Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Honors College experience anyone?

My daughter was accepted to the Honors College at a large university. Anyone here go that route, or have a kid or loved one who did? Opinions?

Nope.

But congrats to your daughter!

The value of an honors program can vary depending on the students major.

What's her major?

Mooner, thanks! She done good.

'Lope sniper, Journalism is the call at this point, possibly as pre-law, but really, she's 17 so who knows. She's senior editor of her high school paper and very much into journalism though. She loves to debate... about wears me out... and is very good at it.

Kid spoke at 6 months old and was doing full sentences at a year; she has a crystalline mind and effortless pitch control when singing harmonies, and learns languages very easily; so that's her strengths. She won't be an engineer or physicist.

Not only can the rigor/quality/worth vary according to the major concentration and those responsible for that, but such programs often vary in worth according to the overall intent and design by the institution.

Some schools have been known to slap such a label on things just to be able to say they have such a program and in efforts to attract students - but the courses and expectations vary little - if any - from their run of the mill offerings.

Other schools work at the high end of the spectrum wherein the programs are rigorous, expectations high, and admittance a true challenge - the student really has to prove her/him self worthy, often by succeeding at a high level within that college before admission to the "honor" situation.

And, there are lots that fall between those two extremes. In some instances there exist very decent quality control measures - including independent external accreditation processes - but those normally address the overall institution or certain programs within. Rarely does such independent review focus on the true nature of an "honors" program itself which, usually, is a tool of the institution.

To know the truth about the one of which you speak, you will need to do your own investigation - asking some probing and tough questions. Hope this helps.

The reason I ask is that she's ambivalent towards it. I think she's worried it'll be a lot of extra work for the same credits. It does cost ~$2K more a year, but since I'm getting sodomized anyway, that doesn't really matter. Still, she's exploring the notion as per her tendencies to debate and parse everything so I'm trying to get some perspective on it. For what it's worth the honors program at this school is reputed to be very good, whatever that means. If I'm understanding it, it's the same or similar classes that other students take, but MUCH smaller class sizes and taught by real professors, not TA's and Associates. I think.

When I started college I was an honors student. That didn't last too long though. Honors courses turned out to mostly be humanities oriented crap in which I had no interest. So I left the honors program, a/k/a center for liberal indoctrination.

CCCC, thanks. That does help.

I grew up on a campus-- my dad was a professor-- but it was an engineering school and I don't know if they had an honors program, or, given what you've said, how relevant it'd be anyway. I'll have to ask him his take.

For Journalism, with a possible application to law school, I would recommend the Honors Program. In the softer majors Honors will help differentiate her in the a highly competative field. It also looks good on applications for Law School.

On the other hand, for students in Engineering Physics, or any other quantative field, it's better to skip the honors, and take more math, adding either a minor, or second major in math.

In any event, I wish you daughter the best of luck. One thing this country needs is some REAL journalist.

Mathman, thanks.

This is a kid who won't be going into the hard sciences. As to the politics of it all, I pity the foo' who tries to lay a liberal OR conservative party line on her. Her politics are all over the map (surprised?) but she's no puppet. Just read Atlas Shrugged for fun recently, for instance.

Anyway, I'd rather not talk politics, other than to say that I'm not concerned about her being indoctrinated by eeeevil liberals at the university. THEY should be concerned <g>.

Hit their website and read the course descriptions. They may be great.

My experience was the same as mathman and antelope sniper. I was a polymer chemistry major. I started in the honors college also but the all the philosophy courses did nothing to enhance my major, and it was going to add a year to getting my degree if I stayed in it. I dropped the honors college after one year.

It's good for resume building if you're trying to get accepted into a follow on program, but for a sciences major like myself it's pretty worthless.

I do not recall my engineering institution having one?

You nailed it. It's a liberal indoctrination anymore, not an honest education. Just the way the communists planned it.

It's really none of my concern, but I find this laughable, coming from an OBama voting atheist. You've probably done a good enough job of getting her off on the wrong foot already at home.

Yeah, back in the day, when I suffered an inferiority complex from being a high school drop out, I had something to prove. So, I went off to college as a part time student. Because I was older, and somewhat familiar with the ways of the world, I found it ridiculously easy to maintain a 4.0 GPA. Even better, I had learned how to become self-educated in things technical and scientific long before I had dropped out of school, making studying a pleasure. Problem with kids is they don't know how to work, or even much want to expend the effort. After awhile, I received a letter informing me that I had qualified for eligibility in this or that honor society, all of which sounded like Greek to me, Gamma, Flappa, Kappa or some such pretentious nonsense. I didn't even bother replying to the letter or following up, but filed it away for amusement.

So, in the long run I wound up with state licenses in three environmental engineering professions, a journey level certification in industrial arts, and enough certifications in everything from lawn enforcement to fire fighting and other fun stuff, to fill a file drawer. So there's the worth of an honor society, at least to me. On the other hand, when I was knocking about, I learned a degree from Stanford was worth an additional $10k in starting salary for the graduate, with honors, a bit more. In a shallow society where credentialism is more a qualifier for employment than demonstrated knowledge, skills and abilities, and a track record of experience, always go for the honors and credentials. Of course, in some fields, such as medicine, the necessity of scholastic attainment is understandable and desirable.

Applaud your daughter's accomplishments and all but,

Kid spoke at 6 months old and doing full sentences at a year.

My kid also spoke full sentences at a year.

Dad, goo goo gaa gaa.

Maybe I should contact Mensa right away.

Jeff,
I work with Honors student all the time and act as an honors advisor as well. However, each school will differ with respect to the advantages of being an honors students. W/o knowing what those or, or the university involved, making concrete suggestions for you or her is not possible.

The biggest advantages, however are intangibles. Things that happen outside the classroom, special opportunities for honors students, and greater opportunities to get to know other really bright students and learn from them.

Here, Honors students can completely rewrite their programs of study. They have great freedom to substitute various requirements or waive them altogether, in view of making other opportunities happen.

One of the greatest advantages (esp. if this is a public school), is that honors students generally get to register for classes first among their peers (e.g., first of the sophomores). That gives them much better chances to get the courses and sections that they want at the times that they want, with the instructors that they want. This advantage alone can be worth the price of admission in my opinion.

Things like honors projects, etc. generally have non-honors equivalents that provide the same out-of-class experience, but the honors version may add additional funds that would assist or make possible, something that a nonhonors student would find prohibitive. Also, the honors project is required and the non-honors project often is not. Doing one (well) can be a real big deal in some cases, so if it is the extra push that gets her to commit to such and undertaking, so much the better. If she is enough of a go-getter, then that may be superfluous.

There may be other advantages at that particular school, but only you can figure that out with a lot of detective work.

Nothing like a parent forking over big bucks (or student getting buried in debt) to get a good liberal indoctrination.

What's the tuition Jeff?

Why don't you have her join the military, pay for her own education via the GI Bill, and get a much better start in life.

My daughter was in the honors program at UGA. It did not cost extra and every student recieved an extra scholarship. She made 4 & 5's on her AP test so she started as a junior, thus she finished in 4 years. The down side is that she did her year abroad at the University of Zurich, fell in love with a German, married him and now lives in Berlin. She finished her masters at Humboldt University and is going to do her PHD there.

Now if I only knew her partent are because she is smarter than my wife & me.