View Full Version : How useful is honors in college?
whocares123
2008-02-23, 15:53
is anyone else here in an "honors program" at their college? i accepted it because it seemed like it was the only way to get the shitball scholarship they gave me, and it basically entitles me to do at least one honors course each quarter (3 quarters in a year) or six by the end of my sophomore year. they aren't any "harder" than the regular ones, just smaller classes around 30 people as opposed to 100. problem is, you really got to go out of your way to find an honors course you need, as they're mostly all really basic shit.
i'm supposed to take honors macroecon and honors psychology 100 next quarter, but the psych class is at 8:30 am and i could get a regular psych 100 class at 4:30 pm. i was trying to take two next quarter because i can't see anything i'll need in the fall that's honors.
is this worth it? i don't even know if it shows up on your diploma. i mean, it's separate than the latin distinctions, which rely on GPA and are open to anyone.
Jive Talka
2008-02-23, 16:29
My Engligh professor asked me to take an honors course next semester but I have the same questions as you, that and I don't want to waste my time taking an English honor course seeing as how I'm not an English major.
napoleon_complex
2008-02-23, 16:59
Well you do get smaller classes which is a plus IMO. Additionally, as an Honors student, I get early registration for classes.
On the down side, most junior and senior level honors classes are incorporated into the regular class, it's just the honors section does a semester long project, which of course sucks.
At my college, all Honors students, if they want to graduate with honors, have to do an Honors project called a "brown bag presentation". It's basically research approved by your honors adviser and presented to a panel of professors during lunch one day.
With all that said, Honors is probably a wash. I plan on dropping out of my honors program next year.
Entropic
2008-02-24, 01:23
At my university, you can only get the latin distinctions on your diploma if you're in the honors program. Equivalently high GPA non-honors graduates only get "distinction", "high disctinction", and "highest distiction" instead of "laude", "cum luade", and "magna cum laude".
niggersexual
2008-02-24, 01:59
I'm pretty sure it's cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude. Laude and cum laude would be pretty much the same thing.
Entropic
2008-02-24, 02:16
Ahh, that's right. Shows how well I know latin.
It's useful if you're trying to get into grad school.
Entheogenic
2008-03-19, 08:41
It's useful if you're trying to get into grad school.
QFT.
Entheogenic
napoleon_complex
2008-03-19, 19:20
That's only if you do the undergraduate research. If you plan on not doing the research associated with honors, then there's really no point in doing the honors.
whocares123
2008-03-19, 19:44
That's only if you do the undergraduate research. If you plan on not doing the research associated with honors, then there's really no point in doing the honors.
i don't think my school's honors program has any special research. it's just taking honors classes. any student can seek out research.
napoleon_complex
2008-03-20, 03:15
To graduate with Honors you traditionally have to do either undergraduate research or a thesis of sorts.
How many honors hours have you completed within your major?
whocares123
2008-03-20, 06:57
To graduate with Honors you traditionally have to do either undergraduate research or a thesis of sorts.
How many honors hours have you completed within your major?
within my major? none, i don't have a major yet. i've taken two GEC honors courses the two quarters i've been in college. as i've understood it, to graduate with honors, and being an honors student is different. anyone can graduate with honors if they simply meet the GPA requirements. research is not mentioned at all.
napoleon_complex
2008-03-20, 11:55
Honors within your major is what I meant. Traditionally, to get departmental honors(like if you want to graduate with honors and you're a chemistry major), you traditionally have to do research in addition to a set number of honors class hours(33 at my school with 18 being major specific and up to 8 of those being from the research project).
Entheogenic
2008-03-20, 19:47
At my school, you had to do a thesis for honors, which was either a paper (in humanities/social science) or lab work (in science).
Entheogenic
slaytanicwhermacht_89
2008-03-22, 02:01
At my school the only real plus to doing an honors program is that you can waive a lot of the bullshit gen-ed courses and freshman course requirements
other than that it is really no different, one of my roommates is in the honors program and the class work is slightly more difficult than the freshman requirements but it's not bad at all
To the best of my knowledge Latin honors have no bearing on honors programs, but GPA and other performance things
for example with a GPA higher than x you get cum laude(with praise) and then higher than y magna cum laude (with great praise) and then summa cum laude (with highest praise) for the highest GPA
whocares123
2008-03-22, 02:23
To the best of my knowledge Latin honors have no bearing on honors programs, but GPA and other performance things
for example with a GPA higher than x you get cum laude(with praise) and then higher than y magna cum laude (with great praise) and then summa cum laude (with highest praise) for the highest GPA
yes, that is how i understand it also.
we don't get to skip over any general requirements though...one thing we do get, i guess, is to schedule earlier than regular students. but at that point, the only classes that fill up and are hard to get into are the honors ones! when you've got to fit one in each quarter, at least. gets annoying structuring your schedule around some stupid honors course.