<p>All throughout high school, I've been indirectly led to believe that if "honor" or "advance placement" precedes something, it's automatically amazing and one should take advantage of the opportunity as soon as possible. However, I am seriously failing to see the value of an honors college in the long haul. Is it just a bright sticker to make the university seem prestigious or more competitive with more elite schools, or is there a significant benefit that I'm missing?</p>
<p>Well if you want a large school environment for whatever reason (undecided on major, better research, etc) an honors program can give you a small LAC feel within the big school. However programs vary so you have to look at each one critically. D2 is in one and loves having smart people in honors classes…she gets priority registration, nicer housing with better chance of having campus housing after freshman year, extra advisement, extra programming, smaller classes with mostly full professors. Some have grants for study abroad and ungrad research which definitely help for grad school. Some honors programs are mostly registration priority and special housing…you really have to look at the specific school. If money is tight, scholarships attached to honors programs can be a real bonus for students.</p>
<p>Now D1 attends high rated LAC where student profile overall is similar to most honors programs.</p>
<p>Overall, yes big school use honors programs to keep top students in-state since many are extremely active in school leadership, etc. and it helps schools stats with higher score averages. Hence the perks for students.</p>
<p>I know there are colleges where one can declare a honors major or a regular one. For the one college I know that track majors into honors and regular tracks, there is no priority housing; for some fields (e.g. art history), that arrangement just means tacking on more courses in your field, and a capstone project. For other fields (e.g. physics) it means having honors courses that cover more material than the regular version. </p>
<p>Moving up from the regular major to the honors one requires a 3.5 GPA depending on the field, while students in the honors track are required to maintain a 3.0 GPA.</p>
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All good things to have…</p>
<p>My bright young son is admitted to U Oregon Clark Honors College. He’s not sure it’s a good fit since he’s not sure he would like all the small group discussion and liberal arts focus. He is not totally adverse but wants to know if the hard work and thesis will help him if he chooses to go to grad school or straight into employment. He’s undecided about a major and wants to explore health sciences or possibly business. He’s not going to college for the love of learning, but would participate and, who knows may even find something he’s passionate about.</p>
<p>My D was accepted into the honors college of every school she applied to. We learned that each school ran their honors college uniquely. Some required you live in honors housing, some left it optional. Some required X number of honors courses, some dictated which honors courses you took, some left taking honors courses completely optional. Some required a thesis, some left it optional. The required GPA to remain in honors ranged from 3.0-3.4. In the end, my D chose the school that handled the honors college requirements to suit her needs.</p>
<p>Honors colleges (within a larger college) tend to open up courses (with smaller class sizes/more prestigious faculty), housing options, honors societies, etc (as has already been stated).</p>
<p>As far as I am aware, a student who is admitted directly to an honors college is admitted because admissions staff sees that their scores/GPA/general student profile is significantly above the college’s average admit, infers that they are a safety school to this student, and wants to artificially elevate the prestige of their college (and sweeten the deal, entice them, etc.) by admitting them to this more competitive, alluring program.</p>
<p>edit: they generally also include a final project, minimum number of honors courses and minimum GPA to stay in the program.</p>
<p>I think honors colleges are overrated. In general, I would rather go to Prestigious U. vs. Mediocre U - Honors College. It seems like a desperate attempt for average schools to get students that are out of their league. I would rather have the more powerful name school and the better alumni network.</p>
<p>My D, who is completing her third year in honors college, wanted to go to Prestigious U., but it wasn’t in the cards. Her school’s average SAT scores have increased by 80 points in the last 5 years, because of the draw of honors students. In three years time, the benchmark SAT scores for accepted honors students has increased by 50 points. Plus, they now have almost twice as many honors students as they did then.</p>
<p>Because my D is attending this school, instead of a more competitive university, she has had multiple experiences that she would not have had otherwise. These include, but are not limited to, a scholarship for a study abroad program, a seat on a committee that was never awarded to a freshman before, and a national scholarship that is only awarded to 100 students nationwide.</p>
<p>What our family has learned from this is that an honors college is the way to go. Younger D did not apply to any prestigious colleges.</p>
<p>Honors colleges can be a great choice for those attending a larger school. Honors colleges offer valuable perks and let you meet some of the top students at your college. However they are often oversold with glossy pamphlets implying a small LAC has been set up inside the larger university giving ann elite private education at the public school price. On this forum you’ll read posters who also say/imply that.</p>
