<p>I just sent in my Honors application!</p>
<p>Mhmmm…well free food is enough incentive for me to write that extra essay and be considered =)</p>
<p>i just wanna get in UMich so bad.</p>
<p>just adding my two cents:</p>
<p>I’m an honors freshman. In all honesty, I see no reason why you wouldn’t want to apply. Food and housing aside, there are many opportunities available to you that simply aren’t to other people. “lunch with honors” is tremendous and allows you to hear from experts in their fields about fascinating stuff. As for advising, there have been times when I’ve gone in to them because I’ve needed credits updated immediately or grades transfered ten minutes ago and their response is always “we’ll take care of it…” They really go out of their way to help you and I think that is one of the best perks – nothing is too unusual or unique for them. </p>
<p>As for great books, imho, it is something you need to simply live through. It really depends on your gsi (I happen to have the most militant gsi in the northern hemisphere). </p>
<p>In summary, if you can get in, DO IT!</p>
<p>i got rejected. Not sure it really matters anymore since 295=c></p>
<p>Entrance to Honors College is competitive. My daughter had a 32 ACT, one point on one subtest away from an overall 33, and a 3.8+ GPA and was not invited to apply and did not get in when she wrote an essay (but was told she could apply to get in for the Winter semester if she was still interested; she wasn’t).</p>
<p>Honors College does not guarantee you South Quad, although it gives you a pretty good shot. A substantial number are housed elsewhere, eg, in Couzens on the Hill.</p>
<p>The general opinion is that Honors classes are graded easier, but that may be a reflection of the fact that they generally have better students so a higher curve may be justifiable. Some of the honors science courses (one of which my daughter took) are really tough, regardless of how your grade may turn out.</p>
<p>This might be a dumb question…but how do taking “Honors” courses in LSA help you? Is it like in High School…taking AP/AC/IB/Honors classes so that college see you challenged yourself, but this time its for Graduate school? Do they give you a little grade boost at the end too? </p>
<p>So if you plan to find a job right after undergrad, then do Honors classes not really matter?</p>
<p>Wait…so you really do get a meal plan completely paid if you are in Honors?</p>
<p>Everything else sounds good too. Extra attention, good living places, smaller classes?</p>
<p>The classes are curved higher to account for the fact that the students in the honors classes are of a higher caliber, so that is accounted for. You should also learn more in the honors classes, and in general they are better. I can tell you in high school I didn’t notice a a big benefit from smaller classes, but in college there undoubtedly is one.</p>
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<p>Could you do well on the tests with just the SpartNotes?</p>
<p>let me address a few of these questions:
- No, the meal plan for honors is not paid for. What the previous poster meant when they said “honors food is free” was that whenever the honors program has an event (i.e. honors kickoff, lunch with honors, etc.), they will give you a free meal.<br>
-A fair amount of people don’t go all four years in honors. I know of two people who have already dropped (they couldn’t keep up with the reading). The primary reason people drop is they don’t want to have to write the honors thesis you are required to do senior year. Personally, that was one of the reasons I joined.<br>
-I wouldn’t say the reading isn’t manageable but it DEFINITELY takes time. I know earlier in the year we were getting something like 130 pages on Tuesday to be read by Thursday (and if you have a class like poli. sci. or basically any upper-level social science class, that is in addition to a whole bunch of other reading). Things have chilled out a bit now, though. I know a lot of people who have quit going to lecture and just started sparknotsing the books. I would argue against this as 60% of your grade comes from papers that you really can’t BS. Sparknotes really won’t give you the in-depth info you’ll need to write a good paper. But yeah, I know people who did fine on the midterm and just used sparknotes.
-Honors classes are smaller and usually your discussion section is taught by either a) the professor or b) one of the better GSIs. Either way, this is REALLY nice.
