Honor Colleges - Pros and Cons

[Anonymous]

Honors college at Pitt, with merit - costs us about the same as UMD. Our student did not live in the honors dorm (up the big hill), had several options (take certain classes or do a project), and was happy there

[Anonymous]

They vary widely but generally help academically-focused students find like-minded peers. Some have rigid requirements, others have minimal requirements (generally a GPA floor). DC is in a loosely structured one and has really enjoyed the community and the honors class options. They serious considered a much more structured honors program at another large university that offered $$$.

All schools have info about what’s required to be considered (some are automatic, some are an additional application with general application, some are separate application after receiving an admissions offer).

[Anonymous]

The honors program was one of the major reasons that I chose Ohio State over other universities I was admitted to. It meant that about 1/3-1/2 of major and some gen-ed courses were offered as advanced seminars capped at 25ish students vs the larger 50-100+ standard lectures. As a social sciences major this meant more writing-intensive/discussion-based courses and the opportunity to complete an independent thesis research project, all of which helped me to get into top graduate schools. SLACs weren’t an option financially for me, but the honors program helped me to develop some of those close faculty relationships and critical inquiry skills on a big campus while staying on budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Honors program at DCs school comes with a $28k/year scholarship that made the school affordable for us. It also allows DC to take smaller, specialized seminars and receive more personal advising. There is no special housing or registration advantage.

As far as requirements, there is a minimum GPA to stay in the program, a sequence of required courses (1 each semester except for second semester freshman year when there are two) and an Honors thesis written during senior year. So a bit more work, but a number of the requirements are just honors versions of courses DC would have had to take anyway, but DC found most of them worthwhile.

This sounds very similar to my DC’s Honors program. They also have a meeting/lounge area for the Honors students, with quite a few academic and social activities that my DC has enjoyed attending. My DC wasn’t interested in Greek life, and I think this gave them a sense of community with less of a social commitment than joining a fraternity or sorority would have.

[Anonymous]

My high stat, academic son picked JMU and is in the honors college. Many people were surprised bc he’s “too smart for JMU” but he loves it. He likes living in the honors dorm and enjoys being with other more academic focused kids. They get to choose classes early which is a great benefit and he’s excited about the capstone project bc he likes that kind of in depth study/ work.

[Anonymous]

U of SC gives in-state tuition to honors students. That’s a big benefit.

Some kids want to leave the State of Maryland and have a restricted budget so an honors program at a big state school can help them have what they want.

The UMD program sounds good and also stressful. The honors dorms are not all new, and they take classes with non-honors students. That said, it sounds ideal for kids who want to do the extra reading and hard work to have “honors” on their diploma.

I view honors as a marketing ploy to attract a certain level of student. My kid was offered honors at some schools, and I saw it as a way for the school to get a better student than they would have otherwise.

My oldest would melt under the pressure due to anxiety and adhd, so honors is not for them.

My friends at UMD were honors. I’m not sure how their experience contributed or didn’t in the long term to their happiness. I have learning disabilities so honors was fine in high school but not for me in college.

My view is it doesn’t matter to long term happiness or success (honors or not) and choose what path interests you the most.

The people who do the best seem the best at developing positive relationships. That alone can make up for a lot.

[Anonymous]

I’m the PP who talked about UMD.

I was not in honors and had 25 or so students in my classes (except for some 101 Econ / other classes) and was accepted to top ten journalism program.

I also got into a T25 grad school.

Never did honors in college and had undiagnosed learning disabilities.

Your student will be fine and probably has way better support!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The honors program was one of the major reasons that I chose Ohio State over other universities I was admitted to. It meant that about 1/3-1/2 of major and some gen-ed courses were offered as advanced seminars capped at 25ish students vs the larger 50-100+ standard lectures. As a social sciences major this meant more writing-intensive/discussion-based courses and the opportunity to complete an independent thesis research project, all of which helped me to get into top graduate schools. SLACs weren’t an option financially for me, but the honors program helped me to develop some of those close faculty relationships and critical inquiry skills on a big campus while staying on budget.

