Honors College Nonsense

rmldad
Thu, 07 Mar 2013 15:32:10 +0000

I have boy/girl twins who both applied to UK with similar resumes:
-34 ACT (single sitting)
-AP Scholar with Distinction (5 APs junior year, 4 more senior year)
-NMF
-multi-sport varsity athlete
-3.9+ UW GPA
-hundreds of service hours
-Kentucky Governor’s Scholar

The major differences between the two is that DD is Valedictorian, Class Vice-President and had a part-time job. DS played three sports (Captain of one), while DD played two (allowing her time to work). DD was accepted into UK’s Honors program, but son was rejected.

When I called to discuss with UK, they said they had received over 2,000 applications for 400 spots. I pushed for more information and found that they accepted 700 applicants to fill the 400. When I asked why DS was rejected, she said he had an outstanding record but his essays were rated “Acceptable”, which is apparently a middling grade. That was enough to knock him out of consideration, even though he is more math/science oriented and writing is not a strength. There is no appeal process available.

I am astonished that four years of hard work are overshadowed by essays. I tend to believe that politics must have entered in to the process somehow. They attend a small, Catholic school in Kentucky with only 52 graduates in their class. Perhaps they are only allocated one slot for the Honors program? DS was accepted EA at Notre Dame - has UK’s Honor College become more selective than UND?

Even more baffling is that as an NMF, UK has awarded DS a virtual full-ride scholarship. As a Kentucky tax-payer, I hope they are not offering more than 400 full-rides to the incoming freshman class. When I pointed this out to the Honors College rep, she responded that the Honors College admission process is separate from the scholarship process.

I saw on another thread someone who was accepted in the Honors College with an ACT of 30, but no other information. Does anyone know any more information about how the process works or statistics about those accepted?

I hope I have not been too overbearing in this post. It certainly is possible that I think more highly of my children than I should. Hopefully the FA from Notre Dame will be generous and will make his decision easy.