<p>Hi All,
My son was accepted to FSU and the Honors program for Fall 2014 and I wanted to get some thoughts from anyone with kids going or current/past students. He has been accepted to various other Fl schools(UNF, USF, Stetson, all Honors) and is waiting for UF, and various Northeastern schools.
We toured many campuses and he really liked the small class size, more personal experience and I'm thinking these Honors programs may be a similar but at a larger school.</p>
<p>He wants to study Economics in the Social Science area, likely double major.
So if I assume he'll get into UF for the moment how would the UF versus FSU honors compare.( I don't think he quite makes the bar for UF honors, but we'll see)</p>
<p>My take:
FSU Honors will afford smaller classes and more personal attention his first two years, better opportunity for study abroad, interaction with professors. Preferred early registration and honors dorms.</p>
<p>I've read all the rankings and lists but I think it really comes down to degree and college attending. And he will likely need a Masters as well. FSU gets high marks for study abroad and UF for career services. So will Honors give him more opportunities to set him up for internships and that Masters degree.</p>
<p>I could go on but thought I would kick off the discussion and get some feedback.</p>
<p>Honors is nice because you get priority over class enrollment. Large, state schools are notorious for students not being able to get into the classes that they need and having to stay for an extra semester. </p>
<p>If you are sure about getting a master’s degree, you may want to go to the school that gives you the most money. My understanding is that test scores and GPA carry more weight than a school’s prestige when it comes to grad school admissions.</p>
<p>I agree generally. But we’re lucky enough with the state schools that we have Bright Futures and Fl Prepaid plans. USF offered the most overall but we want to make sure he has a good experience and fit. And internships/co-ops are very important.</p>
<p>Honors has a few perks. The big one is early class registration priority. The small class thing for Honors is often not really accurate; many times the Honors section of a class is really just a few seats within a larger class that’s set aside for Honors students. Yes, there are some Honors-only courses but many of them will have no practical use (to be quite honest); they’re just fun sort of time-wasting, schedule-filling classes.</p>
<p>As for grad school, what a lot of grad schools will care about is how you did in undergrad, and how you did on the entrance exam of the program’s choosing (GRE, etc). In some grad schools, your undergrad major doesn’t even matter, so long as you have several foundation classes that relate at least a little bit to your grad program. </p>
<p>If you are planning on going to grad school, I cannot stress this enough: go to whichever school for undergrad that will cost you the least amount of money. You think undergrad might be expensive, but 2 years in grad school can put 4 years of undergrad to shame in the cost department. Financial aid for many grad schools is student loans only. </p>
<p>As for undergrad prestige, unless you’re in one of the Ivy-quality schools, prestige in undergrad honestly does not matter to most grad schools.</p>
<p>We have not visited either yet. We plan on FSU in Feb, they have an orientation, but have been to Tallahassee before. We are very familiar with UF but will schedule a formal tour once the decision comes in.</p>
<p>Pasbal:
That’s a little disappointing on the Honors classes. And if its just seats in a larger class that’s misleading. Most schools advertise separate, smaller classes for Honors. Any idea if that is standard at UF as well? I thought the dorms might be nice too, rooming with other Honors kids.</p>
<p>When our daughters attended in the mid-2000s Honors was smaller classes. For example, Calculus II Honors was in a class of maybe 20 students with a full and enthusiastic professor. I don’t think this has changed. In the 1970s when I and other family members attended Honors was about the same.</p>
<p>Perhaps once he has visited both, he will have more clarity with regard to which one he can see himself attending and which factors are most important to him.</p>
<p>I would definitely choose one of the two over the other schools you mentioned (not that any of the others are bad…just my personal preference.)</p>
<p>Regarding FSU vs. the more expensive schools in the Northeast, it is a very personal decision with no right or wrong answer and dependent on various factors (the least of which is not finances.) The Florida Prepaid + Bright Futures money is hard to say no to. Of course you can use your Florida Prepaid money towards your tuition for a school in the Northeast. It can be a tough call, and I’m still trying to figure out the best answer to that dilemma as well! </p>
<p>At any rate, your son should do great at either of these two schools. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks P2N and AlwaysLearn,
You’re correct about the other schools. There will be a decision based on difference in funds versus quality or education and recognition. I’m not sure what that number is going to be, maybe a gut feel. I can say what those schools consider a reasonable EFC and what I do are far apart.</p>
<p>There’s several Honors-only classes that are offered. And there are some classes with completely separate sections for Honors students only. However there are also a number of classes where the Honors section is part of the larger class, and professors basically don’t do anything different for Honors students. </p>
<p>At FSU, honors honestly isn’t that huge of a deal. There’s the Honors in the Major and the graduating with Honors, but that’s about it. There really isn’t a great deal of emphasis put on being in the Honors program.</p>
<p>Pasbal:
Thanks, I’ll need to ask more questions when there. There is an entirely different program and web page for Honors, versus Honors int he major and graduating with Honors. And Honors kids get invitations to apply for various other scholarships and opportunities, at least that was in the brochures he received. The Presidential Scholarship is a very big deal IMO, and unless you were invited to Honors you’d have a hard time finding it. Just saying, that if it’s so limited, they sure are spending a lot of time and effort promoting it.</p>
<p>The big draw with most people I know in Honors is getting to live in the Honors dorm your freshman year and getting to register for classes the first day registration is open. I know that a couple of my friends have taken some of the more (what I would consider) useless Honors classes, and have basically said that the only reason they even took the classes was that they needed to have a certain number of credits of Honors courses to get the designation on their diploma.</p>
<p>Honors at FSU isn’t like Honors at a lot of colleges. It’s just sort of a nice addition to your undergrad time. No one I know actually makes a huge deal out of it, just because people for the most part don’t seem to really care.</p>
<p>Yeah – getting to live in Landis Hall is a perk. Landis is right in the middle of the campus. I believe that all of the students who live there are honors, so it’s a good place to make smart friends. And, don’t discount the importance of being able easily walk around to get to your classes. Some other state schools are pretty “spread-out.”</p>