I am currently in high school, and I am wondering which school would give a better experience: ASU’s Barrett Honors College or Virginia Tech. Those are currently my top two schools, and I am confident that I will be able to get into both. So if anyone could give any advice as to which college is more selective, rigorous, and worthwhile, that’d be great.
Be sure you realize that Barrett is not a separate college at ASU that delivers all of your education. In fact they teach only 30% of the classes you take; the other 70% are regular ASU classes. You need 120 units for an ASU degree.
I do realize that. I was just asking as, if I were to go to ASU, I’d apply to the Honors College as well.
Somewhat reviving a dead thread, but I’ve lived in Arizona for a good 10 years, and ASU is basically seen as the “If you have a pulse and a wallet, you can get in” sort of school. If you’re looking at Barrett, I suggest you also check out some Private Liberal Arts Colleges before you commit to ASU.
Wittman may not be familiar with Barrett Honors College though.
Wittman also assumes that $65,000/year to attend a private liberal arts college is not a problem.
I lived 15 minutes from the ASU Tempe campus (where Barrett is located) for over ten years. It’s not well respected as a school here, I’m just speaking from a local perspective so it might have a better image elsewhere. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with ASU as a school, but paying extra for Barrett seems rather silly. Also, and this is just personal conjecture, not many people out of state will even know about Barrett, so ASU as a whole is what their preconceptions are going to be drawn from.
You’d be surprised, I found that private liberal arts colleges generally have very good financial aid. It would cost the same for me to go to ASU as it does for me to go to Cornell University.
I would suggest you apply to a number of reach schools and see where you get accepted, before going to ASU. But choose what’s best for you, and if that’s ASU, all my best wishes to you.
My son attended Barrett. He had very good stats and could have been accepted at a number of schools. He was attracted by the scholarship that he received and the tour of the school. He was very pleased with his decision. He made great friends, found excellent mentors through his professors and had many excellent opportunities for research, etc. With any school it is what you make of it. The Barrett name is recognized out of state and has a good reputation. My son discovered this from first-hand experience. He personally interviewed at three Ivies for grad school, and had a friend get into Harvard and knows many other Barrett students who have been very successful since completing their degrees at ASU/Barrett. Look at the Barrett site to see where each class went after graduation. Look at the number of Fulbright Scholars, etc… If you decide to not go to ASU because you feel that another school is a better fit that’s fine, but please don’t make a decision to not go to Barrett/ASU based on inaccurate information.
I attend ASU (W.P. Carey) and was offered admission to Barrett. From what I’ve heard and seen, Barrett is pretty insignificant outside of ASU, and totally irrelevant to 99% of employers. There are three parts to this answer.
1: Career
If you’re a business student, you’ll be in WPC and Honors College. If you’re an engineering student, you’ll be in Fulton and Honors College. When recruiters visit campus they won’t visit Barrett, they’ll visit WPC/Fulton/CLAS/etc. Putting Barrett on your resume (or name-dropping it) won’t help you get a job. GPA is the #1 screening tool for employers. Get good grades. Good grades will help you get good internships. A few good internships, and you’ll get a great job.
2: Grad School
There are mixed reports about whether Barrett will help with grad school. Of course, kids who were in Barrett and got into grad school attributes that success to having been in Honors College. Once again, GPA is the #1 screening tool for graduate school. Of course, that’s followed by professional experience, research involvement, etc.
3: Differences
As everyone else has said, apparently ~30% of your classes will be “honors” and the other 70% will be “normal.” You’ll also have to fulfill all of Barrett’s capstone-type stuff. As with the entire university, there are some really great professors, and some terrible ones – Barrett reduces your flexibility in dodging them. Some courses are worthwhile, others are very time consuming. Being in Barrett is an added burden (I’m not saying that’s a bad thing). For some, that may might mean a lower GPA, or diversion from valuable experiences like internships or study abroad. Most employers and most grad schools will only know one Arizona State University, not Barrett.
My take:
Being in Barrett will not give you a significant advantage over your non-Barrett peers. If you’re academically inclined and competent, your academics will reflect that irrespective of being an “honors” student. Getting a job or getting into grad school is a game heavily influenced by your statistics. For me, Barrett just seemed like an unnecessary expense. I’ve had phenomenal professors, amazing internships and great extracurriculars. I didn’t need Barrett to do that.
Conclusion:
- Barrett can either be superficial or meaningful. Don’t just join Barrett for the label.
- Your future won’t be determined by whether or not you joined honors college.
- Best of luck and welcome to ASU!
Anecdote:
Most of the upperclassmen I know who started out in Barrett ended up dropping due to their impending thesis.
I live in the ASU area and, fwiw, I hear great things about the Barrett student body/plan. Now, of course it isn’t as exciting as sending a kid off to fawncy smamchy LAC but certainly some of that is NIMBY (not in my back yard, here, as in everything out of town must be better).
I have a daughter at Barrett. She is doing extremely well with no regrets about choosing the very good scholarship over other schools that are more prestigious. We have several high performing students go to ASU from our out-of-state high school every year and all I know personally are doing quite well.
Somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the graduates from BASIS Scottsdale, the number-two high school in the country, go every year to Barrett. I know several of them well and they are all happy with the quality of their education at Barrett. The BASIS college counselors do not hesitate at all to recommend Barrett.