretty dumb themselves considering how many ASU and UA kids that they accept into post undergrad programs!</p>
<p>I kind of agree with Phair.</p>
<p>Maybe the honors program is vastly different from the regular classes, but it is hardly a secret that, for the most part, ASU is a greedy, over-crowded, party school and UA being only slightly better. Also, both of their financial aid packages bite the big one; it would have cost me–a low-income, under represented minority national merit scholar, with the AIM’s tuition wavier–much, much more money to go ASU or UA, than my current school–which is far better than both on all accounts–with an introductory sticker price of 40K.</p>
<p>Maybe it is because I was born and raised in Arizona, and heard terrible things about both schools throughout my entire life, but I certainly don’t plan on going to UA or ASU.</p>
<p>Gogallor, unless you can back anything you said up with hard proof, I highly doubt you’re not exaggerating. I’m a white kid, never made national merit, and am getting roughly $19,000 per year to go to UA bringing the total OOS cost to something like $7,000 a year, which is mostly due the cost of on campus housing.</p>
<p>So claiming that you’re a minority (which automatically boosts aid by something like 50%), a FAFSA kid, and a national merit scholar, the claim that UA wouldn’t have been free doesn’t add up.</p>
<p>BTW both gogallor and phair both go to Beloit college (it’s not hard to see what other sections you’ve posted in). Honestly I’ve never even heard of that school so I doubt they’re any better than UA or ASU.</p>
<p>EDIT: Well some quick wiki checking shows Beloit only ranked 62 on the top liberal arts (hahahaha) college list. UA’s engineering college ranked 42 last I check so you lose. And it’s a private school with <2000 total enrollment in wisconsin, so I’m not surprised they could offer bigger aid packages. Good luck finding employment afterwards though.</p>
<p>If you are really going to be so petty as to use rankings, then you should know that UA is ranked 96 out of universities.</p>
<p>Also, according to the Princeton Review, Beloit’s academics score 93/99–making it better than NYU and tied with Georgetown(both of which I got into and turned down)–where as UA’s academics score 71/99. While we’re at it, the Princeton Review also ranks UA as one of the worst schools for financial aid. </p>
<p>I deplore the whole idea behind these ranking sites, but my school appears to be much better. That is why Beloit is often called the “Yale of the Midwest”–it was founded by Yale alumni–while UA is often called “the other school in AZ”.</p>
<p>“And it’s a private school with <2000 total enrollment in Wisconsin, so I’m not surprised they could offer bigger aid packages. Good luck finding employment afterward though.”</p>
<p>Yes, because being a graduate from a highly regarded private college pales in comparison of those <em>select few</em> students chosen to attend such a prestigious diploma mill like UA, with its unforgiving 94% acceptance rate…You make it sound like getting into, and attending, a good school is such a bad thing to do.</p>
<p>And, not that it matters, Phair and I are both from Arizona and are rooming together this year.</p>
<p>I dislike arguing on the internet, because it makes all of it’s participants seem moronic. If it makes UAkid feel better, I will let them win by default: I refuse to be apart of this any longer.</p>
<p>“Deplore rankings”. Alright then, I’ll go by hard facts:</p>
<p>UA’s acceptance rate actually ranges between 80 and 85 percent. Beloit is at 70 percent. So if you’re going by the definition of prestigious meaning hard to get in to, Beloit is no where near that.</p>
<p>And just to throw more numbers out while I’m at it, Beloit only has 30% of the freshman class in the top 10% of their HS graudating class. UA is 34% in the top 10%.</p>
<p>No matter how you spin it, Beloit is no where close to being any more prestigious than UA. If anything UA is better because we have 10x more enrollment with far more academic programs and still rank well above average.</p>
<p>How do you dislike internet arguments when you knew very well that your initial comment didn’t remotely contribute to the topic (since you don’t know anything first hand about either UA or ASU) and only served to cause trouble? Look up the definition of ■■■■■■■■ and that should answer it.</p>
<p>==============================</p>
<p>Anyways, now that <em>that</em> is taken care of. This thread needs to be brought back on topic. If someone doesn’t have any <em>experience</em> (read: not opinion or secondhand knowledge) about either ASU or UA’s honors programs, then don’t post. More importantly, however, is that this thread is NOT meant to be a school bashing war between ASU and UA, much less UA and a random school half a country away.</p>
<p>From what I’ve gathered reading everything in this thread so far it seems like UA and ASU’s honors programs aren’t <em>that</em> far apart. Maybe if UA’s program had a name tied to it we’d bridge the gap a little bit more :)</p>
<p>“From what I’ve gathered reading everything in this thread so far it seems like UA and ASU’s honors programs aren’t <em>that</em> far apart.”</p>
<p>I think the first page of comments alone shows that they, in fact, <em>are</em> far apart in value. We’re not comparing UA vs. ASU. We’re comparing UA’s honors college vs. ASU’s honors college, and ASU offers more value to a student, hands down.</p>
