UMass is pretty transparent - they tell you that they want the Honors college to represent a broad range of majors and kids so one major may have a 1600 SAT while another may have a 1250. They also take a holistic look so a kid who might have made the Olympics or some special “hook” might get in over the obvious on paper “smarter” kid who has the typical “Captain of tennis team etc, volunteer of the year etc”
My daughter was not accepted to honors college but doesn’t seem to be a deal breaker. 3.8 UW 1420 SAT poly sci. Seems admissions overall will be more competitive this year based on:
“The admission of students is largely an estimated projection based on an enrollment formula and percent enrollment by accepted student trends from previous years,” Sullivan said. “I do know that as this is the second year of over-enrollment, the University will be adjusting that formula for the upcoming year.”
What majors are considered competitive? I plan on majoring in biomedical engineering ad hope to get into the honors college.
Engineering along with Nursing, CS and business are considered the most competitive schools at UMass. Honors for Engineering is not typically considered a big “leg up” because it is already a very challenging program. Harder to get into honors for those programs than say a humanities major, because they like to have a good mix of students. Otherwise Honors would mostly be filled with Nursing and CS students. Good luck!