<p>Hi, for those of you who have been accepted in the past for Honors and perhaps the FF, I am wondering what you think my chances are at one or both:</p>
<p>Current female senior in Tennessee Academic Magnet school, considered top public school in state.</p>
<p>W GPA: 4.0
6 APs (all 4s and 5s, so far), rest of classes are all honors level
SAT 1: 680/670, Taking again in Oct to try to go above 1400
ACT: 31, Taking again in Oct</p>
<p>ECs:</p>
<p>-President of Fellowship of Christian Athletes 2 years now
-Show choir (nationally ranked): 3 years
-Drama: 4 years (lead role this year in fall production)
-Vanderbilt Book Award for Excellence in the Arts
<p>Well you definitely would want some higher test scores, around 1500 or at least a 33 for a shot at FF. FF really requires a specific passion or some incredible achievement, which you usually can’t tell from the basic details (it usually comes out in the essay or by winning some state/national award). </p>
<p>As far as honors goes, I think you’ll be fine if you can get around 1450. They’re pretty selective about the honors program and especially so for out of staters, but another solid retest combined with your GPA and EC’s and you definitely have a good shot. You would probably even get a out of state tuition waiver.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help, sm and vig. May be tough to raise the SAT to 1450 from a 1350, but here’s hoping… </p>
<p>I have a couple more questions, if you don’t mind. First, is there a big difference in terms of the quality of education you’ll get if you’re in just the honors program versus the FF. Or is it mostly a matter of how much money you’ll get?</p>
<p>Secondly, my understanding of some honors programs is that you’re often not given many opportunities for special classes, it’s just that you’re given the opportunity to do “extra credit assignments” for your normal classes. Basically, all this means is that you’re doing more work for a class, but not really getting a better education. I read one students complaints about the honors program at Arizona State being that way (even though some publications rate that honors program highly). Can you tell me whether that’s the case at UGA?</p>
<p>Finally, if you’re in the honors program, is there special housing available, and is it guaranteed for 4 years? The UGA web site is a bit unclear about this. </p>
<p>First, the classes are exactly the same for FF vs. honors program, it’s just that the FF program gives you the extracirricular opportunities and guidence that really exposes you to the best UGA has to offer. The money factor and the study abroad opportunities are the biggest difference, and I’ve actually noticed the honors program is imitating many aspects of the FF program (i.e. faculty mentors, special lectures and seminars, study-abroad trips, etc.), except on a larger scale. You might also want to look at CURO, the center for undergraduate research, which gives honors students research grants and special faculty mentors along with a lot of other opportunities. </p>
<p>I completely understand your second point; I too was very worried about honors programs that had too few honors classes when I did my college search last year. Fortunately, UGA has the absolute best honors college I’ve seen (believe me, I looked at all of them) since you can take up to 2 honors classes and 1 honors seminar a semester (or more if you wait until the drop/add period at the start of the semester) and they have tons of classes in pretty much every subject imaginable. The classes are small and very much discussion oriented, so you get to know the teacher and your fellow students much better. With a higher caliber of students comes much better discussion so the classes run really well. If you want, you can also turn a normal honors class into an honors-option class by completing extra work under the guidence of the professor, thereby earning honors credit and not using up one of the two honors classes you can take. There are also tons of honors get-togethers and activities going on, so the program is really much more than just the classroom. </p>
<p>As far as housing goes, about 250-300 students of the entering first-year class live in Myers Hall which is almost completely honors. To get a spot, you have to sign up early over the summer but once you get it you can stay as long as you like (i.e. all 4 years) though the most I’ve seen is 3. It’s newly renovated, so it’s probably the nicest dorm on campus.</p>
<p>Btw, which high school are you from? I’m also from TN so I’m interested to hear.</p>