Honors Program Community

[GoldShadow]

<p>Actually maybe I haven’t, at least not recently. I’ll copy some excerpts from PMs I’ve sent:

@GoldShadow

For some courses, there are honors versions of the courses (like general chem: there’s CHEM 1127 and 1128, which is the regular chem sequence; then there is the CHEM 1129/1130 sequence, which is honors general chem) or honors sections for courses (my organic chem class was an all honors section of organic chem), and then there are combined courses where honors and non-honors students take the class together, but the honors students will usually have a few extra assignments or requirements.</p>

<p>The former (honors only classes) are definitely worth it, academically, and generally much more rigorous than their non-honors counterparts. Honors general chem was much more difficult than the regular chem, but went into much more depth. Same with honors organic chem; from having spoken to friends at top universities like Cornell and Tufts, I would say my organic chemistry class was as comprehensive/difficult as theirs, or in some cases even more.</p>

<p>But there are also a lot of combined classes where that’s not the case. My honors genetics was a combined class, and all we had to do was write a brief paper at the end of the course. For honors credit for cell biology, I had to attend 5 presentations by biology department faculty and guest speakers and write summaries for each one. So it really is variable. But in the end, genetics is genetics, whether it’s taught at Hopkins or UConn, and it’s certainly not worth all the extra money when you can get a comparable education at UConn.</p>

<p>There are also honors conversions; a student will take a normal (non-honors) class, but will work out something with the professor to receive honors credit for it. This might involve doing a research project related to the course content. Although I’ve never done a conversion, it is great for motivated students who want to learn a little more about the subject and get honors credit at the same time.</p>

<p>A few other benefits of the honors program include priority registration dates for classes (which is very useful at a big university like UConn), some early exposure to research and professors (helpful when trying to get involved in research later on, especially since a research thesis is required for graduation with honors), honors housing, extra library privileges, and a few other minor perks.

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<p>Regarding honors community stuff:
I wasn’t in honors as a freshman, but it seemed like most of my honors friends in Shippee (the freshman honors dorm at the time) were somewhat close-knit, though I wouldn’t say it was really that different from any other dorm. I currently live in the upper classmen honors dorm in South and it’s just like any other dorm.
I mean, there are “community building” activities that some people take part in that are set up by the Honors Council but I don’t really pay much attention to those, nor do a lot of my friends. It’s like any other club or organization, totally optional and it can be fun if you do want to participate in it. But I would definitely not use it as a reason to pick honors or even to tout as some advantage of being in the honors program. There are other legitimate advantages to being in honors, but I would not say that a “community” feeling or “community building” activities qualify as advantages or reasons.</p>

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Can you be in the honors program and still participate in Greek life or is it one or the other? Any insight before the final decision is made???

Absolutely can do both. The two are entirely unrelated.</p>

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I am asking for advice about dorm living. He is considering both the Honors dorm in Buckley and perhaps the new Eurotech community in McMahon. Each seems to have its advantages but I would like to hear from some honor students and engineers about their experiences with dorm life. Is there a reason he should NOT consider the Eurotech community? Will he be missing out by not living in the Freshmen Honors dorm?

There’s no reason he has to live in Buckley, and it is pretty far away from the center of campus and most of his engineering classes (although it is close to Wings, Subway, and Store24… decisions, decisions!). Buckley rooms are also below average, and Buckley Dining Hall is pretty bad. I’ve only eaten there twice in the past three years, and one of those was during orientation. Most Shippee/Buckley kids make the five minute walk to South dining hall to eat.
And although I don’t honestly see the point of a Eurotech learning community (or any other learning community for that matter), McMahon is definitely a better place to live than Buckley. It too has its own dining hall (food is tolerable) and is also pretty close to South dining hall; it is also much closer to the center of campus (close to the Co-Op, library, gym, and student union) although engineering classes will still be somewhat far.</p>

<p>Global House is pretty useless, from what I can tell (I lived in McMahon last year). I don’t know, maybe for the people actually in the Global House community, it might be better; maybe they do activities or something. But my experience last year was that it was just a bunch of international kids who got their own comfortable, exclusive study lounge on the second floor. They would go there to study and occasionally have movie viewings. I don’t think there’s anything special about Global House unless you’re actually in Global House.</p>

<p>But it wouldn’t hurt to do the Eurotech LC. I would choose McMahon over Buckley any day.</p>