Best Honor Programs at Public Universities (Updated) - Page 2

smorgasbord · 11-30-2010, 03:06 PM

Add another vote for Plan II at UT.

traviss · 11-30-2010, 03:12 PM

Definitely check out New College of Florida. It's the state of Florida's honors college (but technically fell under USF for years). It's a tiny LAC (800 students) and is renowned for sending grads off to top graduate programs. I'm going though my first semester now and love it here!

Engineerjw · 11-30-2010, 03:15 PM

The UF is not very renowned. The UCF one is.

coolziller2 · 11-30-2010, 03:23 PM

agreed. the UF honors program is just disjointed classes. UCF's gives you an entire program with a symposium class for all honors freshmen, an "honors congress" like honors sga, smaller classes, automatic admission for national merit scholars (not to mention UCF's $40,000 scholarship for national merit finalists), luncheons and how-to workshops with people ranging from international ambassadors to the director of disney world, the opportunity to do service learning teaching Junior Achievement at local elementary schools and so much more. i can't imagine trading my experience with UCF's Burnett Honors College for UF's. UCF's the third largest public university in the nation now, and the BHC helps make it a more close-knit undergrad experience.

tb0mb93 · 11-30-2010, 03:40 PM

I don't know how great it is but the honors program at the City University of NY, Macaulay Honors College, accepts kids with SAT scores around 1400 (they only look at M+CR) and shtuff. Pretty much only tops of the class. All I really know about it other than you needa be a really strong applicant is that you get $7500 to be used for study abroad or something else, a macbook, free dorming at one of the campuses, internships, special advising, free tuition

informative · 11-30-2010, 03:55 PM

"The best can provide an elite-quality experience at public U prices, while the worst may not offer much beyond the name itself."

No matter what, you are still graduating with a degree from the university, not the program. Therefore, you need to make sure that the name on the degree is worth it. Honors at UVA or Michigan is going to be significantly better than a degree from Minnesota or Wisconsin.

In the end, the quality of the name is what is going to get you that first job. Make sure you get what you are paying for (even if you are only paying state school prices).

parent2noles · 11-30-2010, 04:24 PM

Florida State's Honors Program is excellent.

D1 is an Honors graduate and now in med school. Her Honors experience included the opportunity to perform significant research as an undergrad and present her work at a national symposium. She received funding for her work and was able, through the Honors Program, to have research access at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory at Florida State University.

Just an amazing opportunity!

mom2collegekids · 11-30-2010, 04:31 PM

(people...add why you think you think a program is good)

Schreyer at Penn State,

Barrett Honors College at Arizona (Barrett is Craig Barrett of Intel),

the University of Florida.

the University of Georgia

University of Mississippi.

UNC-CH

Alabama - Four very different Honors Programs. Two have competitive admissions (Computer-Based Honors Program and University Fellows Experience) and two admit by stats (UHP and International Honors Program). The Honors College offers very LAC-like courses limited to 15 students in each class.

South Carolina

UVM

UT - Plan II

FSU

(keep a space between each school)

Can you guys copy/paste when you add a school? And put WHY you think it's good.

Engineerjw · 11-30-2010, 04:33 PM

Schreyer at Penn State,

Barrett Honors College at Arizona (Barrett is Craig Barrett of Intel),

(Take off the University of Florida)

the University of Georgia

University of Mississippi.

UNC-CH

Alabama - Four very different Honors Programs. Two have competitive admissions (Computer-Based Honors Program and University Fellows Experience) and two admit by stats (UHP and International Honors Program). The Honors College offers very LAC-like courses limited to 15 students in each class.

South Carolina

UVM

UT - Plan II

FSU

UCF - Excellent residence halls, smaller/better class opportunities, treated as elite, small.

FLVADAD · 11-30-2010, 05:01 PM

I think USF has a pretty good program as well. Very similar to UCF as I recall.

