Would you be a good fit for an honors program?

While perusing your list of potential colleges, you might discover that some of your schools have honors colleges.

Sure, it sounds daunting—if you are looking at your reach schools, the idea of extra classes and harder courses may scare you away. Honors colleges at your “good fit” and “safety” schools can add a little extra work, but a lot of extra opportunities.

Chances are, if you have taken honors courses in high school, you’d be a strong candidate for an honors college. Got questions? Read on!

Q: What is an honors college?

A: A typical honors college is different from other colleges because it offers students an advanced honors curriculum. It may be its own college within a school, or it may be a program that unites students in different majors and different colleges within a university.

Usually, the honors college has a director who also may act as the students’ adviser and social events planner.

There are usually smaller class sizes in honors colleges than in other departments, and unique research and independent study opportunities. There are several honors colleges throughout the U.S.; find them online or with the help of your guidance counselor.

Q: Who gets accepted?

A: Samantha Brown, an admissions counselor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland, says, “Students who are accepted to St. Mary’s have typically done very well in a challenging high school curriculum that includes AP, IB or GT level coursework; have performed well on standardized tests; and have demonstrated leadership and commitment in extracurricular activities.”

Sometimes colleges and universities have a separate application for those applying to the honors college, while other colleges and universities automatically admit qualified applicants to their honors programs.

Once students are accepted into the honors college, they are generally required to take a certain number of honors courses, write a senior thesis, and maintain a certain grade point average (usually a 3.0 or above).

Sound daunting? Cheri Austin, a freshman in the honors college at Pace University in New York, vouches that the workload is doable.

“In a large university, you could get overwhelmed by the people and the workload, but the honors adviser here really personalizes things. I’d definitely recommend the honors program,” she says.

Q: What are the perks of an honors college?

A: The benefits of enrolling in an honors college program surface before, during and after the college experience.

Before enrolling at Pace University her freshman year, Cheri Austin’s honors college adviser created a listserv for the honors students to communicate with one another and make friends before starting school. During orientation, honors students had a special program to meet one another in person and hang out.

One of the biggest incentives for many people to consider honors colleges are the scholarships that sometimes accompany it.

While a student at the school, Austin and her peers in the Pace University Honors College “got free laptops that we get to keep when we graduate, free movie tickets, holiday parties, and tickets to Broadway shows, among other things.”

Dr. Ray Green, director of the honors program at Texas A&M University-Commerce, says, “students in the honors college receive substantial scholarships, better housing, smaller class sizes, can register when graduate students do, and are recognized separately at graduation.”

Jason Cotugno, who recently graduated from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y., also enjoyed the diverse academic opportunities of his honors program.

“I was able to take courses that I would not normally have taken,” he says. “For instance, I took a class all about the Star Wars films, as well as a course on natural disasters.”

Q: I’m convinced: I want to join an honors college. What should I do now?

A: To find honors colleges, search through the sites of your prospective colleges for honors info. Don’t be shy about calling admissions offices to find out the requirements and benefits.

Once you are accepted, pat yourself on the back. Then, get to work!

“I would recommend taking your work seriously; after all, you competed for your spot, so don’t take it for granted,” Cotugno says. “Also, connect with other honors students.

An honors program allows you to connect with people who are going to be experiencing the same thing—it’s a perfect ice breaker!”

 

This article is provided by The Next Step Magazine (nextSTEPmag.com), a publication that helps students prepare for life after high school.