Honors programs at big universities

dodgersmom
Sat, 07 Jun 2014 02:27:33 +0000

As with all college choices, whether or not an honors program is the best option depends on the student. For student A, who knows she wants to pursue a career in business, a BA from a well known (read "prestigious”) college, followed by a few years of employment, followed by an MBA, may be the way to go. For Student B, whose goal in life is to develop innovative technology, an engineering degree, combined with Alabama’s STEM Path to MBA program, might be ideal, since he needs the MBA not to impress employers, but to have the know-how to eventually develop and market his own technology.

A student should absolutely say “no” to the honors college option if its isn’t going to get her where she wants to go. But to reject this path, as was suggested earlier, because it means having to mingle with the “unwashed masses” . . . well, I still think that’s a lousy reason to turn down what might otherwise be an excellent opportunity.