deepfriedeggroll

mine took about 2 weeks?

MeeHahn

lol i got accepted

notsogood

Is there any chance of me being admitted to the honors program if....I didn't get invited and i didn't fill out the application by the april 15th deadline. I do qualify (GPA is higher than 3.5) but would they have mercy on me? Is it possible to still get in? What do you guys think?

MeeHahn

well i got in really easily, you should ask

notsogood

^How did you get in the UHP? By invite or application or a simple phone call?

Apricot Tree

I encourage anyone who is interested to apply. They're very receptive of interested students, even if you've missed the application deadline. If I can remember correctly, the minimum criteria for getting into the UHP is EITHER a 3.5 high school GPA or attaining a certain score on the SATs.

If you have time, read the annual reports the honors program publishes on their website. The most recent one is from the year 2005-2006. Those documents reveal some very startling facts... Only a little over 35% of admitted UHP students successfully complete the program in two years. So many students from my year were dismissed or voluntarily quit (one inside source told me 60% of our incoming class of 300 were gone after just 3 quarters), that I think the UHP staff is embarrassed to make public the statistics for our year (incoming class of 2006). The annual drop-out rate for lower-division honors students is quite high and mostly biased towards science/engineering students. After my freshman year, I think there were 5 engineering majors left in the UHP from my incoming class...and at least one of the five was on UHP's academic probation. Heading into your sophomore year, you'll notice the composition of your year's incoming honors class to be significantly different. One can expect 90% of the survivors to be CHASS students, while a good number of COE and CNAS folks fall casualty to the GPA requirement.

I don't say many good things about UCR, but I will openly support the UHP. For those who are serious about education, the honors program is a must. The staff members of the honors office are very supportive and care deepy for each students' interests and concerns. They help to create a learning environment that fosters personal growth and champions the spirit of research. UHP coordinators make it their mission to satisfy honors students' academic endeavors by referring you to undergraduate research projects, various speaker series on campus, and make life in Riverside more tolerable by constantly emailing you a plethora of scholarship/community service opportunities plus UHP exclusive trips/socials events. The four lower-division honors classes I took have definitely been the highlight of my education at UCR. If you're undecided as to whether or not the honors program is something you truly want to be involved, I would advise you to apply so you may keep your options open. Should you decide that you don't like the UHP (and many many people don't), you still walk away with priority registration until the quarter after you terminate your membership...unless, of course, the student quits the honors program in the first few weeks of a quarter before registering for next quarter's classes (haha, the brazen stupidity found on this campus will amaze you!).

Unfortunately, I did not reside in Pentland Hills. In my freshman year, I lived in A-I, where living conditions were sometimes worse than that of the military. The showers would not have hot water for as long as 10 days at a time, theft was at an all-time historical high, we once experienced 4 fire drills in a two-day period (two real fires: one burned down an entire lounge on the third floor and the other was a blatant act of arson from an upset student living in the hall across from mine, which incidentally was the second honors hall in the building), and the food is just awful! Dorm halls in AI are serviced by an unified air system, so if one person gets sick... Oh, and the walls are EXTREMELY thin. If you have sexually active dorm neighbors (especially if the girl is contumeliously vocal leading up to the climax), even the world's most expensive ear plugs won't help you out much.

notsogood

^I love reading your posts, lol.

I only have one concern with the UHP. I understand the UHP students are going to be required to take some courses, but i have no clue what these courses will be on. Do we actually obtain a letter grades from these courses, and do these grades count towards our total number of units?

In the future i would like to apply to UCLA, but unfortunately they have a unit cap at 120 quarter units, meaning anyone who is above 120 units will automatically get rejected. I do want to complete my GE's and pre-req's but at the same time i dont want the honor courses to be counted towards my units and go over the unit cap.

Apricot Tree

Honors courses are designed to fit into your breadth worksheet. In a way, they almost function as substitutes or complements your breadth classes.

UCR, Honors Program- Summer 2008 Course Offerings
Take for example, Religious Studies 15: Death (what a marvelous subject to be studying while enduring the despair of heat and smog during the summer months in Riverside). This class will count towards your breadth requirement for a class in the ethnic studies category, and also knock off one of the course requirements for the honors program.

Here's the schedule for Fall 2008 classes:
UCR, Honors Program- Fall 2008 Course Offerings
Do you see the honors chemistry classes? Enrolling in that one will allow you to fulfill your lower-division pre-requisite for science majors and count as 4 units towards the honors requirement of 16 honors units. If you take an entire year's worth of honors chem, and then take a quarter of honors Organic Chemistry, you'll complete your obligations to the honors program. By taking that track, the honors program will not hinder your program of study, but rather enhances your transcript. However, the downside is those honors Chem classes are grueling and your GPA may suffer. So, you may want to just take 2 quarters of honors Chem, and then abandon that track in favor of regular Chem, while completing your honors requirement through enrolling in two honors breadth classes. Find a good balance.

