<p>I am seriously considering attending UGA simply for its Honors program (I'm an in-state resident so tuition is basically free). But what is the Honors program like? I've heard it's more group discussion and smaller classes and stuff like that. Is it as good as it's made out to be? (I'm sure it is, so I guess I'm just looking for others' opinions about it). I don't know if this information helps or not, but I'm looking to go into pre-med and major in either chemistry or biology (probably chemistry). And one final thing: Would you recommend UGA Honors over, say, Emory for the best education before medical school? Thanks!</p>
<p>Well, Emory excels in that field.</p>
<p>When I visited, the Honor’s Program looked pretty good! All of the students looked academically driven, but at the same time they weren’t completely detached from the rest of the school. They were extremely fun people, to be honest so you’ll definitely have a social life.</p>
<p>UGA also has great research opportunities available for their Honors students! Emory probably isn’t as good with that. If you receive a degree from Emory’s med school people will definitely recognize it (especially in the South).</p>
<p>I liked UGA’s Honor’s program, actually. </p>
<p>While I was there the students told me that the program is easier than the normal classes because the professors expect you to know the material and they don’t give you as many tests and quizzes. They also have to report why you didn’t get an A in the class if you make a B or lower, so they want to see their students succeed. </p>
<p>Overall, the program looks great!</p>
<p>uga honors from what I hear does have smaller classes. now, smaller classes does not mean 20-30 people. it’s more like 80-120 people. this is pretty small considering that most classes have over 300 people and spaces run out quickly. also, be prepared to work. from what I hear from people who graduated last year and is going to uga now, the intro sciences are weed out and professor will not be that helpful. I think uga honors have special classes for honors kids but everyone gets the same intro classes. also, honors gives you an edge in signing up for classes which is good because a lot of nonhonors people end up having to do 5 years because spaces run out</p>
<p>I’d like to clarify some stuff.</p>
<p>The Honors classes at UGA usually run between 20-30 people! In fact the vast majority are this way. </p>
<p>Also the Honors classes are mainly in intro classes. There aren’t many high level Honors courses at UGA.</p>
<p>If you want more info, I advise going to UGA for the Honors Tour. Either that or you could try getting in touch with a student who is in the Honors Program.</p>
<p>Again I think you’re crazy to suggest that Emory is not as good at “providing” research opportunities. It’s mere location and shear number of research ops. makes it advantageous. It’s really easy. </p>
<p>Again, I’ll agree with class size. However, the classes at Emory will probably still be as hard/harder as/than UGA honors even if they are a tad larger than intros. here. And yet somehow, even in the larger setting the teaching closes the gap and many profs. still foster discussion/Socratic method in 60-100 person sections. Plus, as I always mention, new teaching methods beneficial to pre-meds are used at Emory, even in these 50-100 person sections. Freshmen orgo. prof. uses, 1 prof. per biology semester (as in bio 1 and 2) do it (the case-based classes are rigorous, foster discussion and lots of group activity), the physics profs. heavily emphasize effective teaching and clearly the gen. chem profs do. Though this(gen. chem) is the largest intro. science (at 85-120 depending on year. This year 141 had 120 b/c Morkin and Weaver decided to do a 45 person section together) at Emory, and interaction is less, but they lecture well and provide additional resources/get on LL and help students solve problems, and have SI. Actually 1/2 gen. chem. profs try to provide group exercises and EC opps). Basically great teaching and learning resources are not restricted to a few. Everyone gets them.<br>
Basically Emory manages to make sure you really know the material while also testing for your competence (though the PBL bio profs. do the cases in-cases in class, plus assign a section of the case for HW, and also give exams. It’s a rewarding level of rigor). </p>
<p>I would advise visiting Passalauqua’s bio 142 if you’re visiting tomorrow (she’s TTh) to see how this method can be implemented even in a larger lecture hall when one has a talented prof. If Friday, visit Weinschenk or Soria’s(Soria’s is tiny and Weinschenk’s is large) orgo. class. However, I think Soria may have cancelled class for Fr, b/c they had an exam Monday (Dr. W and S. cancel a class for a day the week of an exam). Also, check out Spell (bio 142, non-cased based, but great lecturer) and Bing (Physics 142, would say check out Brody for 152, but they’re having an exam), Mulford or Weaver for gen. chem, and maybe Edwards for Brain and Behavior (the man in both this class and intro psyche 110 puts the concepts in context of actual research studies. Many which he or others on Emory staff has done. Makes the class tough, but more interesting. Excellent prof., very flexible office hours, great everything, except those tests lol). </p>
<p>In fact psyche brings me back back to research:If you take an intro. (and perhaps some upperlevels), you have to do research participation hours (basically be a test subject or assist in someone’s research). Emory keeps those interested in science in touch with the research realm. Even w/intro. bio lab. I seriously doubt UGA students are mutating Zebrafish for the sake of figuring out the developmental pathway gone array. Emory doesn’t even have honors so everyone gets this experience. This is actually an innovation to intro. bio labs that started here. If we integrate it so heavily into teaching of introductory courses, what makes you think that we would be lacking in our ability to expose students to research opps? At Emory, it’s “ask and you shall receive”. The med. school, Public Health School, WhiteHead BME, Rollins Research, Hospitals, Psyche, Physics, and Chem. Building don’t exist for nothing. Even Liotta’s Lab accepts UGs (he discovered Emtriva, the AIDs Drug). Even many of the humanities and social science majors are doing research. </p>
<p>Basically, our classes are larger, but profs. still care and put lots of effort into teaching well.</p>
<p>Also, no offense, but college students are generally regarded as fun. Even driven students have a social life. Hardly no schools are rigorous enough to prevent it from forming among highly motivated students. Admittedly, UGA may be less stressful for various reasons (such as cost difference, rigor, etc.)</p>
<p>In my experience, Honors @ UGA is very good in connecting its students with opportunities. If there’s one way to summarize Honors, those are the words I’d use. They send out information daily about all kinds of different opportunities – academic, research, social, leadership, etc – and the Honors staff is excellent in helping students reach their goals. Whenever I’ve had questions about courses, internships, research, etc., my Honors advisor has not only answered those questions but has also provided me with lots of extra information that I would never have seen otherwise. As a UGA student, my scope of reference is limited so I can’t comment on the experience at Emory – but I will say that the students at Emory are lucky if they have access to the same opportunities that UGA provides. </p>
<p>As an illustration, I was talking with a friend yesterday and he told me how one of UGA’s academic extracurricular teams (think like model U.N, debate, mock trial) qualified for that activity’s National Championships for the second time in ~20 years. They needed funding to fly to the Nat’l Championship and Honors was able to arrange that funding literally an hour after being contacted. I doubt there are many other programs, or universities in general, who’d be so willing and able to support their students.</p>
<p>Wow jablalf. Seems like you pretty much answered my question about research/internship opportunities in Honors.</p>