University Honors Program

<p>I am just curious if anyone on CC is in the honors program and if yes, has your experience been positive and how?</p>

<p>I have two Ds in Honors. One is in her first year the other her third. Both are happy. What specifically do you want to know? I will ask them for their input.</p>

<p>I really am not sure what to ask haha. I come from a really small school in ohio (40 in my graduating class) and so I do not know anyone from my school who has gone in the honors program at miami so I thought id ask CC. I just would like to know how the academic difference is from honors to regular (if your Ds know at all) and just whatever insight they would like to provide.</p>

<p>D1 has been in longer than the current first year. I’ll tell you what I know. The program is somewhat different for D1 and D2 as they made considerable changes in the past two years, but some things remain the same. </p>

<p>Overall, both girls are happy. Honors classes may involve more reading and writing as they assume Honors students are faster at these tasks, but I think one of the main differences is class discussion and some topics. The classes are very small, capped at 20, I believe. The classes include engaging discussions. Students can select which Honors classes you want to take, some may be related to your major/minor some may not. (Example: from what I have been told Honors Calc is a killer unless that is your major/gifted area. So an Honors student can opt to take regular Calc if he/she decides the Honors level is not necessary for him/her.) D1 has loved her Honors classes because of the interesting professors, high level discussions, and small class size. She has only had one large non Honors class (100) in her three years at MU (a first semester science class with a small lab - 20 ish students), so class size has not been large even for non Honors classes.</p>

<p>Beginning fall semester 2009, Honor students choose a cluster topic of 3 semi related classes for first semester. Some of the classes are Honors some are not, but they consist of the same 20 Honors students in each class. My guess is that this is done to help Honors kids adjust, as they are not always entering college with “first in their class” social skills. Maybe there are other reasons for this, but I don’t know them.</p>

<p>I don’t know if this helps to answer your questions. If there is more you want to know I can ask them. I would strongly advise you to do an Honors overnight. The presentations are very informative and you can really get a feel for the place, the program, and the people. The staff and Honor student volunteers do a nice job with the overview and the prospective students have a lot of fun. Current Honor students “camp out” along with the prospectives allowing ample time for questions in a non threatening setting. It sold both of my Ds on Miami.</p>

<p>wildwood 330…what sold my son on Miami and Honors was the tour guides! They were all involved in about 100 things on campus…intramurals, special leadership activities, some special something with a professor. It was really obvious to me that there were not only a lot of things for the kids to participate in, but that they felt comfortable and ENCOURAGED to participate. My son is very bright, but he also likes to be involved in things outside the classroom…politics, sports…and it just seemed evident to him that kids at Miami did exactly that…get out and DO things! There’s just something very “secure” about the MU environment. BONUS for honors…early registration!</p>

<p>wow thank you very much for the very informative responses. I really appreciate that!</p>

<p>I think [another</a> benefit](<a href=“http://www.miami.muohio.edu/academics/honors/]another”>http://www.miami.muohio.edu/academics/honors/) of honors is that you’re guaranteed to get a room in the honors residence halls all four years if you want. Otherwise, you can participate in the [General</a> Room Selection Lottery](<a href=“http://www.hdg.muohio.edu/Housing/RoomSelection/?ShowThis=FY]General”>http://www.hdg.muohio.edu/Housing/RoomSelection/?ShowThis=FY) or go off campus after your second year.</p>

<p>I’m in the honors college. As a note to readers, the clusters now contain only two classes. Mine are Cultural Diversity and Religious Extremism, and I’m a Computer Science major.</p>

<p>My D’s experience is old, she has graduated in 2011.
However, just like OP, " come from a really small school in ohio (40 in my graduating class)", D. has also came from the small private with 33 kids in her class.
She did not mention many things about Honors, except such positives as priority registration, small Honors classes and Honors dorms (not sure if you need to be in Honors to live in Tappan and Wells though) and there is some small Merit award (D. was on full tuition Merit anyway). D. did not do many things Honors’ related, which could be because she was into too many things (which is normal and required for pre-med). Priority registration was absolutely the main thing, since D. had 2 minors, it was a real savior.</p>