@RightCoaster How exciting!! Good luck to the team! All fall sports in the northern half of the country start out in 90 degree August heat and end up in 30 degree November cold if the team advances through the state tournaments. I think it’s worse for the spectators. Put those handwarmer packets in your gloves!
Right there with you @RightCoaster . S19 goes to the final marching band competition on Saturday. Last week, it was 70 degrees. This week, it is 40 degrees. Hope there is enough room within the uniform for some layering. ;
Something that just occurred to me, spinning off the number of courses per semester discussion: LACs and, to a lesser extent, research privates are the most likely colleges to have a 4-courses-per-semester system; public are the most likely to have a 5-courses-per-semester system. My D17 looked primarily at LACs, but my D19 is interested in engineering, and so is looking by necessity mostly at publics, since that’s where the engineering programs are.
Given the coursework requirements for ABET-accredited engineering programs, it’s got to be much easier to fit everything in if the faculty making curricula have five courses a semester to work with. So perhaps the prevalence of engineering at public institutions isn’t primarily the result of resources or lab space or whatever, but at core simply a matter of fitting courses into a student’s schedule.
D19’s first official college tour tomorrow. Yay! We signed up for everything, which is probably way more than we need to know. But we won’t know for sure whether we need to know everything until after we’ve heard it all, right? The good news is that it’s a short drive, the bad news is it’s going to be cold tomorrow and we might get a bit of snow overnight so hopefully the roads are ok.
@mom2twogirls Have fun! Hope the weather holds out.
My D15 is a junior at Pomona (but spending fall semester at Swat). Normal course load is 4 courses which are 1 credit each, and you need 32 credits to graduate. Three courses is the minimum to be a full time student, and 6 is the max. http://catalog.pomona.edu/content.php?catoid=24&navoid=4830#Course_Load. Some courses are a quarter or half credit such as language conversation classes, music lessons or PE. My D has taken 5 classes at a time successfully (she has good time management and organization skills) But this spring as she gets into more advanced classes she plans to take 4-1/2 plus hopefully a part time campus job.
I’m impressed with everything that University of Alabama is doing for our scheduled tour. Every tour we’ve been on so far has been an information session followed by a walking tour of the campus. Because I requested information on Alabama’s honor college, in addition to the information session and walking tour, they’re setting up a separate tour of the honor college, meeting with faculty, and lunch at the dining hall with students. Will hopefully get them to add a residence hall tour. The honor college residence hall looks impressive on the website, single rooms (within a 2 or 4 room suite) for everyone.
I found that to be the case at every school that we toured that had an Honors program . One school also set up a time for my family to tour the CS department and meet with the Dean of CS. Not Bama . It did make an impression . My son attends that school.
@gusmahler hope you enjoy your visit to Bama. That school seems like a great fit for high stats kids that get some merit, live in nice dorms, want the big college experience, like warm weather etc.
@carolinamom2boys 3.5, that’s brutal, and impressive all at the same time!
Our kids have had both semester and quarter schools depending on the kid. 3-5 classes. S17 has 5 classes, but only 14 credits this semester (he had 6 and 17 but dropped one). SD14 typically takes only 3-4 and on the 12 ish credit side. Considered FT but there is no way she will be done in 4 yet won’t fess up real dates (don’t get me started). SS11 had 3-5 depending…and graduated on time.
@RightCoaster Funny you say that about the weather. D19 grew up in Arizona and lives in Houston. Bama would be cold for her. We were looking at Google Street map images of the campus and she was wondering why the grass has white stuff on it. 
Son19 getting ready to head over to a teammate’s house and then they’ll head off to their big soccer game. High temps at kick off at 5pm will be 26F with a windchill feel of 16F. Awesome! Under the lights today because it gets so dark by 5pm now with Daylight Saving. So no sun to warm you up either.
On a school related note, son19 had an excellent 1st semester and he just his invite to NHS in the mail. We’ll have to see if he wants to submit the portfolio needed to be considered.
I am unfamiliar with Honors colleges. I’m assuming each college has its own minimum requirements? But is there a ballpark gpa/test score for best acceptance chances? It sounds like a great opportunity to make college more personalized for students.
On a non academic note: Son’s football team won district championship last night. It was a great nail biter. We won by a field goal in overtime! Between yelling at the game and the cold weather, my voice is shot.
Congrats on the football win @4MyKidz . It really is school specific . Some have Honors Colleges and some have Honors programs , not exactly sure what the difference is.
Stats needed for honors programs really vary by school. The higher the stats of the average student, the higher you need to get into the honors college. My D was admitted into the honors colleges at some schools, not at others. What the honors colleges does for you also seems to vary quite a bit. Most have a separate housing option, some have priority registration, some have a minimum number of honors courses you must take, while some others are very loose about requirements. You really need to look at each school to see what their program is like.
@4MyKidz The honors college and honors program thing is very confusing.
If you want a true honors college experience, that means honors housing, small classes only with honors kids, and a true LAC experience within a larger university. There are not many of those. Michigan and Schreyers (Penn State) come to mind. There are more, of course, but you really have to investigate. ASU is known for their honors college but I think you only need something like a 29 ACT to get in and there are 7000 kids so I don’t really call that exclusive or small. And then there’s Pitt’s Honors College where kids can be accepted but non-honors kids can also take classes in the honors college. I don’t really get that.
Honors programs are different. They do not try to emulate the “school within a school” thing. Most of these offer honors kids extra work to do with a professor, but the kids might still be in the larger classes with all students. Or they may be in larger classes but get an honors “section” for their break out with a TA. Each university does this differently. It’s very hard to sort out.
I’ve really tried to find honors colleges that could work for S19. I was hoping Wisconsin had one but they don’t. It’s an honors program and it doesn’t really make the university smaller for the student. I believe Vermont is a true honors college and it’s on our list but I feel like we would have to visit to really understand how it works.
@homerdog My son attends a “true Honors College” He is not isolated from other students , he has specific honors only classes, has Honors housing, priority registration , has to complete a senior capstone. He has additional responsibilities including community service . Where did your definition of an Honors college come from ?
@carolinamom2boys I’m not sure. I’ve just always just understood that “honors college” means a college within the college and an “honors program” means extra honors-type opportunities. I guess I didn’t mean that those in honors program are completely isolated but that most of their classes are with the honors kids with less lecture-heavy instruction and more discussion type, smaller classes. It bears repeating that each college’s honors college is different so it really depends what you’re looking for.
For instance, at Michigan, the first two years in the honors program is just with honors students and you complete the “honors core”, which includes some classes in your intended major as well as a Great Books program. Then, in your last two years, you can choose to do a departmental major in honors or a “honors in the liberal arts” major. Their website calls out specifically that their goal is to emulate a liberal arts college experience. This is just one school and, like I said, each school is different. I just think people need to be weary and ask a lot of questions about each honors college before they decide if it’s the right place.
@carolinamom2boys Is your son at USC(arolina)? I just looked it up and, indeed, it is a true honors college and you take at least one third of your classes in the honors college (which means I assume you could even take more depending on your major and available classes). Looks terrific and highly selective.
No , my son attends the Honors College at the College of Charleston. He is William Aiken Fellow.
http://honors.cofc.edu/about-the-honors-college/index.php
http://honors.cofc.edu/about-the-honors-college/index.php