<p>Hi guys, reading these forums has been really helpful so I was wondering if you could help me understand something. I recently got accepted to AU, along with receiving a presidential scholarship and some financial aid. I was really excited because it means I might actually be able to afford to attend! However, I was a little disappointed to see I was not accepted into the Honors Program. I had a 2250 SAT, 34 ACT, 4.0 unweighted GPA (4.3 weighted), and was accepted into honors or equivalent programs at my great state schools like Monroe Scholars at William and Mary and Echols Scholar at UVA. Anyone else in a similar situation/ ideas why I didn’t get into honors?</p>
<p>Did you show interest at AU?</p>
<p>Why speculate? Anyone who tells you anything can only be speculating. You had great grades, but just wasn’t offered honors.</p>
<p>My advice: Get a 3.6 and nominate yourself within the first year for honors! Simple.</p>
<p>I was actually in a similar situation after I got my acceptance. My GPA is a 4.75 and my SAT isn’t quite as high as yours, but pretty close. I was shocked not to be admitted into the honors program until I visited the campus and talked to someone yesterday about it. They are drastically cutting down their program and basically redoing the whole thing. They used to admit the top 10% of each incoming class, but as of this year are only accepting 45 students. I guess neither you nor I made the cut. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>That’s odd cause I have much lower scores (31 and 1880) and I was invited to join</p>
<p>Thanks guys… It’s good to know I’m not the only one. I understand that I can apply later, but I’m so torn between schools that something as small as the honors program could be the deciding factor.</p>
<p>@OliviaM41 - That just doesn’t make sense. I think whoever you spoke to gave you incorrect information. My GPA is 3.85 unweighted / 4.72 weighted, 29 ACT, received a Dean’s scholarship, and I was admitted into the honor’s program. It wouldn’t make sense for me to be accepted, but not you or shortstories (with your scores), unless they’re looking at something totally different than just scores.</p>
<p>Did you get accepted into a 3 year program?</p>
<p>@jennee98^</p>
<p>@gbaby91 - No I didn’t, not even familiar with what the 3-year program is at AU.
@shortstories - I understand what you mean by small things making a difference. I got accepted at my first choice college, and I thought that no other college could even make me think twice about where I was gonna go. Then along comes AU, and everything with them has been so impressive. Just little things, from my personalized acceptance letter to my really nice phone call I received the other day. Nothing big but definitely big enough to give me something to think about.</p>
<p>Jenee - I also received a Dean’s Scholarship in addition to some other merit-based aid, but was not asked to join the honors program. Like I said, I was surprised but I guess they also must look at community involvement, leadership, etc., and not just the two magic numbers. Either way, I was definitely told about AU now only taking 45 students into honors. Apparently the program has become too large and they are completely restructuring it. Next year, all incoming freshmen will have to apply separately to even be considered. Anyway, congratulations on getting in. As for everyone else, you can always apply next year!</p>
<p>Were you told they were implementing the reduction in size of the Honors Program with THIS incoming class? Everything I have read about the changes to the program indicated that the changes would be implemented with the class entering in the Fall of 2014. The changes weren’t even approved until last month, so it would seem impossible for the admissions committee to have implemented the changes with this admissions cohort.</p>
<p>They plan to institute a separate application process as well (like GWU has). I have not read what, in particular, they will be looking for, nor do I know what they’ve been looking for up until now. I thought it was pretty much based on grades/scores (which is how the merit scholarships are done), so I would be surprised as well to receive a Presidential Scholarship without an invitation to the honors program. Surprised enough, actually, to give them a call just to ask about the discrepancy. Although I imagine you may have already decided to go elsewhere? Surely W&M and UVa are very attractive alternatives.</p>
<p>My daughter is currently a sophomore and in the Honors Program. When first accepted, she considered not accepting the Honors offer. She contacted AU students she knew to find out about the program - people she knew from high school who were very bright and had turned down higher ranked schools for AU - and was amazed to find that they were not invited into the Honors Program. It is safe to say that the school must look at other things beyond GPA and scores when offering acceptances into Honors.</p>
<p>On another note, my son (who has since graduated from college) was accepted into the Honors department of numerous universities with merit scholarships and accepted the one school that did not give him money or Honors. You have to look at the experience you want from the school and the opportunities it will offer.</p>
<p>Interesting! I wonder what they have been looking for? Considering they had only Common App, letters of recommendation, and test scores (sometimes) to work with? And this was the school that said if you sent more than 2 LOR, they wouldn’t read them, IIRC. </p>
<p>(My daughter is a freshman in the honors program.)</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that DeskPotato is correct and that the changes to the Honors program will be happening NEXT year, not this year. My son is currently an Honors freshman, and when choosing housing for next year, he was told that Hughes will be all-honors (although he chose to live in McDowell next year, as he was looking for a different experience in his sophomore year as compared to his freshman year). If only 45 incoming Honors freshmen were being admitted this Fall, then there would definitely be 2 or 3 available floors in Hughes that would have been open to non-Honors students. The 45 Honors students could all live on one floor, and there wouldn’t be nearly enough Honors students to fill up the whole building.</p>
<p>You all may be right about the specific 45 student number only coming into effect next year, but I am certain that who I talked to on my visit said that they are drastically cutting the program. The implication was that those cuts were beginning this year. She specifically mentioned that it used to be the top 10% of each class (~180 students), but that they had begun shrinking that number with the new incoming class. This is why so many previously qualified students were not invited. This helped me understand why students like myself and the original poster were not asked to join. LR, I am also under the impression that all freshmen can ask to live in Hughes. On my tour this weekend, we were told it housed a mix of freshmen and honors students. Hope this info helps everyone. For more questions, the admissions office can probably help.</p>
<p>It is true (as I mentioned on another thread) that Hughes 2 has freshmen who are not in the Honors program. They did not have enough Honors students to fill all 7 floors. Not all the students choose to live there, and it’s primarily freshmen.</p>
<p>I want to add that there is nothing special about Hughes as a dorm–it’s not like some schools, where Honors freshmen get the best digs. And though my D is in Honors and lived in Hughes her freshman year, she made friends from lots of sources, not just her dorm, and found nothing especially thrilling about living on an Honors floor. The honors kids are a mix of different types, and it’s not as if an aura of intellectualism is wafting through the halls and seeping under the doors. It’s just a bunch of freshmen, as in any other dorm. Some are studious, some are partiers, etc. I happen to think the whole concept of an Honors floor is pretty worthless, since Honors freshmen will meet one another in their Honors classes and at the Honors events anyway. And as is apparent form this thread, there are plenty of bright and accomplished kids to be found on the campus who aren’t part of the Honors program.</p>
<p>I’m having the same problem as you. I have a 34 on the ACT exam and a 3.93 GPA (4.48 weighted) and I’m ranked 1 of about 150 and participate in multifarious ECs, many of which I hold leadership positions in. I was shocked not to be accepted, but I’m most likely contacting the admissions office soon.</p>