-Generally speaking, being able to graduate from UMich with something like “with high/highest honors” on the diploma is an attractive thing for grad schools (though you can do this without being in the honors program). As for jobs, it would really depend on where you are applying/in what field.</p>
<p>Sounds enticing. Fingers crossed!</p>
<p>As an honors student, I see nothing special about it. It’s a two year program, and you can get something called the sophomore award (or something to that extent), which is essentially just a slip of paper that says ‘Good Job’ if you get a 3.7+ for two years. Exciting, right?</p>
<p>I’m fairly certain that you can graduate from UM with honors without having to be in honors classes.</p>
<p>Regarding GreatBooks, I’m someone who NEVER reads and sparknotes everything 30 minutes before class, I’m doing fine (spectacularly well relative to most other people taking GreatBooks). HOWEVER, I bust my ass off on each essay, often seeing my deceptively diabolical GSI once, twice, and sometimes even three times to check it over before submission. That being said, your grade is still basically determined by your GSI (I think the only reason my GSI gives me good grades is that he feels sorry for my sad ass, spending so much time working on his ■■■■■■■■ essays). Whether or not you get an easy or hard GSI is totally luck based.</p>
<p>It’s not luck-based if you know the easy and hard GSIs ahead of time :P</p>
<p>Mhmm…your guys’ posts have been very helpful!</p>
<p>I think I will apply, and see what happens =P.</p>
<p>Awww man…no free meal plan? =/ hahaha. I guess that would be TOO much of an incentive, and an expensive one for them too hehe. </p>
<p>It does sound pretty attractive though. I am definitely trying to go to Graduate school or something of that caliber, so yea, graduating from the honors college definitely will help right?</p>
<p>Thanks for the insight from the current Honors College students!</p>
<p>No, you’re confused, the benefit people were talking about for grad school apps is graduating with honors, which has nothing to do with the Honors college.</p>
<p>the fact of the matter is that if you can get into honors, there is really no reason why you shouldn’t join. the admissions stats are up there with the Ivys. You’re going to be living with some VERY smart people who are likely just as motivated as you. As for graduating with honors, you can do that without being in the program.</p>
<p>Ahhh thanks for clearing that up guys.</p>
<p>I’m excited to apply =P</p>
<p>And I guess they fact that they would e-mail inviting you to apply to Honors has to mean “something” right, because a lot of my friends who have been admitted haven’t gotten one. I’m just guessing there’s a cut-off for Test Scores because we have pretty close GPAs…</p>
<p>It’s good that there’s a network of relatively smarter (in comparison with some other UM students) people that you can connect with. In fact, I met my boyfriend at Honors Kickoff, and I’m definitely glad that he actually has a brain! (Unlike some other boys I’ve met.) Also, it feels more tight-knit, which helps when you want to get help in a class. :)</p>
<p>Man, I haven’t even gotten accepted to UMich yet…</p>
<p>Well, it certainly seems like the honors program has helped other students far more than it has helped me.</p>
<p>I found the program to be completely worthless.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Most of the honors classes were decent, though some were AWFUL - I couldn’t believe the quality of some of the GSIs. In other words, honors was pretty much equivalent to regular LSA (at least for me). In fact, several normal LSA classes I’ve taken were better than the honors courses I’ve taken.</p></li>
<li><p>Student quality – pretty normal. There are still the “brights” and the “not-so-brights,” just like in the rest of the university. Of the smartest people I know in Michigan, only one is in LSA honors; the rest are in regular LSA/CoE.</p></li>
<li><p>Advising - extremely bad, depending on your advisor. If you’re assigned Eleanor Crowne (I really don’t care how this idiot’s name is spelled), request someone else; she is rude and gives awful, generic advice.</p></li>
<li><p>Community - depends on your dorm. South Quad was great! I wish I lived there freshman year. Couzens was decent, but bad compared to South Quad. The food sucks in both dorms.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>My post might come off as bitter, but I assure you I am not; I feel great about my Michigan education (though computer science has nothing to do with LSA Honors). However, I do feel that Honors is advertised as something much more than it actually is. Considering the other posts I’ve read, though, my experience might be in the minority; many of you seem satisfied, so I suppose there’s no point in <em>not</em> applying (though I never actually applied; they sent me an acceptance letter about one week after the invitation).</p>