<p>@gangstahgrl78: I’m actually not sure what the regular course load for the intro bio and chem classes were, but I know that in terms of Organic Chem, Molecular Bio, and all the following biology and chemistry classes that the Honors kids weren’t really at much of an advantage or disadvantage. For biology, the regular and Honors program kids used the same book; for chem, they used different ones but I think that was more of a personal preference for the professors than either intro-level chem book being “more advanced” than the other. Personally, I would say the courses went a bit more in-depth than the other courses did; for example, our professors would inject more of what their own research was on into the lectures, and our tests seem to have been slightly more challenging. What made the course challenging was not so much the material I think than the amount of competition I had–coming into SC as a “honors” “scholarship” student, I was definitely not mentally prepared to be in a class with all these students who were at or above my level. The curve does compensate for this though; the regular courses curve to I want to say a C+ or B- (so if you score average you will receive these scores on a curve), whereas the honors courses curved to a B+ because the professors and program administrators know that it is the “honors” kids you’re competing with. </p>
<p>I would say the gist of the program is: smaller classes, smaller labs (as I said, one of my labs literally had 8 students in it. The individual attention was great, and we got newer equipment :D), more personal interaction with professors, material about the same level and speed as the ‘regular’ courses, and a better curve. Oh, also, Judy --the program director–does some great programs specifically for FSH students; my year we had a Catalina trip, a Long Beach aquarium trip, among others (all free and optional!).</p>
<p>@thankyou4flying, @zmdw93: I actually just talked to Judy again today (she’s a really great woman and I was turning in some forms to her) and she actually showed me the spreadsheet of all the applicants she got this year for FSH. I mean obviously I don’t know your names, but what she told me was that this year the pool was way more competitive than it has been. I’ll be a junior this upcoming fall, so according to her my year and last year everyone who had over a 2100 was accepted into the program. They usually take about 150 students, not all of whom are guaranteed to enter the university (our classes were about I want to say 80). The spreadsheet was ordered from lowest to highest SAT score, with scores for AP Bio, Chem, and Calc on the side of that. She told me that she was thinking about automatically taking everyone with over a 2200 and all 3 of those APs, and then everyone with over a 2200 and AP Chem and Calc because they seem to be better indicators of how well students do in the class? Everyone with under a 2100 (looked like less than 10 students) was put into the red zone. </p>
<p>I think both of you guys look to be in good shape; I mean, granted, Judy didn’t even know what she was going to do with all these applicants and all the competition. @zdmw93, your SAT score is below the 2200 cutoff at which she would be taking everyone, but you had all the 3 IBs that she’s looking for and did well on all of them. @thankyou4flying, your SAT score puts you in pretty good shape, even if you didn’t take AP Chem (she looks at Honors too, if that helps). </p>
<p>If anyone has more questions about the program, feel free to PM me or post more on this board (hopefully I’ll remember to check it–I only did today because I had extra info for you guys from Judy!). It really is fun and you get really close to all the other FSH students for having braved it through the “Honors” course with you. If you guys end up not getting in though, don’t be discouraged–the “honors” kids aren’t necessarily doing any better than the kids who were not in it at upper-level classes, and we are all kind of sad that Organic Chem curves to a C+ 
because we’re all used to the nice curve of Honors. Also, I just wanted to say that if you guys are doing the program because it’s “Honors,” it really isn’t that big of a deal–sure, people on campus may give you a bit of respect for having gone through it, but on your transcript it will come up as “Advanced General Biology/Chemistry” and your GPA doesn’t get a bump or anything; it will hardly seem like anything to any grad schools looking at your transcript. Do it for the right reasons :)</p>