What's the advantage to Honors College?

CuttingEdge
Sat, 08 May 2010 17:11:49 +0000

lkf725,

I think you are missing the point all together.

The UHC is not a privileged, something to brag about, an "IN’ into jobs, or anything like that. If people want an honors college like that there are plenty to choose from as you mentioned. The point isn’t perks.

Perhaps this analogy is valid: The UHC is to other honors colleges like the University of Chicago is to other top ten school. Sure, there are more opportunities at Harvard. Sure, Princeton is more prestigious. If you pick Chicago over one of those schools you are literally hurting yourself in terms of prestige, connections, grades, etc. But Chicago isn’t trying to be better at that than those other schools. It is not trying to produce a bunch of wealthy, well connected alumni in the way ivies are. It is trying to maintain an intellectual atmosphere and give a great education.

The same goes to the UHC. If it did attract the type of prestige seeking types that would be attracted to a more exclusive honors program then people would be here for the prestige. Mostly people aren’t. They are here because they like thinking and like being in communities with people who are thinking. THATS the perks. Its the only big perk. And if we want to maintain a community that sees that as a perk then we have to maintain a kind of honors college that doesn’t attract the wrong people for the wrong reasons.

IDK i feel like this is really hard to get across on a site like CC where prestige is such a big concern. The UHC doesn’t really focus on that and I think that is why it gets so misrepresented here.