Honors Programs Why you should consider applying and what to look for

Honors Programs: Why you should consider applying and what to look for Are you craving the in-class intimacy of a tiny liberal arts college but also find yourself drawn to the bright lights of a vibrant, sprawling campus, the big-time sports, and the chance to be part of a large and passionate student community? Not to sound like a middle-of-the-night infomercial but—now it’s finally possible to enjoy the best of both worlds—the honors college!While honors programs have existed in one form or another since the GI bill first brought an influx of talented but cost-conscious students to public universities in the post-war era, the full-blown honors college is a more recent phenomenon. The majority of honors colleges were born in the 1990s, designed to lure Ivy-league caliber students to public institutions. Today, it is hard to find a large, public university that does not advertise some type of honors distinction. Yet, with new programs sprouting up faster than dandelions in spring, determining the quality and value of a universityâ⠂¬â„¢s honors experience can prove quite challenging. Fortunately, we are here to explain the most important factors you should consider when exploring honors colleges/programs including:What grades and SATs do I need to get into an honors college?Honors college class size and course selectionHonors colleges honors programs Honors college housing optionsHow much do honors colleges cost?A list of the top honors colleges/programsLet’s begin with an honest reckoning of whether you have it takes to successfully gain admittance into an honors college.Will I get accepted to an honors college?Acceptance into some honors colleges is relatively formulaic and primarily involves meeting a defined set of criteria. For example, Michigan State University Honors College states that its students possess an average SAT of 1410 and finished in the top 5% of their high school class. At the University of Pittsburgh students average a 1490 SAT score and possess a 4.39 GPA. To apply to the Honors College at the University of Missouri students need a less intimidating 1300 SAT or a spot in the top 20% of their high school class. Clark Honors College at The University of Oregon takes a very different approach, explicitly stating that there are no minimum academic requirements and that qualities such as creative potential and community contributions are given serious consideration in the admissions process. These examples illustrate that honors admissions runs the gamut from automatic acceptance with certain credentials to minimum scores/GPA required to even apply to more holistic approaches, as in the case of Oregon.What is the difference between an honors college and honors program?Honors colleges come in two varieties—they can be housed within large, comprehensive universities, like Schreyer at Penn State or Barrett at Arizona State, or they can be completely separate entities, like St. Mary’s in Maryland or New College of Florida. In some cases a school will o ffer an honors program as opposed to a full-blown college. That’s where things get really confusing because sometimes the terms are used almost interchangeably but other times a program can be indicative of a less comprehensive experience than a college. To truly determine quality, you need to go beyond nomenclature and do some serious homework.Class size and number of honors coursesIdeally, an honors college will offer a wide variety of honors-only courses with class sizes commensurate with those of elite liberal arts schools, typically in the 15-20 range. In reality, the numbers of courses offered and the numbers of students in the classroom vary widely across schools.Despite its large size (over 1,000 honors students), The University of Mississippi boasts over 70 honors courses and class sizes of 15-20 students in its Barksdale Honors College. A perusal of Barksdale’s ample and  diverse honors course selections  reveals that they also offer a large number of sec tions per course—for example, there are 26 sections of the freshman honors seminar set to run in fall of 2019.Arizona State, Indiana, Penn State, and Temple offer a similarly vast array of honors courses as well as class sizes under 20. Unfortunately, some programs may only a smattering of honors courses with 15-20 students, supplemented by a majority of classes in 300 seat lecture halls. As such, make sure to ask your prospective college for a complete list of honors courses (if this cannot easily be found online).Does the â€Å"honors† experience extend outside the classroom?As a fairly serious student, you may benefit by being surrounded by other academically-minded students outside of the lecture hall. Sharing a living space affords honors students the chance to easily study or complete group projects together and partake in unique intellectual experiences. Toward this end, it is important to find out if your prospective school offers special honors living arrangem ents and if so, what the offerings and policies look like, as they can take a variety of forms.The University of South Carolina encourages freshman to live in their honors-only residence, which even includes three lecture halls that allow students to get to class without stepping foot outside. Boston University actually requires members of its Kilachand Honors College to live in a designated honors dorm as a freshman. Drexel University makes separate housing totally optional but offers an honors dorm that features special guest lecturers and faculty dinners on a regular basis. All Pitt honors students live in one dorm, Sutherland West, and have the option to continue residing in a different dorm for honors upper-classman. Other schools such as Michigan State have honors floors in seven of their residence halls across campus, rather than all in one building.How does the cost compare to private colleges?It’s no secret that state schools (sans merit aid considerations) have a si gnificantly lower sticker price than most private colleges. Since honors. Let’s say a Pennsylvania resident is choosing between Bucknell University, a well-regarded private school, and the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State. Here’s how the financials break down:Bucknell (room/board/meals/fees): $72,370 x 4 years = $289,480Penn State Honors (room/board/meals/fees): $31,864 x 4 years = $127,456For those scoring at home, that’s a savings of more than $162,024.It’s no secret that state schools (sans financial aid) have a significantly lower sticker price than most private colleges. However, given that many â€Å"honors† students also qualify for substantial merit aid from the larger university at which they enroll, honors programs can be an absolute bargain. For example, students admitted into the Schreyer Honors College automatically qualify for an Academic Excellence Scholarship valued at $5,000 per year, while students at Arizona State’s B arrett Honors College have exclusive access to scholarship ranging from $1,000 to as much as $15,000 per year.CT’s quick take Honors colleges can be a cost-effective and highly rewarding undergraduate experience for top-notch students. In the best-case scenario, you can enjoy all the benefits of a large university (research opportunities, athletics, and a diverse student body) while still benefiting from an intimate, rigorous, and individualized experience usually reserved for elite liberal arts colleges. It is critical, however, to do sufficient homework on any program you are considering as not all honors colleges are created equal.Please visit our Dataverse for College Transitions list of  50 top honors programs with minimum SAT, ACT, and class rank information for each college. Weve also included links to several  top honors programs (in alphabetical order) below:Arizona State University (Barrett)City University of New York (Macaulay)Clemson University (Calhoun)New Je rsey Institute of Technology (Dorman)Ohio University (Honors Tutorial College)Penn State University (Schreyer)Purdue UniversityTemple UniversityUniversity of California Irvine (Campuswide Honors)University of ConnecticutUniversity of DelawareUniversity of GeorgiaUniversity of Illinois (Campus Honors)University of KansasUniversity of MarylandUniversity of North Carolina Chapel HillUniversity of Oregon (Clark)University of South CarolinaUniversity of Texas at Austin (Plan II)University of Virginia (Echols)