University Honors - How competitive?

Beaudreau
Tue, 17 Jun 2014 17:25:59 +0000

@gobluemom85. My oldest son will be attending Texas A&M this fall and will be in the honors program. There were 35 students in his graduating class from BASIS Scottsdale Charter School. We visited ASU/Barrett and went to the ASU Presidential Scholars Dinner. We had an all-day visit to A&M last December, including meeting with the honors program director. My son was also accepted to Michigan, Purdue, Georgia Tech, and Texas. ASU and Texas A&M both provided full tuition scholarships.

Overall, Texas A&M is a better school than is ASU, My son will study Aerospace Engineering, which is top-notch. However, I rate the honors program as good, not great. Typically, only first-year students at A&M can live in the Honors dormitories. The facilities are also not as good as the Barrett facilities. Barrett has much more of a small college feel. Everything is brand new and is gated off from the rest of ASU. Outside of regular hours, only Barrett students, faculty, and staff have access. The dedicated support and counseling is outstanding. 12 of the 35 BASIS Scottsdale 2014 graduates will got to ASU/Barrett, including the Valedictorian. I know several students there now that graduated from BASIS in previous years and love Barrett, as do their parents. (Craig Barrett, the former Intel Chairman and Barrett Honors College namesake, is Chairman of the Board for the BASIS Schools.)

Every kid is different. My son just fell in love with A&M. Purdue was second, but only offered $10,000 per year in scholarships (same as Michigan). With two more boys graduating in 2015 and 2016, we could not afford either school. We are happy that our oldest selected A&M and even happier that it will be affordable. If either of the next two picks ASU/Barrett, we will also be delighted.