Honors Program: Anyone trying out or in it? I have questions

lynn23
Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:53:21 +0000

Hi everyone,
I am freshman in the honors program at TCNJ, so if you have any more specific questions, I will try to answer them. First of all, congrats for being accepted to the college! My basic advice is that if you are seriously interested in attending the college, you should apply to the honors program and if you’re still unsure about the decision to attend, it couldn’t hurt to at least apply. For those that haven’t got any letter about the program, sit tight! I know that several people hadn’t received letters by the accepted students day last year and ended up being in the program.
The website gives a pretty good overview of what the honors program entails. It is essentially taking 5 honors courses, with one fulfilling a global requirement and one in religion/philosophy. You also have the option to take an honors FSP (first year seminar), mine was “The Beatles and Their World” and it was very cool Also, the program sponsors various talks and seminars throughout the semester and has several summer programs abroad where you can take an honors course for about a month abroad with the class.
The downside is that there is not really any “perks”. I know that some other colleges get special honors housing or at least priority in the lottery as well as first choice during course selection, but the TCNJ program offers neither. Freshmen year you are housed in Cromwell (suites composed of 3 rooms sharing a bathroom) but you don’t necessarily have an entirely honors floor. My roommate and everyone else in my suite besides one other girl are not in the program, but really I think that’s a nice thing.
Lastly, I’m sure they take into account those whose high schools do not rank. I’m not entirely positive the process, but I think they have a system to see the percentile you fit into within the context of your specific high school but I don’t really know. You could always give the office a call and ask for specifics perhaps? Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful for that because my high school did rank.
Overall, I would recommend it as a good thing to have on your diploma/resume post-graduation for those that are seriously interested in TCNJ. Who knows, maybe if you are choosing between different schools, being accepted to the honors program here may be the deciding factor! Good luck throughout the process!