<p>My son has been accepted into the Honors Program, CBS, at U of M, Twin Cities. I can't seem to find sufficient information on the Honors Program at U of M. Any thoughts or information? Thanks!</p>
<p>In case you haven’t seen it, here is a link to the University Honors Program web site: <a href=“http://www.honors.umn.edu/”>http://www.honors.umn.edu/</a></p>
<p>I am a mom so I have no personal experience, but my son has been in the CSE honors program for his four year (he will be graduating in May). I think there is no downside in being in honors. As a freshman he was able to take some of the core classes as honors, so he had 100 in his class instead of 200+. He also took some of his classes as honors later, although once you get in your major classes I don’t think this is an option all the time. Each semester he had to meet with his honors advisor which helped him keep on track. I also believe you might have to meet with your college (in his case CSE) advisor too. I am not 100% sure but I believe as an honors student you have priority registration so you register before those who are not in honors. Despite being in the honors program for four years, my son will not graduate with honors. He elected NOT to do the final requirement of either a thesis or research project. That’s okay with us and the school. I wish I could tell you more and hopefully what I have told you is all correct…once my kids began college I took a step back and let them deal with the details. Good luck to your son.</p>
<p>UMN-TC does NOT offer priority registration to honors students. The director of honors program told us this when we asked during a visit with D13 last year, framed it in terms of egalitarian sensibilities, that they wouldn’t be able to get away with.</p>
<p>They are generous with AP credit, so you may be able to get a year’s jump in priority that way if have enough. </p>
<p>The honors dorm, Middlebrook, is located on the West Bank, so it’s a long walk to classes across the bridge in January. There are also shuttle buses that run every 15 minutes. Pretty sure they don’t require honors freshmen to live in Middlebrook, can request East Bank dorm. In addition to honors, Middlebrook also houses arts/music kids, whose depts are located right there on West Bank, internationals, and substance-free LLC. Honors students are guaranteed space in Middlebrook 2nd year if they like. Many students are eager to get out of dorms after 1st year, but housing is at a premium, and many others who would prefer to stay on campus do not have the option, unlike honors students.</p>
<p>CBS is biology? You know that dept is on St. Paul campus? They run some classes on East Bank, but for many classes, will need to take the shuttle to St. Paul. There is a student center, gym,dorm/dining hall in St.Paul, but don’t know that freshmen spend enough time there to make it worthwhile to dorm there.The LLC’s in that dorm(Bailey) are environment, pre-vet, design.</p>
<p>We ate in Middlebrook and were assured by students that it is the best food on campus. It was better than typical dining hall fare, but not quite at the deluxe level that my D gets in ASU Barrett.</p>
<p>Need to keep 3.5 GPA to stay in honors. The program requires a high number of honors experiences as you can see from the link, perhaps a bit more than typical of these programs. </p>
<p>I am looking at UMN-TC again for S15, hoping it might fit him better than D. I am interested in any info people care to share abut the school.</p>
<p>celeste, thanks for clearing up registration. I know S2 has it in his honors, but I wasn’t sure if S1 had it at UMN. Again, I see no downside to beginning with honors your freshman year and seeing if it is something you would like to do or not. The smaller honors classes for the core curriculum certainly is nicer than the larger classes, but they are harder so you have to consider that fact too. S1 stayed in Middlebrook which was a nice fit except for the fact it was so far away from his classes and the activities at Coffman and TCF stadium. If S2 or S3 considered UMN, I would have suggested that they consider another dorm. Middlebrook had a lot more serious kids though, so not alot of drinking compared to Superblock. As a mom, I liked that! </p>
<p>For the housing, you are not required to live in Middlebrook. DS is in Taylor house (LLC for engineering) and it is on the 4th floor of Frontier Hall. Plenty of like-minded students there who take their studies seriously but yet have fun too! Some kids do transfer to another floor because they like to “party” a little bit more and Taylor house is not what they want. This will probably be the last year for DS’ participation in the honors program as he will get advisers for his majors. The honors advising was great :)</p>