Do honors programs really make large schools feel smaller?

[Anonymous]

DC would probably prefer smaller schools not big flagships, but we keep hearing that honors programs bring the school down to size and so shouldn’t be discounted. Can anyone share their student’s experience?

It seems like unless they have set aside classes, that Bio 101 class is still going to have 200 kids in a large lecture hall, for example. English class taught by TAs. Opportunities for research as an undergrad highly limited.

If you have a child who is or was in an honors program what was their overall experience?

[Anonymous]

My kids (3) went through UMD Honors program. I know parents and schools make a big deal because it’s a good way to attract high performing kids but, in reality, it’s not. Intro classes are still large and crowded. It gets better eventually but not because you are in Honors program.

[Anonymous]

Not really. The hype is not the reality. But, certainly better than non honors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids (3) went through UMD Honors program. I know parents and schools make a big deal because it’s a good way to attract high performing kids but, in reality, it’s not. Intro classes are still large and crowded. It gets better eventually but not because you are in Honors program.

UMD Honors has smaller classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids (3) went through UMD Honors program. I know parents and schools make a big deal because it’s a good way to attract high performing kids but, in reality, it’s not. Intro classes are still large and crowded. It gets better eventually but not because you are in Honors program.

UMD Honors has smaller classes.

Which classes? I can't figure out how that works, when there are kids from all majors in honors.

[Anonymous]

DS was Gemstone - Honors College at UMD. It is living and learning (which is nice), smaller H level classes, and then extra honors program activities/classes. Gemstone was a lot of extra work but really worth it in terms of preparation for med school/grad school. It seems like almost all of his cohort is in med school, grad school or both.

[Anonymous]

Mine did, but obviously programs vary. Mine was a dorm of 90 people split into three sections, and we all had to take three 30-person seminars together in our freshman year. All my college friends are from that program. This was at a UC in the late 90s.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids (3) went through UMD Honors program. I know parents and schools make a big deal because it’s a good way to attract high performing kids but, in reality, it’s not. Intro classes are still large and crowded. It gets better eventually but not because you are in Honors program.

UMD Honors has smaller classes.

Which classes? I can't figure out how that works, when there are kids from all majors in honors.

There are about 1,000 freshmen in UMD honors. I attended a LAC with only about 500 freshmen, and they managed to offer classes in a range of majors.

[Anonymous]

This is the best source-

https://publicuniversityhonors.com/

You don’t want to attend a small private college. They’re going by the wayside, every year colleges are closing. The elite small colleges have gotten so expensive since they no longer offer a competitive value proposition. State flagships are the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids (3) went through UMD Honors program. I know parents and schools make a big deal because it’s a good way to attract high performing kids but, in reality, it’s not. Intro classes are still large and crowded. It gets better eventually but not because you are in Honors program.

UMD Honors has smaller classes.

Which classes? I can't figure out how that works, when there are kids from all majors in honors.

There are about 1,000 freshmen in UMD honors. I attended a LAC with only about 500 freshmen, and they managed to offer classes in a range of majors.

This comparison isn’t at all apples to apples.

The LAC as an institution decided to only be 2000 undergrads, staffed accordingly and at the end of the day had fewer majors than a flagship state university.

The flagship isn’t hiring dedicated professors for just the 1000 honors kids (out of 25000 or so students), and those kids could each be studying for 100 different majors.

[Anonymous]

This reads like a troll post but let’s assume it’s not. The answer is that what is offered will vary by school, but is also not limited to the honors college.

Some schools have honors dorms. Many honors colleges require you to take certain honors seminars that are unique to the college. There may also be opportunities for lectures from outside speakers and engagement with professors that is unique to the college. In colleges where they are well established, the dean is usually a prominent professor that has moved into administration and you have access to him/her.

But these things aren’t limited to honors colleges. Many majors have their own honors courses that are smaller. Some individual schools (business, engineering, etc) have their own honors programs separate from the broader honors college and there may be opportunity to do both.