Glad to hear this! Two kids in honors programs at big state schools (Wisconsin and Minnesota). So far, the two kids have had much of the above experiences (smaller classes, faculty relationships, and getting to know peers). Only one kid opted to take living learning honors dorm situation, and thinks it’s nice.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any opinions/knowledge of the honors program at NC State? The info posted on their website is just the usual generic stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:U of SC gives in-state tuition to honors students. That’s a big benefit.

Some kids want to leave the State of Maryland and have a restricted budget so an honors program at a big state school can help them have what they want.

The UMD program sounds good and also stressful. The honors dorms are not all new, and they take classes with non-honors students. That said, it sounds ideal for kids who want to do the extra reading and hard work to have “honors” on their diploma.

I view honors as a marketing ploy to attract a certain level of student. My kid was offered honors at some schools, and I saw it as a way for the school to get a better student than they would have otherwise.

My oldest would melt under the pressure due to anxiety and adhd, so honors is not for them.

My friends at UMD were honors. I’m not sure how their experience contributed or didn’t in the long term to their happiness. I have learning disabilities so honors was fine in high school but not for me in college.

My view is it doesn’t matter to long term happiness or success (honors or not) and choose what path interests you the most.

The people who do the best seem the best at developing positive relationships. That alone can make up for a lot.

You can get in state tuition at U of SC without being in honors. My DD was just accepted to the school and the merit was with the acceptance letter. Honors decisions come out after.

[Anonymous]

Accepted to, but did not attend an honors college at a state flagship university.

The only con regarding public flagship honors colleges is that one typically foregoes attending a very elite (Top 10 or Top 15) college or university in order to enroll in the state public honors college.

Assuming that one admitted to any of Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Wharton, or Stanford would not consider attending a public flagship honors college even with a merit scholarship covering all tuition & fees, imagine selecting between a state flagship honors college on a full tuition & fees scholarship (actually included more in our case) and one or more of these elite schools:

Penn (but not Wharton), Brown, Dartmouth, Cornell, U Chicago, Duke, or Northwestern.

Any of the three main service academies (USNA, USMA, USAFA).

And a top ranked LAC such as Williams, Amherst, Bowdoin, or Pomona.

In our case, at least one from each group was an option.

The honors college included priority class selection, amazing dorm, small honors only classes, free spring break two week trip to Cuba, special advising, special on-campus events, etc., yet selected a different option.

Saw no cons whatsoever in the public flagship honors college beyond giving up another outstanding educational opportunity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They vary widely but generally help academically-focused students find like-minded peers. Some have rigid requirements, others have minimal requirements (generally a GPA floor). DC is in a loosely structured one and has really enjoyed the community and the honors class options. They serious considered a much more structured honors program at another large university that offered $$$.

All schools have info about what’s required to be considered (some are automatic, some are an additional application with general application, some are separate application after receiving an admissions offer).

I agree with the advice above. It varies a lot from school to school. I picked my big state U for the honors college and lived in the honors dorm. It was not a good experience. The participants skewed male/Engineering and I was female/Liberal Arts. So the social benefits were minimal. I didn't make any good female friends that year and my roommate proved to be a jerk. The dorm was a bit nicer but other things were wrong with the whole school culture (very drinking and sports-focused, not intellectual).

I ended up transferring to School A's rival state school which also had an honors college. The honors college kids and classes were more to my liberal arts taste there but also a bit quirky and pretentious. The administrators were comically snobby about certain majors (pharmacy, etc.). From hanging around School B's honors college, I learned valuable lessons in how to create a personal "baby genius" impression to get scholarships to grad school. However, I quickly decided I'd had it with trying to integrate with the "elite" and gave up on taking honors college classes after sophomore year. The regular ones were just as challenging and meaningful with less instructor quirkiness and I was one of the top-ranked students in my major and graduating class. Overall, I was quite satisfied with School B, highly recommend it, and would "do it again". But I remain skeptical of honors colleges.

