<p>Heya! I'm going to be applying for colleges in the future, and I was just wondering: what is the purpose of Honors College? Apart from the obvious "provide a challenge", what benefits are there of signing up to be in Honors college?
Also, Honors College students usually stay in a special dorm, right? Are all Honors College kids hermits who only study? ;)</p>
<p>My daughter is in the honors college at her state U. She did not stay in the honors dorm (I would like her to have done so as a freshman and, in retrospect, I think she wishes she had as they have a good social set up in the honors dorm a her school). The main benefits for her have been that the honors classes are very small - 15-20 people compared to the 100-250 people in her regular classes. She usually does half honors and half regular classes and likes the balance of some big anonymous classes and some smaller intimate classes. Some of the honors teachers have been amazing (her honors English teacher is one of her favorite teachers ever). Some, not so much. (head of a department does not necessarily an amazing teacher make!). The best benefit is probably the priority enrollment. She gets to enroll with the seniors so has not had any problems getting the classes she wants.</p>
<p>A marginal difference that I had when I was in the honors program (not its own separate college, btw) as an undergrad, was that faculty tended to run sections as opposed to TAs. This meant that there were no problem sets or things requiring grading time. It gave me a bit more freedom because I didn't have to try as hard. On the other hand, I probably would have learned a lot more from a TA. C'est la vie.</p>
<p>I think the POINT of an Honors College would be to provide a more intellectual environment for the students who'd like a cheaper education (by going to their in-state flagship) but who were candidates for higher tiered schools. It's supposed to be like a more competitive (smaller) college within an incredibly large college.</p>
<p>belevitt - wow - you must have a better caliber of TAs than my daughter as had.</p>
<p>this is what an honors college is to me. In the beginning of this entire process, I was looking around at a bunch of prestigious schools (Northwestern, UChicago, etc.) , but for some reason none of them felt right. Eventually I realized what it was. Even though I wanted to go to college somewhere where people would be on my level intellectually, I realized that I just did NOT fit in with the people on these campuses whatsoever. I couldn't picture myself hanging out with any of the people I interacted with on these campuses, my general stereotypings of the student body led me to the consensus that these students were not a part of my 'social clique', and it would be difficult for me to find a place to fit in. Going to an honors college allows me to go to a larger university and hang out with people who fall into my 'social clique' on the weekends while still being able to take classes with people who--at least--rival the student body at the NU's and UChicago's of the world.</p>
<p>If I didn't attend an honors college, I probably would have transferred or dropped out a long time ago. It gives me the intellectual stimulation I like in conversations, while also staying carefree and social.
Some honors students are hermits who study all day, some are alcoholics or potheads, and then the range in between. There's niches for everyone. </p>
<p>I also get priority registration, more advising, smaller classes with professors both in the college and others throughout the university at your choosing, special trips and events just for honors students, and other things like that. </p>
<p>I don't like to see the honors college as a star on my resume, but a benefit to my growth.</p>
<p>I go to Rutgers and I am NOT in the honors program as I was wait listed to it my freshman year. The benefit to going through an honors program at a school is A. You "might" have better professors. B. You "might" be living with other honors students. C. It is definitley more challenging, and at that rewarding. D. It is shown on your diploma. ex: John Smith graduated with honors in Poly sci compared to John Smith graduated with a BA in poly sci. All in all if you can do it, awesome, if you can't no big deal.</p>
<p>My kid's honors college at SUNY offers interesting seminar classes to the honors kids, in which they have opportunities to get to know the faculty (and the faculty gets to teach what they're really interested in). The honors kids get a faculty mentor in addition to the usual academic advisor, get to register first (even before upperclassmen, which is important when trying to avoid early morning classes LOL), and get special notices of research and internship opportunities. The honors dorm is situated nearer the academic buildings. My kid made good friends in the honors dorm, and didn't find the other honors kids to be excessively quiet or geeky.</p>
<p>"you must have a better caliber of TAs than my daughter as had"</p>
<p>There are plenty of bad TAs. However, with a TA, you know that they don't feel "above" it and might still retain some passion for teaching that the grad school system beats out of people. Also, a TA is required to put a specific number of hours whereas a professor does not. I wouldn't be so close minded about TAs and I certainly wouldn't assume they would make a worse instructor than a professor.</p>
<p>The alternative to an honors college is to simply go to a better college. If you are in the top 10% of your class, you could be in the middle 10% at a much better school.</p>
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The alternative to an honors college is to simply go to a better college.