<p>Depending on the program offerings may range from separate honors classes to taking just one honors seminar per semester. And some of the “honors” offerings may just be a special discussion section of the regular class (at many U’s you meet 2-3x a week in a large class with the prof, then everyone meets weekly in a discussion section with a TA). You really need to dig in to find what a particular school offers.</p>
<p>Keep in mind honors programs typically offer the small classes and hand-picked profs only the 1st two years of college. They can do this because doesn’t take that many classes to come up with a set that will meet the lower-division requirements for most majors. It is rare to find more than a token amount of upper-division classes since the honors program simply doesn’t have enough faculty members to create entire major(s). So the last two years most/all classes are taken with the rest of the students in the regular U’s classes. The teaching of the profs will be geared towards the normal U level, the discussions and student involvement in class will be dominated by the regular students, and so on. Class sizes may balloon, too, if you’re in a popular major.</p>
<p>Peer effects are big, too; when almost everyone around you at school is a strong student you have lots of good student to emulate in class or outside it such as doing research or internships. If the top kids are a few hundred strong dispersed among tens of thousands at the U then strong examples may be harder to see. When it comes to finding a job, employers are less likely to send recruiters to a campus with a limited number of honors seniors when they can get a campus-full at more highly regarded schools.</p>
<p>Honors colleges do offer some valuable perks, in addition to the classes. Typical ones include registering for classes before everyone else so you get the classes you want (a perk worth its weight in gold!), special counselors, guaranteed housing, special library privileges. They will mark your diploma with special recognition. But I would be dubious about attending a college for its honors program in place of a more highly regarded U if finances are not an issue.</p>
<p>What’s the difference? Nothing, except for a workload that is 4x greater than my other classes.</p>
<p>^ A student would choose the honors program electively. It’s part of the school as a whole. The honors program is available to students who wish to attend the school and who also want to participate in what it offers.
I don’t think it is meant to be chosen only for the title. Someone who wants a big title would likely choose a school with one. However, not all students choose according to name or title only and they also want the opportunities an honors college offers.
Some schools select honors students from the application, and others require additional application materials, but honors is voluntary.</p>
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<p>“Average schools” have to resort to such measures because top schools perpetually stay at the top of the rankings. Let’s not forget, “top schools” attract “top students”, and “top students” attract “top faculty”. In the end, it’s purely up to the students (or their parents!) to choose the school they wish to go to. And guess which schools they pick? That’s right, “top schools”. And just what defines a “top school”? The first page of the rankings list of course. </p>
<p>Let’s recap: Top students pick top ranked schools, which in turn gives those top ranked schools clout and prestige, thus continuing to attract top talent. Hmm, see a problem here?</p>
<p>Now you see why “average schools” have to do something to attract some top talent. High school students are notoriously superficial and self-conscious… they feed on rankings and prestige, which leaves anything but top schools few options to attract top students.</p>
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<p>I think underestimating the alumni networks for larger universities (Texas A & M and UT Austin come to mind…disclaimer: I am from Texas) is a big mistake. Especially if your job ever lands you in the larger Oil and Gas markets that dominate cities like Dallas and Houston or the tech markets like Austin and the whole Northern California sector. Alumni networks tend to have a greater grasp in the areas that they anchor, yet sometimes the strongest alumni groups are when a group of Texas Exes find themselves in the unfamiliar waters of say a city like Boston or NYC.</p>
<p>On top of that, not all honors programs are created equal as some of the other posters here have stated. At Texas, Plan II honors is well known, well respected and has a deep and loyal alumni network. You can read about it here: [Plan</a> II Honors Program](<a href=“http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/about/]Plan”>http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/about/) I don’t know of many undergraduates that have the opportunity (State U or Ivy) to be taught by nobel laureates not to mention in their freshman year. And while Prestigious U may be prestigious, there is much to learn from skilled professors that share their knowledge inside the class room and their homes outside the class room. Plan II professors are notorious for forming bonds with their students through dinners in their homes and teachings outside of the classroom.</p>
<p>I can only speak from the experience gleaned at two schools.