As for the unit cap, be careful about that... I'll have exactly 119 units after this quarter. Close shave, huh?
This might mean I'm ineligible to take a summer calculus class, even though it's mandatory or else my major status will be jeopardized if I decide to transfer. Ugh, I haven't sorted out this entire mess yet. If your goal is to transfer to UCLA, just plan your courses wisely.

notsogood

Do students in the UHP have special counselors who actually care about the courses we take?

Bye the way I would like to ask you a personal question, What made you choose Riverside over the other UC's? You sound really smart and dedicated to your education but how'd you end up at UCR? For me i was "unclucky" i guess. Rejected by UCB, UCSD by a hair thread, and the notorious UCI (maybe because im not asian and i don't have a 4.0 gpa)

notsogood

Darn they won't let me in because they say "to many students applied" and the deadline has passed!

Anyone have any suggestions on how i can get in?

deepfriedeggroll

i think they have another honors program thing where you sign up as a sophmore.

notsogood

^that won't be much help because i plan on transferring as a junior and was hoping with honors completed.

What if i show up in person and plead for a spot in the UHP? Darn i just don't know what to do.

Apricot Tree

Sorry for the late response.

Notsogood, in answer to your question on May 16: I had a terrible GPA coming out of high school. I went to one of the best (and most competitive) high schools in San Diego. Plus, I think I slept through most of 9th and 10th grade... just could never get used to the fact that high school started at 7:35 (which meant bus came around 6:45am). When I got a car and began driving in 11th grade, I was finally able to get enough sleep at night and thus, began getting straight As that year. My roommate was pretty much in the same situation. Haha, we sometimes attribute our straight As in college to not having to wake up until noon on some days...

I'm saddened to hear of your situation with the UHP. It's conceivable that they may have enough students to the point where the program cannot accommodate any more entrants to SUHP. If I were you, I'd email them daily. Not to harass them, but to display genuine interest and perhaps impress them with your writing skills if that is your strength. Just be sure to emphasize what unique contributions you can make to the UHP community... and make no mention of your plans to transfer.

Worst case scenario: join honors through sophomore component. I actually know of a fellow sophomore business major who joined UHP as a sophomore, and is finishing his honors requirements in just one year! I also know of a 2nd year biology major who joined UHP through sophomore component, made an modest attempt at completing honors, and was accepted to UCLA and Berkeley around this time last month. He'll be transferring to UCLA in the Fall.

Being in the honors program is not a crucial element of your transfer application. Sure, it'll help decorate a transcript, and the priority registration ensures you'll get into the necessary classes. However, my roommate never bothered with honors, and he got into UCLA (but didn't get into Cal). Another graduate from my high school who is a year older than me got into UCLA last year, and he never participated in the honors program. That fella faced the same trade-off as I: transfer to a premier university and graduate in 2.5 years, or stay at UCR and graduate in one. He ultimately decided to stay at UCR.

In the end, if you are denied admissions from honors...well, be happy! Enjoy all the free time you'll end up having by not doing a bazillion chores in order to be an honors student. While there are definitely perks to being an honors student, the benefits have a cost. There are plenty of reasons NOT to like the honors program. I mentioned in my very first post in this thread that there are downsides to being in honors as well. I will not reveal any of them in detail. For those attending SUHP: brace yourself for boot camp and don't be surprised if your fellow incoming honors students begin complaining as early as breakfast on Day 2...and it'll only escalate from there until your last day of HNPG 10B.

Honors or not, try your best to enjoy your first year at UCR. All freshmen deserve to have a "honeymoon period" upon entering college (no matter how bad the college is). Enjoy it while it lasts, and try to prolong it if possible. You'll have the remainder of your stay at UCR to confront and accept the ugly truth, and scratch your head and wonder at the validity behind the existence of this so-called university and its foul surroundings.

notsogood

I convinced the lower divisions coordinator to accept me in the Honors Program, hehe. However I will be majoring in Chemistry and am quite eager to see how I perform. Do you think I will be able to complete all the GE courses, lower division honor classes, and pre-req's to transfer to UCLA as a chem major in 2 years without going over the 120 unit cap? I know you won't know this off the top of your head, but you think its possible?

Thanks in advance.

Debbie427

I have the same goal as you do *except I'm a neuroscience major*. It's definitely possible, yes. Just be sure to keep track of how many units each of your classes is.