<p>Son is a freshman, not in Honors Program but thinking of applying next semester. I am wondering is it logistically even possible to meet the required 30 Honors credits (10 honors courses in 7 semesters)? I am asking because my son could not even get into ENGR 111 in the Fall semester as the sections were closed. so how hard will it be to get his courses (ENGR 111 & 112) and also get into some Honors course next semester?</p>
<p>I did notice that the Honors Program website says, "Continuing students are Honors-eligible if they earn a cumulative GPR of 3.5 or better. Continuing Honors-eligible students may register for Honors courses during their regularly scheduled registration time." Does this mean no priority in registration, but he can register for Honors courses during regularly scheduled registration next semester?</p>
<p>The 30 honors credits are not difficult - my student has taken 7 courses in 3 semesters. He is not going for University Honors, but is in his department honors program which also has requirements. He could not get one of the courses he wanted in honors this semester, eventhough he has early sign up privledges ( so do all the honors program students ).</p>
<p>The ‘honors-eligible’ means that you can take honors courses (without being admitted to the University Honors Program) if you meet the criteria of 3.5 GPR. So if you want to sign up you can, you just do so at your regular sign up time. I believe University Honors is competitive like the departmental honors are, so not everyone qualifies to be in the program -this would be the alternate route for your student to take honors courses. On a side note, the honors programs are more than just courses they have other requirements/opportunities so someone who does not want to add that to their workload may opt for just taking honors courses using the honors eligible method.</p>
<p>Thanks AGmomx2. I think he is interested in additional opportunities more than honors courses per se. With mid terms behind him, he is beginning to feel a little more confident in his abilities to tackle college courses and wondering what to do with his spare time. he is already on track to graduate with 154 credits, (4 less than the max. allowed?) so I do not think the university will allow him to take additional courses to challenge himself. so he is looking to do other exciting things in his free time. However, I don’t know how much being honors eligible will help him get into the course schedule he needs next semester.</p>
<p>Regarding units, have your son check with an advisor - they sometimes advise you not to accept all your transfer units. We’re OOS, but there is a monetary kickback with a unit limit for instate students upon graduation. Unlike when I went to school, more units are not necessarily better these days.</p>
<p>Have your son look into some other activities - mine have volunteered, joined organizations & clubs, part-time work or internships & participated in intermurals with their free time. There are lots of opportunities out there.</p>
<p>I believe he surrendered / declined 19 credits from AP courses. He declined AP credit for any courses that were not in his curriculum. In addition, he declined credit for some courses that were in his curriculum but would prevent him from taking 30 credits each year in soph., junior and senior years to keep his scholarships. So it is not just an instate vs out of state issue. </p>
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<p>We are doing this work on our own because his advisor basically told him, that meeting scholarship requirements has to do with Financial Aid and not a consideration for an advisor. This is one of the reasons son wants to be in the Honors Program, so he can have an advisor that handles students who are on scholarships and have these type of issues. So he can navigate the university graduation requirement minefield without losing his scholarships.</p>
<p>I guess I didn’t convey that correctly, OOS are not eligible for the graduation kickback money - only instate students. Regarding your son’s advisor, so sorry to hear your dilemma. I agree ( having one in honors, one not) the difference in advising/help is evident. My non-honors student has managed to not use their assigned advisor all the time which has helped getting a second opinion on some items.</p>
<p>I am sorry, yes you are absolutely right, I believe in-state students get $1,000 kick back for not exceeding the curriculum. So, you are absolutely correct.</p>
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<p>I think son could probably survive the instate $1,000 loss, but losing a full tuition scholarship on some procedural technicality would be hard. So, we were wondering if the Honors Program would be a good way to go.</p>
<p>I totally missed this point. Are you saying that being in a departmental Honors Program gets one early sign up privileges? Do the early sign up privileges allow one to register for any courses or just those offered by the department? I am asking because my son is also in his department Honors Program.</p>
<p>That is welcome news. So hopefully he will have a shot at getting into the two ENGR courses as well as the calculus II and physics II that he needs to keep up with the engineering curriculum. Again, thank you for your help.</p>
<p>perraziman, I followed your story last year and was so hoping things would turn out for your S. Sounds like he landed well. That’s great.</p>
<p>It looks to me like the honors program at TAMU can only be entered in the fall so if S applies it can’t be for next semester, but for next fall. But maybe I am not reading correctly. Sounds like at least he’ll get that scheduling priority anyway. That’s a great perk to have, makes life so much easier.</p>
<p>S is happy and settling into college life nicely. So far, he is also doing well in his courses, lowest grade in the midterms, that included Engineering Calculus and Physics was a 97. If he can keep up this pace, I think he will be fine and the admissions staff will be vindicated for bringing him onboard. :)</p>
<p>I think you are right, he has to apply at the end of the Fall semester and if he is accepted he starts in the Honors Program next year.</p>
<p>I have to say at the university level, A&M mostly surprises on the upside when it comes to Admissions, Financial Aid/ Scholarship and Housing etc. It is providing s with a great educational experience. S is thoroughly enjoying his courses and really appreciates his professors. </p>
<p>At the department level, engineering is crowded. The engineering school seems to be growing rapidly and might be having some growing pains. For example, getting into core classes such as ENGR 111 was not possible even though S is not taking a lot of courses this semester. Also, advisors seem to have little time to help, perhaps because there are too many students. This can be a problem for students with huge scholarships that need to follow strict scholarship guidelines when selecting courses. I suspect things will get better as some students decide engineering is not for them by next year.</p>
<p>I will be applying for TAMU come Jan 1st. I hope not only to get in to the Liberal Arts school (history major, hopefully double), but to get in to the Honors Program.</p>
<p>Pretty sure Franko is a transfer from previous posts - their dates are different. BUT given the change in the regular freshman application deadline this year awfully nice of you to give him a heads up.</p>
<p>I am a transfer, but I was told it was Jan 1st by my TAMU transfer advisor. I’ll check with him again to verify, I would NOT want to miss out & be left out. I’ve put way too much work into this.
Are you referring to the Honors program, or transferring itself? How can I apply for the Honors program if I haven’t been accepted into TAMU yet? Can you provide a link for me please if you don’t mind? Sorry, but I don’t want to mess my application up.</p>
Yes, departmental honors does reward you with early sign up times. This begins second semester freshman year (first semester you have to go to NSC, no advantage). You sign up for your entire schedule, any courses you select. [Registering</a> for Honors](<a href=“