<p>MotherMoo: Looking forward to hearing your comments</p>
<p>Can share two stories about honors programs. The theme of both is that there can be subtle nuances that are hard to suss out from the outside.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>DS2 is a mech. engineering student at big west coast U. He needs 3 semesters of physics for that degree. No AP credit offered for even a 5 on the AP physics exam. So, going in it looked like he was going to have to suffer through a rehash of physics 1, 2 and 3. Well to his surprise he found out there are honors sections of those physics classes, permission of the faculty required for admission. Turns out those sections are really for students that already know the material, f=ma and all that, and are composed of fun experiments, guest lectures, field trips, and are taught by the most popular professor at the school. Honors physics is slacker physics!</p></li>
<li><p>The Univ. of Texas not only has the well-known Plan 2 liberal arts honors program but also honors engineering. Honors students of all types can live in the honors dorm. This is an older, low-rise dorm in a quiet and pretty part of the campus, the exact opposite to the high-rise, social beehive dorms most students have to live in. Plus, it is right next to the only all-female dorm on campus, which has on the first floor the small dining hall where those females and the honors dorm students eat. This sounded like nerdy girls and nerdy boys forced to eat together, a good formula to Dad (though DS2 claimed not to have any idea what I was talking about, though considering the source it had to be dumb anyway.)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Does anyone have experience or first-hand knowledge about the Honor program at UB??? My neighbor’s S got in with a $3000 scholarship ( but will have to take loans out for board only - tuition is free ) .</p>
<p>oops! UB = SUNY of Buffalo</p>
<p>My S recently graduated from the Honors program at U of MN. I thought that would be a good spot for him in a very big public university. I think that his feelings after going through the program were that it only put more requirements on him, having to take so many honors classes per year etc. His first year he had trouble finding any “honors” classes that were open, and took classes that he would not necessarily have taken to fulfill the Honors requirements. In his senior year he had to drop some electives in his major to take “honors” classes.</p>
<p>bump…</p>
<p>mems55 wrote this in another thread but it would be helpful here:
Barrett Honors college at Arizona St</p>
<p>I have to give a plug for the program that Arizona State in Tempe offers for National Merit Finalists. My son is nearing the end of his first year there as Business major, and is doing really well in a great environment. The Merit Scholar deal at ASU is easy to understand. It’s $21,500/year (for out of state, less for in-state) credited to your student account, which easily covers tuition, room and board and some extras. (Don’t know if it will go up if tuition goes up - the award did go up last year from the previous year.) So the money part is very easy to understand. However, I think the real benefit is the strength of the school. First of all, all the NMFs end up in the Barrett Honors College, which is superb. Great faculty, strong support and advising, super opportunities for study abroad, a faculty member whose job is to help these kids get all sorts of scholarships (i.e. Truman, Fulbright, Rhodes) as well as take advantage of the programs that pay for summer study, etc. Secondly the academic environment is strong - my son realized through his required freshman honors seminar that he wants to double major in Philosophy. Also, if the kids follow through on the senior thesis requirement, they graduate with a genuine Honors degree. Thirdly, for business, engineering, communications and education majors, I think the ASU schools in each of those disciplines are quite well regarded. (And as another poster pointed out, where you get your undergrad is pretty well irrelevant once you get the graduate degree that most kids will need. And a top student from a public university is always going to appeal to a prestigious graduate school that wants to have a diverse student mix.)
The Barrett Honors College does a great job with recruiting and ASU overall is a very easy school to deal with - even from across the country. People are genuinely nice and accommodating, I have run into NO red tape which is amazing. (People at the school attribute this to the fact that it gets so hot in Phoenix, they have to be nice to each other…) Honors students get priority registration, so my son has gotten all the classes he wants and needs.
Obviously we’re very pleased with the experience.
And lastly I would have to urge any student with the opportunity to get four years of education essentially for free to take advantage of the opportunity. What is available for NMFs is just too good to pass up!</p>
<p>We are hoping that ASU will offer my son the opportunity to consider their full-ride NMF package (haven’t received it yet). For some reason, there was a glitch in them receiving the HS transcript, but hopefully that’s been resolved.</p>
<p>My d is an Arizona “in-state” kid. She received $28K total for 4 years at ASU/Barrett’s. She should also get the Arizona tuition waiver for in-state kids who do well on the AZ graduation exam (plus other other criteria), so I think we’d probably have little out of pocket for undergrad. </p>
<p>She’s also been accepted to Brandeis University with no money. We don’t qualify for financial aid at all, so it would cost big bucks. Money probably won’t be a big issue, but it IS a big difference in price.