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Sure, but for families who are too affluent to qualify for financial aid, the honors college at a state flagship is a real bargain.</p>
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belevitt writes: I wouldn't be so close minded about TAs and I certainly wouldn't assume they would make a worse instructor than a professor.
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But it's reasonable to assume the converse, that TA's make better intructors as you wrote in post #3? :confused:</p>
<p>To the OP, also see the recent thread about honors colleges at <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/617115-honors-colleges.html#post1061473945%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/617115-honors-colleges.html#post1061473945</a></p>
<p>Honors classes are the only classes my D felt were more challenging than her high school classes.....</p>
<p>The median SAT at Honors Colleges within State Universities tends to be 150-300 points higher than the median SAT of the entire campus. Other measures are much higher also such as class rank, gpa, ECs, etc.</p>
<p>The "college within a college" really is the best descriptor I've seen.</p>
<p>For most, it is an attempt to get a smaller, more expensive private college experience at a state subsidized school. A $200,000 education if you will, for $80,000 (or much less in some cases... almost free). For some, it is the desire to attend a very large university with its attendant sports programs and social scene, plus big-U research opportunities, etc, and still have a smaller discussion based educational experience with about half the classes. For the big time college sports nut, it is the best answer short of Stanford, Duke and NU.</p>
<p>Thanks everybody for your input, and for the website! It really helps! I'm actually surprised (for some odd reason, lol) that Honors College within universities is given good appraise.</p>
<p>Are most/all Honors class very small? small? medium? ect? Would you say just the right size to have a good discussion?
Also, does Honors college apply to all of your classes? Like if I applied to Honors College (which I'm planning on it), would I end up taking any non-Honors classes?</p>
<p>Do Honors colleges tend to "compete" only with the other State Uni Honors programs? Or do they also compete with the bigger name schools aswell?</p>
<p>At most colleges, you only take a certain amount of Honors college classes. Usually it is 32 credit hours towards graduation. In most cases you are permitted to take more, but it won't be available for certain classes. You will end up in certain non-honors classes, but most of them will be more advanced major classes, so they won't be ridicuolously easy.</p>
<p>Most honors classes have around 20 students up to about 40 from my experience. They definitely are more discussion based and the level of interest from the students is much higher than in a regular class. </p>
<p>I don't know what you mean by competing verse other colleges. There aren't any rankings or nonsense like that.</p>
<p>At my son's college (Alabama) the honor's college has a lot of benefits. The housing is far superior to any housing we saw on other campuses - 2 or 4 BR suites with 2 baths, one person to a BR. There are a number of departmental honors classes (e.g., chem or math depts) as well as non-departmental honors. These classes are generally taught by the best faculty. The caliber of students in the honors college is comparable to most "elite" universities. There are real opportunities for honors undergraduates to work on research with faculty.</p>
<p>As far as whether the students are hermits (asked in one of the posts) the answer is no, no more so than students at Ivy League schools. These people aren't all bookworms - they generally are the most successful at everything they do, including sports and music as well as academics.</p>
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Like if I applied to Honors College (which I'm planning on it), would I end up taking any non-Honors classes?
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Depending on the U most if not all of your upper-division classes are going to be in the regular U. Reason? It's not too hard to come up with a set of classes for lower-division that will satisfy the general-ed requirements and major prep needs for most majors. So your lower-division classes work for future history, philosophy, and other liberal-arts majors. But to complete a major in the honors college would require duplicating the faculty of those majors in order to teach the upper-division courses for the majors. This takes more resources than honors colleges have.</p>
<p>You also need to look carefully at what the U's you're considering offer lower-division. Depending on the U it may cover all your classes, some of them, or even just a special seminar or class each semester.</p>