<p>Hi guys,</p>
<p>I thought it would be good to have a place to talk about the honors supplement since, if you’re like me, you’re trying to finish up your application right about now.</p>
<p>The hardest essay for me has been the “what is your most unpopular opinion” question; what are you guys writing about for that?</p>
<p>When my daughter applied to AU, students did not apply for the Honors Program, you were accepted based on your application. Now that the program has changed, I thank you for posting that essay question - I think it is a very interesting question. However, I doubt anyone is going to post on this board what they are writing about. Applicants want their essays to stand out and if they post part of it here, someone else may choose to write about the same thing. This is your chance to show your uniqueness. Good luck.</p>
<p>After reading through the 5 prompts, I felt overwhelmed by the prospect of writing 5 more essays, so I’ve decided not to apply to the Honors program. I guess I’m not AU honors material, lol.</p>
<p>Although I was attracted by the description and approach of the interdisciplinary honors courses, this prompt in particular was the last straw for me: Write an autobiography of the letter “m.”</p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>
<p>My son already applied as part of the ED1 package. He was accepted to AU but won’t hear about the honors program until March or so. I asked him what he wrote but he couldn’t remember. The letter m essay had him pondering for awhile.</p>
<p>It looks like more essays will be required for university college application too. He was hoping he was done with the college essays for awhile.</p>
<p>Had no idea there were five essays! That is a lot. As far an autobiography of the letter M - this sounds like the essays that The University of Chicago uses for admission - quirky. My son did not apply there simply because he did not want to do the essays. However, it surely shows a school who is really interested!</p>
<p>For anyone who is curious, the 5 essay questions are posted on the AU Honors Program website. I really like these - wish I had the chance to take a shot at them when I was applying to AU back in the day!</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.american.edu/provost/honors/upload/Honors-Application-Questions.pdf[/url]”>http://www.american.edu/provost/honors/upload/Honors-Application-Questions.pdf</a></p>
<p>I have to wonder if those 5 essay topics–some of which are pretty tough as college essays go–are going to discourage a lot of people from applying for Honors. I can see many being unwilling to add that burden to the college application process when they don’t even know if they’ll be admitted to AU. </p>
<p>I also wonder how appealing the revised Honors program is–the prospect of taking four courses with the same cohort of 45 students sounds a little claustrophobic. I even wonder if students who usually grouse about having to pick from a menu of gen eds will be put off by having to take these four ultra specific classes. I’d also be wary of jumping into a new program in its first year or even second of operation–there are bound to be a lot of kinks to be worked out. I can guarantee that my D, who was accepted into the “old” Honors program, would have had zero interest in the new version, even without the five essay requirement.</p>
<p>I think MommaJ that you will find that there are students who will willingly slog through those essays, who have absolutely no idea what the old honors program looked like. And they do it because the revised program as presented is exactly what they are looking for and is a huge part of what excites them about American U. But sure, they may or may not be the same students that would have been in love with the old format whatever it was. I think the new honors program looks pretty marvelous but as always, getting in when there are only 45 spots is a whole other story.</p>
<p>Indeed the description of the courses holds enormous appeal to me. At this point, however, I feel spent from all of the essay writing (and thinking) I’ve done throughout the Fall. A few nights ago I submitted two 500 word essays for a different honors program and my head actually hurt from thinking when I was done, lol.</p>
<p>The essay prompts for the special programs are generally thought-provoking, and doing justice to them, I find, requires thinking, analysis, self-reflection, writing, editing and so on. I’ve calculated I’ve written 11 separate 500+ word essays on all different topics - reflecting on quotes of brilliant writers and poets, identifying and solving world crises, explaining and celebrating my unique familial and cultural background, inventing blah blah blah…</p>
<p>I guess I’ve reached my limits as far as introspective essay production goes.</p>
<p>Again, good luck to those of you who have the wherewithal to push on through. To my mind, you deserve extra points just for getting it done.</p>
<p>FYI: AU extended the deadline for submission of applications until January 20th.</p>
<p>Momma J said “I can see many being unwilling to add that burden to the college application process when they don’t even know if they’ll be admitted to AU” and I can certainly understand that. My D spent a huge amount of time three years ago writing scholarship essays for WashU and then got waitlisted to the school. Those scholarship essays were for nothing since she wasn’t accepted.</p>
<p>Gosh isn’t that the truth of the matter NewJerseyMom. But “if” the planets had aligned differently and say your daughter spent 10 hours writing those Wash U essays and got a 10K/year scholarship as a result, and decided to go to Wash U, that is $4,000/hour of effort. Probably the best hourly wage any of our kids will ever make in their lives. </p>
<p>It’s worth a try at least some of the time when you are able to battle off the application fatigue that MusicMusic mentioned above. Kids that can do that for every application deserve a medal. Others can only find the mojo a couple of times for the schools and programs that really speak to them the most. My point was that there will be students out there that will see American that way. I know one of them who may not get in to the school never mind honors but in any event, will have left nothing on the table. But having seen those 5 essays, and knowing how much time they took, no way would he have been willing to do this for every school.</p>