D wants to major in science and says that she has many friends at ASU who tell her that they don’t get the classes they want (yes, in the honors program). She also tells me that there are lots of kids there that aren’t very smart and like to party too much.<br>
I graduated from ASU myself, so I know how she feels. I was a serious student and never hung with the party crowd.<br>
D really needs a change in venue. She was born and raised here and wants to see what it is like to live in Boston.
This is going to be a toughie for us ;(</p>
<p>dt123 says, “Honors students of all types can live in the honors dorm.” That’s true, but I thought it would be worthwhile to mention that a spot in the honors dorm is not yours automatically with admission to any of the several honors programs at UT. I’m pretty sure the honors students wouldn’t all fit. If you got your housing application in early enough (ideally, September 1st, the first day they accept them), and if the honors dorm is your first choice, then you can live there.</p>
<p>I agree with dt123 that life in the honors dorm seems way more attractive than in many of the mega-dorms.</p>
<p>Just something to keep in mind when applying for an honor’s dorm – apply early!</p>
<p>HIMom
My D is an ASU Barrett’s NMF alumni.Don’t forget that ASU cant offer your child the official NMF package until they designate ASU as their first choice college with the National Merit Scholarship program.There is a yellow postcard included in their Finalist packet to mail back. Pay attention to deadlines as well! While they have till May 1 to commit to a college,NM wants their postcard by April 19.
Good luck with your choice! D did thrive at ASU,S has now chosen another Honors College State U setting b/c ASU doesnt offer his intended major…believe me he was sad not to follow in D’s footsteps there.
Pebbles:
While I can see your D wanting out of Arizona for a change of scenery the deal at ASU is hard to beat.For what its worth,while D wasn not a science major…she was music…most of her friends were engineers or premed.The first semester is really the only one they should have any </p>
<p>registration issues,and that depends on what orientation date they </p>
<p>pick…after that they (Honors) has priority for registration,they do it online.If they pay attention to the dates,and see their advisor on time they should have no problem getting any class their heart desires.But its a big “if” LOL they do get many reminders to their email accounts and just have to learn to pay attention to them!
As far as partying goes,Honors kids party too at any school you go to,and kids at the more “elite” schools party just as hard I think.Alcohol is present everywhere.If its a concern for your D there is a wellness dorm available but I would recommend the Honors College dorm (especially the new Best and Hayden rooms) above all else.</p>
<p>Thanks for the insights. I’ll pass them on to my son (daughter is just a sophomore in HS & not sure whether she’ll be a NMF in any case). A friend’s son got a full-ride offer from ASU, UA & UT when he declared undecided as a NMF two years ago & he hadn’t even applied to any of those schools. He ended up going to UCSB with NO $ & loves it there.</p>
<p>cathy ~ I was also a music major my first time through ASU. What is your daughter doing now?</p>
<p>Now that decisions are made, do you have input on the State Honors Colleges? Did you consider one?</p>
<p>Will be attending Penn State honors college…turned down Cornell, Duke, Swarthmore, Case, RPI. Full ride, lots of individual attention, abundant research opportunities. Many graduates with national awards. I am very thankful for this awesome opportunity.</p>
<p>The National Collegiate Honors Council has an informative web site. Here is the link to all member schools: <a href=“http://www.nchchonors.org/nchc_members.htm#U[/url]”>http://www.nchchonors.org/nchc_members.htm#U</a></p>
<p>Congratulations, ConanFan. It’s a great program!</p>
<p>My daughter interviewed at Robert Cook Honors Program at IUP. They have tons of support for the students, dorms, honors college administrative offices and gorgeous wood panelled seminar rooms all housed in the same building. They work very hard on professional and graduate school placement and indicated something like 95% of students get their first or second choice placement. This was summer so not many students around but the ones we did talk with all turned down more prestigious schools for the honors college, generally including Ivys. They all seemed please with their decision. One thing the interviewer emphasized afterwards was that the school was open to bright students whose school record may not reflect that. He seemed to feel that frequently bright students are simply turned off to education because they aren’t challenged and he felt the school had a good success rate of turning these kids into diamonds. One of the students even talked of the director bailing out the occassional student from jail or being called by university police to come retrieve one of his errant charges. </p>
<p>While this is a small, nurturing program, that was its biggest drawback for us. Overall, it seemed that it was difficult for these students to interact with the University population as a whole. It was far too easy to spend the vast majority of their four years somewhat in isolation. They knew each others secrets, relationship breakups caused tension in the dorm, etc. However, when one of the students took part in a University event, the whole dorm supported them. One student was on the basketball team so the whole honors dorm went to the basketball games together while that student was there. Same goes for plays, concerts, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks, Marian. I know a few graduates of the program and they had terrific offers after graduation. My one friend confirmed that he was courted by the companies on the same level as ivy leaguers. The college site also states they have 100% acceptance to med schools.</p>