Honors Programs: which are the best?

[Anonymous]

How about UPitt Honors College?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about UPitt Honors College?

I'd love to hear about some first-hand experience with this one. John Willingham is a fan and the BPhil seems quite rigorous for an undergraduate program, but many aspects of the program seem either overly flexible or kind of opaque from the outside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which non-honors schools would you Penn State honors program over? UMD? UVA? Michigan? T30 schools?

Honors programs are a stats grab. If you get and need the merit, that’s one thing. But if full pay, I’d Definitely choose any T30, including UVA and Mich over Penn State.

Thanks. No merit aid here (yet). Not sure any aid is forthcoming. Deciding between Michigan and Penn State Honors.

Look at the coursework at PSU honors. The good programs have coursework not just perks.

Unless the job placement of PSU honors is demonstrably superior to non honors…not sure why the coursework matters.

A social environment than brings high-achievers together is good. Think of the difference between students in AP classes as a large public school vs those in on-level classes

Except...98% of your classes won't be with other high-achievers...just a small number of "honors" classes. Are you claiming PSU basically has an AP-track for many majors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which non-honors schools would you Penn State honors program over? UMD? UVA? Michigan? T30 schools?

Honors programs are a stats grab. If you get and need the merit, that’s one thing. But if full pay, I’d Definitely choose any T30, including UVA and Mich over Penn State.

Thanks. No merit aid here (yet). Not sure any aid is forthcoming. Deciding between Michigan and Penn State Honors.

Look at the coursework at PSU honors. The good programs have coursework not just perks.

Unless the job placement of PSU honors is demonstrably superior to non honors…not sure why the coursework matters.

A social environment than brings high-achievers together is good. Think of the difference between students in AP classes as a large public school vs those in on-level classes

Except...98% of your classes won't be with other high-achievers...just a small number of "honors" classes. Are you claiming PSU basically has an AP-track for many majors?

Because the average student takes 50 courses each term, only one of which will be honors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which non-honors schools would you Penn State honors program over? UMD? UVA? Michigan? T30 schools?

Honors programs are a stats grab. If you get and need the merit, that’s one thing. But if full pay, I’d Definitely choose any T30, including UVA and Mich over Penn State.

Thanks. No merit aid here (yet). Not sure any aid is forthcoming. Deciding between Michigan and Penn State Honors.

I've attended both schools. I am parent age. I left PSU Honors after freshman year. I switched to Pitt and participated somewhat in the Honors program (summarized this experience on another thread). Loved Pitt. I then got a grad degree from Michigan and really enjoyed attending Michigan.

Ann Arbor, in my opinion, has many more subcommunities/intellectual groupings for different types of students to find their people. PSU was pretty homogenous and not very intellectual when I was there. I would characterize it as full of suburban "student council" types. Liberal Arts was the weakest part of PSU and that is where I entered. I was contemplating a business dual-degree at PSU but realized the MBA I planned would duplicate the undergrad business curriculum. I did not like the social scene at PSU either in the Honors college (seemed like 70% male engineers) or the general party scenes. There was a lot of alcohol abuse and no real alternatives. This goes on everywhere, so it was more the lack of alternatives that was the issue.

What was good at PSU was the campus and many of the professors. The campus is nice and the professors met my expectations.

I would pick Michigan (which has some but not identical social characteristics) over PSU Honors unless PSU is a financially completely different situation or your kid wants to be closer to DMV. If your DC has the stats for it, they could apply to the Michigan Honors College or a like-minded learning community. Both schools are large and your DC will need to be a self-starter to wring maximum benefit out of the experience. Being in a smaller, identified community can be helpful...if that community is a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Making college lists. Curious which colleges have top notch honors programs and why? And separately, are there any honors programs that are heads and shoulders above the rest of the school? A school that may not have the strongest academics, but the honors program is so strong that it outweighs that lack of strength? Or does a school have to have decent academics overall to make the honors program excellent?

*A lot of them
*Smaller classes and more experienced professors
*Most of them
*It's called graduate school
*Preferably

Srsly OP, it depends on the major and the school.

What is your real question?

I am the OP. I have no other question or motivation than what I asked. My daughter is on track to have grades to perhaps qualify for some honors programs. I want more information.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh and UCSB CCS. It's a distinct college with distinct majors with distinct courses for each subject, rather than a bunch of extra honors courses tacked on to a regular major

This seems unique…what does CCS stand for?

https://letmegooglethat.com/?q=ucsb+ccs

[Anonymous]

I was in the honors program at a big 10 school. I would tell my kids to go to the best school they can. Not pick a school that has a good honors program. No one really cares about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which non-honors schools would you Penn State honors program over? UMD? UVA? Michigan? T30 schools?