<p>^Value in terms of the value of the honors college, I believe she means.</p>
<p>I got a sneak tour of ASU’s new Honors Campus last week. Stunning, absolutely stunning.</p>
<p>I interpreted it as value in terms of perks, which I’d probably agree ASU has more there. I’m struggling now to even see a point of an honors program since neither ASU nor UA has more than a handful of upper division honors courses. What I’d expect out of an honors program is doing more meaningful stuff beyond writing more papers in a handful of gened classes. Guess that’s why I’m pretty lazy in the honors program here; just coasting through to get a few more words on the good 'ole diploma.</p>
<p>Its the non-class perks that you get. Funding, research, school sponsored positions, priority sign up for classes, all of this is given to you ahead of ASU at large. You also get access to professors and faculty that bend over backwards for you. One of them helped me get a letter of rec from ASU’s president, another allowed me into a program that normally requires a year and a half of prelim work, etc, etc.</p>
<p>I agree that U of A as a whole is better than ASU, but Barrett’s is more prestigious. That being said, Tucson is a million times better than Phoenix. Wildcats all the way. A lot of the U of A Honors students went to University High School in Tucson, which means there is very high intellectual quality.</p>
<p>^ Ha, totally agree with Hollyb. :)</p>
<p>Also, the UA Honors College does offer many of the perks mmmcdowe mentions. I’m not familiar enough with ASU to really compare, but we have priority registration, special advising, plenty of help with all departments on campus (from financial aid to just having someone back us up), tons of research opportunities, and funding, among other things. ASU just seems to have more money behind it, which doesn’t always translate to a better education for students.</p>
<p>Tuscon vs Phoenix is a personal opinion. I think both cities are just that, cities. There’s tons to do in either. I don’t know anything about University High School in Tuscon, but Barrett draws upon huge numbers of national merit scholars. I’m not sure how many students are in your honors program, but percentage-wise I have a feeling that our NM percentage is as high as your percentage of UHS students out of those who are part of U of A’s program. I’m also willing to bet that said NM students are at par with UHS. There are, of course, plenty of great high schools in Phoenix and Tuscon. While this one seems to have a lot of awards going for it, it is just one high school. To base the academic quality of your honors program on just students of that high school is unfair to all of the other stellar students in your program, just like me saying that only the national merits count towards Barrett’s academic excellence would be. </p>
<p>As far as money goes, I agree that money doesn’t mean educational quality. The best teachers that I had at ASU were not the ones drawing in the big research dollars. Since none of us seem to have gotten a bachelors at both universities, it is ultimately impossible to judge which gives the better experience (and that would be based on the opinion of that person, which might not be true for everyone).</p>
<p>Scares me that you can’t spell Tucson correctly.<br>
And trust me, University High is not just any school. It’s a public high school that admits only the top students based solely on merit testing and grades. Approximatly 10% of students who apply are accepted. Their graduates kick a** wherever they attend. It sends great students to both U of A and ASU.
Both honors programs are excellent. Move past this. Each individual needs to figure out what best meets individual needs. Programs are different; not better or worse. Great opportunities are available at both U of A and ASU. The key is to work hard and take advantage of them. Let’s not waste our time arguing “we are better than you.” (Save that for the sports teams!)</p>
<p>I don’t think you can compare NMS students and UHS students like that. I’m a National Merit Scholar, yet I never attended University High School.</p>
<p>Anyway, Marigold is correct. I’d love to see some sort of bridge program between the schools since it seems like ASU and UA both have their perks and failures, and it would be cool if students could somehow work with the other school to get a rounded experience in honors.</p>
<p>marigold, why the hostility? I never said that this high school was any school, I said that it was just ONE school.</p>
<p>No hostility intended. I’m just frustrated because it seems good students/fans of both schools sometimes seem to be spending too much time bashing each other, to the detriment of both schools. We need to get the message out in a positive way of the strengths and characteristics of each school, and then let people make their own decisions.</p>
<p>I agree with you.</p>
<p>How’s this for a toughie… son’s Dad and I (mom) both graduated UA. Grandpa is a prof at UA. Grandma worked at UA most of her life. Cousin is a UA honors student. Son visited Barrett and is absolutely thrilled. Visit to UA coming in a few weeks. We now live much closer to ASU so that aspect makes this mom happy. But can this family of Wildcats survive a Sun Devil? :)</p>
<p>MathMom123, your son will not go wrong with Barrett. They have this new complex which is amazing. UA is a good school, but I believe Barrett is better than UA’s honor college.</p>