Youdon'tsay

I'm wondering whether anyone has taken honors classes/is in the honors program.

DS went to SHIP this month, and dh and I were disappointed to learn it's less like an honors college and more like, to us, HS AP courses -- take them or not, dip in and out. Is that your experience, or are we missing something? Also, what are the honors dorms like?

TIA

wemel

I believe that during your freshman year you are only allowed to take one honors course (there are only so many to go around). The one my S took in his major was absolutely fabulous. But I believe you are right about being like AP courses. I think it's just a way to offer more stimulating classes at a large public university. I believe my S's friend at Vanderbilt doesn't even have honors courses.

As far as Lechner goes, the freshman honors dorm, (next year they are going to have another one to meet demand) the dorm is the newest dorm on campus (1989) and has the largest rooms. There are 4 big closets, one bathroom with a shower, and a dressing area. You each have a bed, a bookshelf, a bedside table and a desk. You don't have suitemates so just 2 people share a bathroom. There is also maid service once a week. They assign the freshmen "families" and they organize a lot of activities. If you are familiar with the residential dorm system at Rice, it feels a lot like that. A lot of them get their football tickets together and attend as a group. I don't think you will be disappointed with the dorm.

stbs

Is there any chance your son will be a national merit semifinalist/finalist?

I can't offer any wisdom on honors classes since I'm going to be a freshman in the fall and thus haven't taken any (but I am registered for an honors section of chemistry with an honors lab) but from my perspective I feel like I'm going to join a closely-knit honors community, even though there is no explicit "honors college."

Now... I'm not sure exactly how accessible all of the honors things are to non-scholarship holders. National merit finalists (and I think all four year academic scholarship holders) are guaranteed a spot in one of the honors dorms as well as some great scholarship money. I think they offer a few scholarships to exceptional non-national merit students but I'm not precisely sure about the details. At my recent orientation they did say that there is a waiting list for honors housing.

I would say that if your S might become a national scholar and interested in A&M, he should attend one of the national scholar campus visit days in January or a local event (the honors programs people host several such events in most of the cities in Texas.) I didn't really like SHIP too much but I came to love the campus/people through more a more personalized visit. They treat their scholarship winners very very very well.

Youdon'tsay

Thanks for the replies!

Ds will be a Natl Hisp Scholar (and Commended, but that doesn't apply here), so he's eligible for the honors program. He really liked SHIP, so hopefully it only gets better. He's been focusing on smaller schools -- Rice and smaller -- so it was a bit of a surprise how much he liked it.

I didn't know about the "families." The residential college system is one of our favorite things about Rice.

stbs

National Hisp Scholar is great! I personally don't really feel like I'm going to a huge university. I took advantage of one of the National Scholar days in Jan. and got to meet with my would-be academic advisor, look at some of the research labs in my prospective major, tour the honors dorms. During the excellent lunch they served I actually had a chance to speak with the director of the honors program. (There was only about 15 kids at this particular event, if that many.) Between this and the amazing scholarship offer I was basically sold on A&M.

I remember after the Scholar Day event they even had a student there call my house and ask me if I had any more questions about the university, dorms, etc. The girl I talked to claimed that the Lechner students did a lot activities together including a weekly Saturday lunch together at some local restaurant (I didn't pay attention to the name of it, haha) and some of the things wemel mentioned. When I visited some of the students talked about the community service they do together as a dorm (Habitat for Humanity and some other things). I'm really looking forward to joining either the Lechner or McFadden honors dorms.

I suppose I also ought to mention what is presently my favorite thing about the honors program...In March/April I was invited to apply for the "Champe Fitzhugh Jr. International Honors Leadership Seminar"... in other words, a trip to Italy this summer along with other members of the honors community (national scholars). I filled out the application and sent in my resume and was accepted! So next month I am travelling to Italy (for 20 days!) with about 20-30 other students (many of the same students who will I will be living with in the honors dorm) where we will learn about Italian art/culture etc. and talk about a lot of things related to success in college (study habits/time management, leadership opportunities at the university, etc.) I also got to meet a few of the students I will be travelling with at my orientation where they hosted a special dinner for the participants.

So I hope you can now see why the university feels, to me, so small, and why I believe the honors program treats their students verrrrrry well. I know these opportunities aren't available to everyone, but they are there for your (the OP's) S as a national scholar.

OK, advertisement for A&M's honors programs over.

Youdon'tsay

Wow! What a great opportunity. I can see why you're sold!

ResurgamBell

you are right! top schools dont have "honors courses" because in general they're all top academics

but there are few exceptions...i know cornell's chemE major puts its students in honors chem...

desilu

I registered for my classes, but S was only able to find one 2 credit course to register for. There will be more chances in the spring, but this was disappointing.

What is SHIP?

Youdon'tsay

Here's info about SHIP: Summer Honors Invitational Program '09