Summing up what I learned:

1) the university has to be an excellent fit first;

2) the demographics of the program matter to having peers and making friends;

3) much better to talk to students actually in the program about it vs. reading materials;

4) employers probably don't care about honors vs. non-honors degrees and it remains unclear to me whether special efforts and degrees have any value proportionate to the effort required to complete them. I was never disadvantaged by forgoing the opportunity to write a thesis or to get a special degree name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They vary widely but generally help academically-focused students find like-minded peers. Some have rigid requirements, others have minimal requirements (generally a GPA floor). DC is in a loosely structured one and has really enjoyed the community and the honors class options. They serious considered a much more structured honors program at another large university that offered $$$.

All schools have info about what’s required to be considered (some are automatic, some are an additional application with general application, some are separate application after receiving an admissions offer).

I agree with the advice above. It varies a lot from school to school. I picked my big state U for the honors college and lived in the honors dorm. It was not a good experience. The participants skewed male/Engineering and I was female/Liberal Arts. So the social benefits were minimal. I didn't make any good female friends that year and my roommate proved to be a jerk. The dorm was a bit nicer but other things were wrong with the whole school culture (very drinking and sports-focused, not intellectual).

I ended up transferring to School A's rival state school which also had an honors college. The honors college kids and classes were more to my liberal arts taste there but also a bit quirky and pretentious. The administrators were comically snobby about certain majors (pharmacy, etc.). From hanging around School B's honors college, I learned valuable lessons in how to create a personal "baby genius" impression to get scholarships to grad school. However, I quickly decided I'd had it with trying to integrate with the "elite" and gave up on taking honors college classes after sophomore year. The regular ones were just as challenging and meaningful with less instructor quirkiness and I was one of the top-ranked students in my major and graduating class. Overall, I was quite satisfied with School B, highly recommend it, and would "do it again". But I remain skeptical of honors colleges.

Summing up what I learned:

1) the university has to be an excellent fit first;

2) the demographics of the program matter to having peers and making friends;

3) much better to talk to students actually in the program about it vs. reading materials;

4) employers probably don't care about honors vs. non-honors degrees and it remains unclear to me whether special efforts and degrees have any value proportionate to the effort required to complete them. I was never disadvantaged by forgoing the opportunity to write a thesis or to get a special degree name.

Were the schools Penn State University and the University of Pittsburgh ?

About a decade ago, the honors college administrators at Penn State complained about the honors college being dominated by engineering students. Adjusted selection criteria to be more holistic in order to change the composition of the honors college.

[Anonymous]

UVA has Echols Scholars, but they select you. It's usually the top 5% of accepted UVA students and often offered to those who might go Ivy. Honors participants have many privileges including being exempt from core requirements, and having priority in signing up for classes and lots of hobnobbing with faculty.

The best scholarship at UVA is the Jefferson but it is privately administered and your own high school must nominate your child (one per school and only those schools that have been accepted to participate. It's full freight including a living stipend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of the offerings of a big state school (research opportunities, lots of clubs and activities, athletics, diversity, etc.) with a small college feel (small classes and seminars, getting to know the professors, nicer/smaller dorms).

- Graduate of honors program at my big state university and hoping for same for my kids

That was my DC's experience in an honors program (her school didn't have a full honors college -- sorry if this is off-topic). She had a mix of small honors classes similar to classes at a SLAC, along with some regular classes and a mentored thesis involving some interesting research. The honors residence hall was full of studious kids who enjoyed learning. There were lots of fun activities for the honors students, which helped my rather shy DC make some good friends. It was a great experience and very affordable (public university + merit aid). I feel she got a better education than her siblings, who went to high-ranked private universities.