Are "Honors" colleges/programs worth the hassle?

[Anonymous]

DD is applying to both Penn State and University of Florida. Penn State is definitely a safety and I think U of F will fall into that category as well. Hence, these are not applications she had budgeted a ton of time for. Just as we were about to submit, she raised a concern that she should be applying to the honors program at each school.

Personally - I am a little skeptical of making the effort. My thinking -

Even at lower ranked schools - these programs can be very difficult to get into - because they are quite small. I think this is true of Penn State

The programs often force students to take a lot of "extra" classes in fields that the student is not interested in

The idea of spending a lot of extra time on apps for these safety schools is pretty annoying - esp. given how many other apps she needs to work on

Curious to hear other peoples perspectives.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is worth it. If these are the schools she gets into, and she wants a more challenging academic experience, you will be glad you submitted the application. Who cares that they are her safety schools? You are applying for a reason (you can't guarantee she will be admitted elsewhere), so do it right.

I had to attend my state university for financial reasons, even though I was admitted to several highly-regarded SLACs. The honors program saved me. Not only were my courses more challenging and my course of study more directed (I found my honors thesis advisors via classes I took my first two years, all through the honors program), but it's how I met students who were more academically inclined. At these big state schools, there are many students there for the college "experience" and who could care less about academics. But I wanted/needed to get a really good education, and planned to go to grad school (which I did). I would have been lost in the non-honors track.

Also, my honors program had an honors dorm where I lived my Freshman year, and that experience alone was worth it. I had friends who only did the honors track for that first year and then left it because they didn't want to write a senior thesis. But the friends they made that first year stayed with them through school and I think it is otherwise easy to get lost at a school like that.

Anyway, I highly recommend honors programs for academic students. It can also make going to a big state school feel like less of a let-down if you originally imagined a different college environment.

[Anonymous]

Look carefully at each program. Some are, some aren’t.
My kid is in one, I won’t mention the school because the program only takes about 15 per year, but being selected for this program allows students to skip all gen ed requirements and use those extra credits to explore whatever they want, provides funding for any conferences or programs they want to attend, and they spend most of senior year doing research that culminates in a project that is presented and often published. That, in my mind is worth it.
This kid would never have wanted to live in an honors dorm with only honors kids or take extra honors level classes just for the sake of a sticker on a diploma.

[Anonymous]

I don't think so.

[Anonymous]

Some of them, Like George Mason's give you perks that are nice, like group housing with the other Honors students and early scheduling to get the classes you want. Also meetings with professors, etc.

[Anonymous]

And Penn state, if I recall correctly, is $5,000 off (or $5,000 automatic scholarship) for honors college.

[Anonymous]

It was worth it at Penn State because of the scholarship, preferential scheduling, and special honors versions of gen ed classes that were much smaller than the normal classes and actually easier and taught by top professors vs grad students.

[Anonymous]

I went to the honors program at Penn State (though of course, a long time ago) and it was absolutely worth it. In addition to the scholarship, it meant taking honors versions of the ridiculous huge freshman classes, getting priority scheduling, etc. Some of my best, lifelong friends are people I met in the honors dorm and I discovered my graduate degree field and career because of a random honors class I took. They didn't require additional classes when I was there, you had to take a certain amount of honors credits but it was easy to fit them into your regular schedule of classes.

I would look at the stats and see if she's a good fit for it. If it's a long shot and she's not likely to go there then skip it. If she's got the qualifications for it and might actually consider going there, then I'd absolutely recommend it.

[Anonymous]

It depends on the school and the program. Mine gave significant scholarships and groomed kids for competitive opportunities like the Rhodes, Marshall, NSF GRF, etc. It was totally worth it.

[Anonymous]

Mine did the honors program and it was worth it, but at that school you don't apply to honors until after you've been admitted to the university. DC was admitted EA, invited to apply to honors, and I think did the application in January.

[Anonymous]

OP. Check college confidential for discussions on UF Honors college. Based on what I recall, it didn't seem to add much value. We are looking at it as a safety as well.

[Anonymous]

I'm sure it depends on the school but in general, I'd say worth it. Honors courses and honors housing saved my college experience.

[Anonymous]

My DD is applying honors at schools she’s likely to attend and get into but not ones she’s just applying to so she has options.

UF SAT is 1500 average for honors so that would make it a reach for her. PSU is a school that has a honors essay that is a pain to write. She’s not likely to attend so not worth the effort.

UDEL we loved and her scores are well within honors range so she’ll submit that one for example.

[Anonymous]

Some are. Mich State had no extra work, and offered DD a 5K/year scholarship on top of the 15k/year merit.

With that said, she got into her ED first choice, in-state, non honors.

[Anonymous]

Safety school are your most important choice in the college process, because by definition your student might have no other choices but to go there (or take a gap year and go around again). So think carefully before you blow off any aspect of that application and if the student is so unenthusiastic about the safety they don’t want to work on the application, think about that too. A safety should be a place that your student is happy to go.