Honors programs are a stats grab. If you get and need the merit, that’s one thing. But if full pay, I’d Definitely choose any T30, including UVA and Mich over Penn State.

Thanks. No merit aid here (yet). Not sure any aid is forthcoming. Deciding between Michigan and Penn State Honors.

Michigan. No question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which non-honors schools would you Penn State honors program over? UMD? UVA? Michigan? T30 schools?

Honors programs are a stats grab. If you get and need the merit, that’s one thing. But if full pay, I’d Definitely choose any T30, including UVA and Mich over Penn State.

Thanks. No merit aid here (yet). Not sure any aid is forthcoming. Deciding between Michigan and Penn State Honors.

I've attended both schools. I am parent age. I left PSU Honors after freshman year. I switched to Pitt and participated somewhat in the Honors program (summarized this experience on another thread). Loved Pitt. I then got a grad degree from Michigan and really enjoyed attending Michigan.

Ann Arbor, in my opinion, has many more subcommunities/intellectual groupings for different types of students to find their people. PSU was pretty homogenous and not very intellectual when I was there. I would characterize it as full of suburban "student council" types. Liberal Arts was the weakest part of PSU and that is where I entered. I was contemplating a business dual-degree at PSU but realized the MBA I planned would duplicate the undergrad business curriculum. I did not like the social scene at PSU either in the Honors college (seemed like 70% male engineers) or the general party scenes. There was a lot of alcohol abuse and no real alternatives. This goes on everywhere, so it was more the lack of alternatives that was the issue.

What was good at PSU was the campus and many of the professors. The campus is nice and the professors met my expectations.

I would pick Michigan (which has some but not identical social characteristics) over PSU Honors unless PSU is a financially completely different situation or your kid wants to be closer to DMV. If your DC has the stats for it, they could apply to the Michigan Honors College or a like-minded learning community. Both schools are large and your DC will need to be a self-starter to wring maximum benefit out of the experience. Being in a smaller, identified community can be helpful...if that community is a good fit.

PP, can you elaborate on your Pitt honors college experience? My DC is admitted for biology on a pre-med track. She also has other OOS flagship admits but not for honors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which non-honors schools would you Penn State honors program over? UMD? UVA? Michigan? T30 schools?

Honors programs are a stats grab. If you get and need the merit, that’s one thing. But if full pay, I’d Definitely choose any T30, including UVA and Mich over Penn State.

Thanks. No merit aid here (yet). Not sure any aid is forthcoming. Deciding between Michigan and Penn State Honors.

If affordability isn't an issue and we're not talking about some niche program only offered at Penn State, choose Michigan. Imo an honors college designation is the equivalent of an asterick or a footnote.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in the honors program at a big 10 school. I would tell my kids to go to the best school they can. Not pick a school that has a good honors program. No one really cares about that.

+1

Agreed, go to college, learn, and have fun. No one will care whether you go to Michigan or Michigan Honors. NO ONE, trust me.

After a while, no one will even care if you went to Michigan, as long as you have a degree, maybe.

For real ....

[Anonymous]

Michigan has an honors program. Penn State has an honors college. Big difference. Better schools don’t need honors colleges.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in the honors program at a big 10 school. I would tell my kids to go to the best school they can. Not pick a school that has a good honors program. No one really cares about that.

+1

Agreed, go to college, learn, and have fun. No one will care whether you go to Michigan or Michigan Honors. NO ONE, trust me.

After a while, no one will even care if you went to Michigan, as long as you have a degree, maybe.

For real ....

It won't matter for the jobs, maybe, but it will matter for the experience, right? Why do people join frats and sororities? To find communities they have a lot in common with. For those kids who don't want to party, but want to meet other kids who are passionate about learning, honors colleges are a great option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in the honors program at a big 10 school. I would tell my kids to go to the best school they can. Not pick a school that has a good honors program. No one really cares about that.

+1

Agreed, go to college, learn, and have fun. No one will care whether you go to Michigan or Michigan Honors. NO ONE, trust me.

After a while, no one will even care if you went to Michigan, as long as you have a degree, maybe.

For real ....

It won't matter for the jobs, maybe, but it will matter for the experience, right? Why do people join frats and sororities? To find communities they have a lot in common with. For those kids who don't want to party, but want to meet other kids who are passionate about learning, honors colleges are a great option.

I don't know...I don't really equate the two. You can have high stats and get accepted into an Honors College but not be terribly passionate about learning. There are definitely many kids that are after the ability to register for classes early and a good dorm vs. any social connection.