lsu1993

I was going to apply to honors, but when I saw that you were required to stay in a certain dorm your freshman year I didn't want to do it anymore. None of the dorms I picked out were one of the honors dorms. Is there any gain in doing honors? Does your diploma look different from everyone elses? In HS there is huge benefit to taking AP courses. Is this similar to honors courses in College? If honors just means smaller classes and independent research projects then im thinking of laying off. thoughts?

klparker312

Really? I didn't think doing honors requred to stay in a certain dorm. Are you sure about that? I'm not so sure...
One big benifit is being able to register for classes before everyone else.

spectrum2

We visited last week and yes the honors process has changed. Students have to apply for it now and it won't be automatically offered based on scores. The requirement is that students live in the honors dorm unless they are in the core. They were not clear at this point if a student could live in the engineering dorm instead of the honors dorm. It seems like things are in the process of being figured out for freshmen entering Fall 2012.

SimpleLife

When we visited with the head of the honors department in the early spring, she told us that the whole program was just about to be re-vamped. I don't remember hearing that students would be required to live in the honors dorms, but that's certainly believable. We did hear that the auto-admit system based on scores, etc, was going to change. And that students would no longer be permitted to "linger" in the program, using the benefit of early registration without participation. They wanted to require so many honor credits, or something like that. My son and I liked all the new ideas. It seemed like they would give the honors program more credibility and value. We'll see. They were in the process of solidifying all the new policies at the time, and they were trying to decide how to implement them -- grandfather some things in, not grandfather other things in. It's going to be interesting.

Isu1993, what's wrong with the honors dorms, in your opinion? What is it about them that would make you give up the honors program in order to avoid them?

desilu

Things may have changed, but honors courses do not help your GPA any more than regular courses. Certain departments, e.g. engineering, have their own honors distinction. I believe that honors will be designated on your diploma.

Yes, there will be lots of changes in the honors dept. I believe someone well-liked just retired.

lsu1993

I really wanted to have a single suite balcony style room (meaning I have my own bedroom and share a connecting bathroom with one other person). All of the honors dorms are modular which means you have to share your bedroom with two people vs. 1 and 4 people share your bathroom vs. 2. I really like people but i really liked the idea of having my own personal place to crash without constantly having to deal with others. I just got an email about honors which is where i found out about the dorms. Ill copy the geist of it here.

Thank you for your interest in the Texas A&M University Honors Program.

In order to participate in the University Honors Program, you must complete an application and be accepted into the program.

Important Reminders:

The deadline to apply to the University Honors Program is 11:59 PM, December 15.

There is no fee to apply to Honors.

Students who are admitted to the University Honors Program are required to reside in the Honors Housing Community in their first year at Texas A&M University. Exceptions may be granted in rare circumstances. Please contact Honors and Undergraduate Research for further information.

SimpleLife

^You're kind of right about the honors dorms. In McFadden, one of the freshman honors dorms, you share your bedroom with one person, and that bedroom has one bathroom that is shared with the same one person. It's not a bad set-up.

My son only looked at honors dorms and Mosher, so I don't know about the others. But if it's like it is at every other campus I'm familiar with, you're not likely to get a single room as a freshman without some sort of ADA allowance anyway. I'm not saying it's impossible -- and I really don't know about A&M specifically, but I do know that a lot of people would prefer to have their own rooms; and high demand for something often equates to a relative "freshman shut-out."

Still, I'm like you and follow the principle that it can't hurt to ask! Good luck!

yojay48

Did you get a letter yet lsu?

lsu1993

@Simplelife, There may be freshman rules about dorm priority, I dont really know. But it sounds like a first come first serve deal at A&M. When I went on a tour they said to apply early, because as soon as you are accepted you can make dorm choices. I was hoping that I would be able to nab one of these rooms since im auto admit and will be admitted way before everyone else

@yojay - I am on step three. As I said, Im an auto admit so I should be getting a letter any day now.

SimpleLife

^But don't the assignments all begin at once, in the spring? I'm pretty sure they happen after all the upperclassmen get their dorm assignments, and then after certain classifications of incoming freshmen (NMF, honors, etc) get theirs, and then they begin using the first-come, first-served policy for the remaining rooms. Right? I mean, you won't get a dorm assignment until early next summer, no matter when you sign up, I believe.

lsu1993

I really don't know the specifics so I won't provide any more responses regarding dorms. back to the honors program in general, is it really worth while to put forth extra work to complete the program or will i be just as well off getting a non honors degree?

SimpleLife

^Ah. I see. Your original post made it sound like the dorms were you primary concern.

sandrabui

I am a Sophomore and this will be my first semester doing Honors. I personally think it will be worth the "extra work" for a multitude of reasons.

First of all, the classes are MUCH smaller. I abhorred the fact that in a regular course, I had to struggle to hear the professor in class because there were 250+ students in the room. In an honors course, classroom sizes range around 20-25 people.

Second, you get to personally know your professor and vice versa. This helps in the long run when you really need to ask for a recommendation or what not. Plus, it doesn't hurt to get to know your professor as a person in general.

Third, if you complete enough honors credit, you can graduate with University Honors, Foundation Honors, or even both. It's nice to graduate and have them call your name saying so and so graduated Magna Cum Laude with University and Foundation Honors. Plus you get a pretty stole on your graduation gown Which you probably still get if you graduate as a regular Magna Cum Laude without honors..but I'm not really sure.

Fourth, it's for your own sake. If you plan on going to graduate school, I feel like going the extra mile with honors will help prepare for the future graduate work you will have to endure.

Fifth, from what I have heard, the "extra work" really isn't that big of a deal. For example, I will be taking HIST 105 Honors and Math 166 Honors. After a bit of research, HIST 105 honors only differs from the regular honors in testing (all free response as opposed to half free response and half multiple choice). For Math 166 Honors, the difference is there's a required math lab to take and perhaps a little bit more material to learn.

Lastly, priority registration is a wonderful incentive! It's such a pain to have to constantly refresh Howdy in hopes of someone dropping a course you want to be in.

You should do it! (: Plus, when you apply to scholarships, you can always say you're in honors, and at A&M, that automatically means you have at least a 3.5 GPR (which is NOT bad at all).

Hope this helped!

lsu1993

Im sorry simplelife, I knew what I wanted to say in my head and forgot that piece of information. I guess I kind of did change the question. Sorry!

@sandrabui, so you can decide to start honors your sophomore year and not your freshman year and still complete the program?

sandrabui

Yup! I'm not sure about new Honors rules for Fall 2012, but I know that if you have at least a 3.5 GPR at A&M, you can automatically sign up for an honors class. The honors curriculum can definitely be completed starting Sophomore year. I wouldn't advise starting Junior year though (you probably wouldn't be able to meet all the requirements if you start too late). The curriculum can be viewed here: University Honors Plans