My daughter attended the University of Cincinnati School of Design, Art, Architecture and Planning, and my son majored in accounting at Towson University. The honors colleges all gave priority of registration as their main benefit,but each of these kids had very structured curriculum which was pretty much set out for them. Thus, they NEVER had a problem getting their courses. Although their were some sections in intro classes that were designated as “Honors,” both kids didn’t see any real difference when they compared their work to that of those in regular sections for the same course. They also had priority housing in the dorms,but both moved off campus or into other more “student friendly” dorms after their sophomore year. Moreover, in both schools, kids were required to take a certain number of " honors-baloney" courses that were unrelated to their majors. Accordingly, both dropped out of the honors program after either freshmen year or sophomore year.
Interesting, almost all the students at University of Cincinnati’s DAAP school likewise dropped out of honors since they didn’t want to take an array of unrelated courses to their major. Thus, other than wearing some nice scarf at graduation, both kids didn’t see the benefit of being in honors. In fact, they felt it was more detrimental to have to meet the requirements.</p>
<p>I started off in an honors college, got good grades, and then said why am I using all of this extra time to do what I felt was busy work projects that didn’t increase my learning in my subject area? I left the honors program and graduated with the degree I wanted, with honors, and used my extra time to study and research what I wanted to. Also, even if the class size is larger outside honors, I had no problem doing well and getting my name known to the Prof’s as long as I put myself out there. And I’m probably one of the few people doing what I planned on doing as a Senior in HS! I remember having 3 finals on one day, a nice teacher allowed me to reschedule one. I took it during one of his honors class finals. I was a senior and when I walked in and said “Hi” to some Freshmen I knew, the teacher said “Oh you guys know one of my best students!” And I never had an honors class with him, I felt flattered.</p>
<p>The answer to your question is totally dependent on the school. The best advantages of the best honors colleges are smaller class sizes (20 vs. 400 in chem for example), taught by the best professors, priority registration and housing with like minded achievers. </p>
<p>All the cracks about the best students go to the best schools are just silly. Not every bright student can just fork over $250K. In reality it is a very complex calculation not to be trivialized by such superficial statements.</p>
<p>Honors colleges are just another option in helping find the best fit.</p>
<p>M</p>
<p>My S turned down Honors at big state u. After being known as the “smart guy” all through school, he wanted to just be part of the “regular guy” crowd in college…didn’t want special dorms,etc.
He was also in ROTC which took up a good deal of time so didn’t want to commit to an honors program that required a lot of extraneous clases/work that he really didn’t have time for. He got prirority registration by virtue of being in ROTC.</p>
<p>I do not have first-hand experience with honors programs - but it seems clear that these programs emulate LAC. If a kid is more focused on pre-professional and not really interested in LAC then there is a disconnect. Maybe honors programs should better align their coursework to their student’s interests and needs.</p>
<p>Honors colleges and programs vary in requirements and what they offer. Some offer programs that are appealing to STEM and pre-professional students and some are more humanities based. Some offer extra-curriculars and living-learning options. They are one more option that each student has to decide if it is a good fit or not, and interested students can access the information about each one at the colleges he/she is applying to to help with that decision.</p>