Honors programs at big universities

frazzled2thecore
Thu, 05 Jun 2014 10:20:22 +0000

Am I the only poster who has had direct experience with both an honors college and an elite university? Each has its advantages and drawbacks over the years (mine have already graduated from their respective schools), and it can sometimes be hard to tell ahead of time whether one or the other will be (or would have been) the better fit for an individual student.

I think many parents and students agonize over the decision because it is difficult to impossible to transfer into elite schools on an undergrad level, but also difficult for an elite school student who has run into snags and is not in good standing to transfer to an honors college. And, a student who loses honors college standing after a bad semester or two will lose the honors college perks as well as any merit money.

Leaving academics aside, and wrt to cohort -

Honors colleges typically advertise themselves as combining the best of LAC’s and large research universities.

The honors college cohort is typically the size of a similar cohort at one of the most selective LAC’s. However, students in an honors college often self-select into a few majors. A student not in one of these majors could find themselves isolated from intellectual peers.

Unlike students at LAC’s, though, honors college students can also have ample contact with graduate students as well as with undergrads from the greater university, some of whom did not get into more selective schools (or the honors college) because they are lopsided, or are late bloomers, or had a weakness somewhere in their application, or who transferred from an elite school, or who somehow did not meet a holistic selection process for the honors college, but who can qualify for honors classes and give high stats students a run for their money in these classes. The larger school is also likely to enroll more mature students, including some elite school grads who are looking for a career change.

A student not in honors housing or in a major attractive to honors students, however, could find themselves putting lots of energy into finding companionship, or (in worst cases) avoiding hazing by less dedicated students. At many of these schools upper-classmen tend to live off campus whether or not they are in the honors college.

Fwiw, my honors college student did not seem to have problems finding campus organizations, although here again, honors college students did seem to self-select in these.