SunDiego · 11-30-2010, 05:34 PM

The honors college/program is intriguing, but I'm wondering; If you're a kid with a high level GPA/test scores/ECs why you would want to be in a program that is merely used to shelter you from an average or below average student body? Why not (aside from the obvious $$$) just apply to higher end schools both private or public?

UofAriz and even USC(Calif) both do a very nice job of advertising their honors programs; but the impression is that, "here's where we keep the smart students."

ripemango · 11-30-2010, 05:38 PM

How is the University of Connecticut honors program? It's my home state but I know pretty little about it, is it comparable to these?

old bay mom · 11-30-2010, 05:48 PM

University of South Carolina Honors College (SCHC) is terrific. My sophomore daughter's had easy access to the many honors-level classes available in all majors and schools, and a separate Honors College advisor in addition to her major advisor. She's really liked the caliber of SCHC students in her classes. She reports the professors have been very good, and the honors classes are almost always small - between 10-30 students, with lots of class discussion.

Overall, USC has about 25% out-of-state (OOS) students, but the Honors College is around 50% OOS so it's good for experiencing kids different from yourself. Also, the Honors Residence dorm (new in 2009) is gorgeous, has its own cafeteria and is centrally located. This year, USC opened the Honors Residence to non-Honors students (due to a women's dorm being renovated), but it's still majority SCHC kids. She and her friends started an online satiric newspaper, and have plenty of fun even though they don't do football, Greek life, or drinking. And USC has every major and activity under the sun, which shines a lot warmer down in Columbia throughout the winter than it does in the north. Columbia's got train and airport access, too.

The SCHC/USC General Ed requirements are very comprehensive - it's not just one from Column A and one from Column B. You have to take (or place out of) foreign language, assorted history and analytical topics, even a philosophy class. When DD saw the variety of choices at USC that fulfill the GenEd and Honors requirements, she decided this wasn't too restrictive. By taking classes in subjects new to her, it helped her rule out some majors and discover a minor she'd not considered before. Best thing is USC (at least for Honors students) doesn't routinely require you to take the intro-level classes - DD had access to 300 and 400-level classes her freshman year, even in departments where she'd never had classes before. There's plenty of class sections so you don't get shut out of needed classes. All SCHC students write and present a senior thesis, which is good experience for grad school. USC also is generous with AP course credits, so it's easy to have 1-2 semesters of credit when you start.

Finally, check out the scholarships offered to the Honors College students. Recently, every SCHC student has received some sort of scholarship, plus the OOS packages also came with either in-state tuition or reduced out-of-state tuition, which brings costs down to very reasonable (even cheaper than our in-state flagship for us). There's a lot of students from NJ, Maryland, NY, and PA as well as neighboring southern states. This is smart - it helps USC become more nationally known, attracts top students who don't want to go into major debt for their undergrad degree, and brings geographic diversity to USC. DD's in-state friends came to DC to visit us last summer, so it works to everyone's advantage.

Also, students keep their scholarship by maintaining a reasonable 3.0 GPA. I've heard on CC of other flagship universities where the admitted students get great scholarships, but lose them the first year when they can't nail a 3.5 or higher GPA, and then can't afford to stay at their OOS school.

Sorry for the long post, but this is definitely worth looking at for a great education, and the best OOS bargain on the east coast.

florida1on1 · 11-30-2010, 06:11 PM

Ok UCF honors housing can someone fill me in on this and what about Aid do they give loans or grants?

'rentof2 · 11-30-2010, 06:19 PM

It's on that "Great Honors Programs" list from InsideCollege.com that was linked earlier, but since no one has yet posted specifically about it, definitely Clark Honors College at Univ. of Oregon is a great program: Home | Robert D. Clark Honors College

It's a strong fusion of the school-within-a-school model, but also intergrated with the vast offerings the larger university can provide. The faculty are very strong and terrific teachers, the honors college student body (about 700 students) is tight and collaborative, and of course UO is a wonderful place to be, with Eugene routinely showing up on those "best college town" lists.