ERC honors worth it?

Colleges & Universities University of California - San Diego
1

<p>I just got this email
Dear ___,</p>

<p>Congratulations on your admission to UC San Diego! Based on your exceptional academic achievement, I invite you to participate in the Eleanor Roosevelt College Freshman Honors Program.</p>

<p>The ERC Freshman Honors Program is an additional reason to say “Yes!” to UC San Diego’s offer of admission. Among the many benefits of the program:</p>

<p>· You will have the opportunity to interact with some of UC San Diego’s faculty in small, informal seminars. Getting to know our faculty is an important key to your academic success. The Freshman Honors Seminar will help you focus your interests, finalize your major, and explore ways to become involved with faculty research.</p>

<p>· You will get to know other academically accomplished students. Your peers – whether classmates, lab partners, or roommates – are essential to your college experience.</p>

<p>· You will have the opportunity to meet with me individually, and work with ERC’s honors academic counselor, during your freshman year.</p>

<p>· You will be invited to special freshman honors enrichment activities. In the last two years honors students have had a seminar with renowned Lincoln scholar Eric Foner and a private lunch with Eleanor Ostrom, winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economics.</p>

<p>To participate in the Freshman Honors Program, just return your Statement of Intent to Register (SIR) by the May 1 deadline. Later in the summer, you will learn how to enroll in the first quarter of the Freshman Honors Seminar when you enroll for your other fall quarter classes.</p>

<p>To learn more about the Freshman Honors Program, please join me at an Honors Reception on Triton Day, April 6th, from 1:15 – 2:15 p.m. We will be meeting in the Great Hall of International House, on the ERC campus. At the reception you will have an opportunity to meet current and future ERC honors students. Parents and family members are more than welcome.</p>

<p>If you are able to attend the Honors Reception, please RSVP by Thursday, April 4th. You may either call my office at 858/534-2247, or email me at <a href=“mailto:ercprovost@ucsd.edu”>ercprovost@ucsd.edu</a>.</p>

<p>All the best,</p>

<p>Alan Houston
Provost, Eleanor Roosevelt College
Professor of Political Science</p>

<p>It seems like a wonderful thing to participate in, but I have no clue. Any current students have any insight on this? I don’t know why I got honors my gpa is horrid. Anyways, my dad always told me not to do honors because it’d lower my GPA. Is this true?
Thank you for the advice! Can’t wait to meet you all</p>

2

<p>As far as I know, this is just the Honors Seminar. If it’s anything like the Revelle Honors Seminar I’m in, it definitely will NOT lower your GPA because it’d just be a once a week seminar that’s 0 units.</p>

<p>I know people who found it boring and a waste of time, but I like it. You get to meet your provost in person weekly, maybe hear some interesting talks. In my case, I managed to get a volunteer research position because there was someone who I thought gave a particularly interesting talk, and I went up to her after the seminar to talk more.</p>

<p>Again, this is assuming that the ERC Freshman Honors Program is like the Revelle Freshman Honors Program.</p>

3

<p>Do you know if it’s possible to get into that by having good grades your freshman year?</p>

4

<p>Yes, good grades gets you into the ERC Honors Seminar (for winter and/or spring quarter; admittance to the fall quarter Honors Seminar is based on high school grades).</p>

<p>I participated in the ERC Honors program, and it’s a great experience! As said above, don’t worry about grades. Its just a seminar, pass/no-pass and just showing up is fine. You get to meet with the Provost (he’s super chill! and he brings cookies/snack to class sometimes) in a class of maybe 20 people, discuss things and occasionally go on field trips. Spring Quarter last year we got to visit the Scripps Pier, the Falling Star house before it was open, and some labs on campus.</p>

<p>Even outside of the seminar though, you get a lot closer with the group of people you’re around, and plenty of people participate in research or labs because of the relationships they form in the seminar. I still participate in some of the ERC Honors program things throughout the year, and several of my friends still do too!</p>

<p>If its a choice between ERC Honors program or not, I’d definitely do it! (:</p>