<p>Hello, I just found out today I was accepted to the UW Honors Program. I was wondering if anyone could provide a little insight about Honors courses. I've heard so many different things that I don't know what to believe anymore. I've heard from some that they are so hard they'll bring you to tears. But I've also heard that they aren't any harder than regular UW classes and that they are the same class just with a much smaller class size. Can anyone clarify for me please? Thank you!</p>
<p>Never realized how long this became … hopefully it helps!</p>
<p>Hey,</p>
<p>I was in the Honors program (University Honors) as an incoming freshman and recently dropped out (no time to take Honors classes to graduate in 4 years).</p>
<p>Okay, want to hear the scary part? Some classes WILL bring you to tears. It depends on you as a student, really. The math and lab sciences (chem, bio, physics) are the more rigorous courses. The Honors Chem series is notorious for destroying GPAs and shattering students’ confidence in themselves, especially pre-med students. Does this mean you shouldn’t take any of these? No. It just means you have to stay on top of it and maybe not take the classes if you have not had a good, solid foundation in the topics. You’ll be with people who got the top AP/IB scores in those courses and understand that they’ll be (maybe) giving up their social life for a class (the horror!).</p>
<p>Now, let’s look at the humanities and writing classes. I’m a computer science major and to put it simply, these were huge GPA boosters for me. Go to class, contribute in discussion, turn in your homework, show up to midterm and final and do okay (if you’re lucky to even have one!), don’t light things on fire, and you’ll get a slightly inflated GPA in the class. The topics change quarter to quarter and you’ll find some very interesting. I actually found these classes to have a lot of … “busy work” but easy homework (ie. do this worksheet! bring to class in 2 days!).</p>
<p>I don’t find the classes to be the “same” as general UW classes. For maths/lab sciences, sure it’s pretty much the same material, but you go at a faster pace and more in depth. You have a lot smaller class (think 30 as opposed to 90 or even 300, in some cases). With the humanities courses, it’s mostly just interesting topics that Honors professors (who are profs in their own departments, like linguistics!) want to teach.</p>
<p>Honors has this term called “interdisciplinary” that they love a lot. It basically means taking two fields and “using both” to “do something.” For example, take computer science and medicine together and you have things like FoldIt ([Solve</a> Puzzles for Science | Foldit](<a href=“http://fold.it/portal/]Solve”>http://fold.it/portal/)) that makes a difference in people’s lives. I found that the humanities classes tend to push this idea as an overall thought that would rest in your brain so that hopefully you will take two fields and “integrate” them together in the future. You’ll learn a lot more about it in Honors 100 (mandatory seminar autumn quarter). They also have 2 credit seminars of about 8-10 people where you dive into a topic. </p>
<p>tldr: The Honors experience is what you make of it. Some classes are hard, some aren’t.</p>
<p>Do you have to join the honors program as a freshman? Can a transfer student do the honors program?</p>
<p>Nope, you don’t have to join as a freshman! There are other ways to enter the Honors program.</p>
<p>Transfers: [UW</a> Honors - Transfer Admission - How to Apply](<a href=“http://depts.washington.edu/uwhonors/apply/transfer/]UW”>Transfer Admission | University of Washington Honors Program)
“Late admit”: [UW</a> Honors - Late Admission - For Current UW Freshmen](<a href=“http://depts.washington.edu/uwhonors/apply/lateadm/]UW”>Interdisciplinary Honors Admissions | University of Washington Honors Program)</p>
<p>Edit: Also, if you leave the program (as I did), as long as you maintain the minimum GPA for Honors, you can rejoin pretty easily as long as you talk to one of the advisers about finishing all the requirements.</p>