You can also have a smaller experience in other ways. Greek (both traditional and subject related, like business fraternity), student politics, clubs, and getting involved in your major (for example, at my flagship the Italian program had club nights where they played Italian games, an Italian language newspaper you could write for, a speaker series, etc and you saw the same people over and over). It’s really up to the student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids (3) went through UMD Honors program. I know parents and schools make a big deal because it’s a good way to attract high performing kids but, in reality, it’s not. Intro classes are still large and crowded. It gets better eventually but not because you are in Honors program.

UMD Honors has smaller classes.

Which classes? I can't figure out how that works, when there are kids from all majors in honors.

There are about 1,000 freshmen in UMD honors. I attended a LAC with only about 500 freshmen, and they managed to offer classes in a range of majors.

This comparison isn’t at all apples to apples.

The LAC as an institution decided to only be 2000 undergrads, staffed accordingly and at the end of the day had fewer majors than a flagship state university.

The flagship isn’t hiring dedicated professors for just the 1000 honors kids (out of 25000 or so students), and those kids could each be studying for 100 different majors.

But the perception of exclusive membership is what they are trying to sell. And, as you can tell from this board, they sell it well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This reads like a troll post but let’s assume it’s not. The answer is that what is offered will vary by school, but is also not limited to the honors college.

Some schools have honors dorms. Many honors colleges require you to take certain honors seminars that are unique to the college. There may also be opportunities for lectures from outside speakers and engagement with professors that is unique to the college. In colleges where they are well established, the dean is usually a prominent professor that has moved into administration and you have access to him/her.

But these things aren’t limited to honors colleges. Many majors have their own honors courses that are smaller. Some individual schools (business, engineering, etc) have their own honors programs separate from the broader honors college and there may be opportunity to do both.

You can also have a smaller experience in other ways. Greek (both traditional and subject related, like business fraternity), student politics, clubs, and getting involved in your major (for example, at my flagship the Italian program had club nights where they played Italian games, an Italian language newspaper you could write for, a speaker series, etc and you saw the same people over and over). It’s really up to the student.

Let me add one other thing, which is that many individual majors that have an honors program can also often have a senior capstone/research course available to the honors students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids (3) went through UMD Honors program. I know parents and schools make a big deal because it’s a good way to attract high performing kids but, in reality, it’s not. Intro classes are still large and crowded. It gets better eventually but not because you are in Honors program.

UMD Honors has smaller classes.

Which classes? I can't figure out how that works, when there are kids from all majors in honors.

There are about 1,000 freshmen in UMD honors. I attended a LAC with only about 500 freshmen, and they managed to offer classes in a range of majors.

This comparison isn’t at all apples to apples.

The LAC as an institution decided to only be 2000 undergrads, staffed accordingly and at the end of the day had fewer majors than a flagship state university.

The flagship isn’t hiring dedicated professors for just the 1000 honors kids (out of 25000 or so students), and those kids could each be studying for 100 different majors.

But the perception of exclusive membership is what they are trying to sell. And, as you can tell from this board, they sell it well.

The flagship is better

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids (3) went through UMD Honors program. I know parents and schools make a big deal because it’s a good way to attract high performing kids but, in reality, it’s not. Intro classes are still large and crowded. It gets better eventually but not because you are in Honors program.

UMD Honors has smaller classes.

Which classes? I can't figure out how that works, when there are kids from all majors in honors.

There are about 1,000 freshmen in UMD honors. I attended a LAC with only about 500 freshmen, and they managed to offer classes in a range of majors.

This comparison isn’t at all apples to apples.

The LAC as an institution decided to only be 2000 undergrads, staffed accordingly and at the end of the day had fewer majors than a flagship state university.

The flagship isn’t hiring dedicated professors for just the 1000 honors kids (out of 25000 or so students), and those kids could each be studying for 100 different majors.

But the perception of exclusive membership is what they are trying to sell. And, as you can tell from this board, they sell it well.

I can't tell who you are using "they" to refer to. The flagship honors program or the LAC.