Monday, October 12, 2009

Honors program

After a bit of a break, I figure it’s probably time to talk about something significant. A topic some of you readers might be interested in is the honors college. The Frederick Meijer Honors College is a spectacular program, and not just because there is a brand new facility for it. In fact, I figure it’s probably best to just talk about the academic portion of the program for right now, and get back to the facilities later on.

One of the first big concerns is “how do I get into the program?” Why thank you for asking, reader. The honors college does require a secondary application, and if I recall correctly it does include a short essay as well as a submission of a previous work from High School. Your admission is also decided in part by your ACT and GPA in High School, but don’t think that these are the only factors, or that there is a minimum GPA. However, if they do have a 28 ACT and a 3.6 GPA, students are invited to apply (transfer or current students have different admissions requirements).

After being admitted, a big concern is in the particulars of the program; advantages and disadvantages, continuance requirements, etc. And believe me when I say this, there are a lot of advantages. But first we should probably talk about the requirements. Aside from needing to maintain a GPA, honors students are required to take three distinct courses. First, they have to take a civilization sequence (usually their freshman or sophomore year). This is a year long, 12 credit pair of classes that can cover a variety of subjects, such as Greek and Roman Civilization, the Making of America, European Civilization, or the Middle Eastern World. After this comes a Junior Seminar, or an intensive course of study in any one field of the student’s choice. The curriculum is capped off with a Senior Project, in which the student conducts a research project on a field within their major, with the approval of honors faculty, in an essentially “independent study” environment.

By now you’re probably ready to hear the advantages, and they greatly outweigh the costs. Honors courses require a lot of reading outside of class, and as a result, the courses themselves are extremely engaging. There’s less busy work and far more focus on significant projects or papers. Many of the courses are team taught, which means that for a single class you will have two different professors teaching from two different areas, giving you an array of perspectives on the subject. One other big advantage is a simple matter of saving time: honors students do not have to take a three course theme to graduate, as their theme is “Honors.” That of course isn’t even bringing up the fact that these students have access to some of the newest facilities on campus. And of course the most obvious reason may be that a degree that alludes to an individual’s completion of a rigorous course of study tends to look quite impressive.

Having talked myself dry and probably bored you to death, I’ll stop here. If you’ve got concerns on the honors program, feel free to ask, as a lot of the admissions students are part of the curriculum.

-Kyle

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Two instructors hired by the honors program told students in their class last semester (Winter '14) they had been pressured to "not give as many A's in their honors class." They responded by unfairly penalizing the students for being in the honors program by seldom giving full credit for work even when it exceeded reasonable expectations and other ridiculous methods to artificially keep the grades low. I'm hoping the program takes appropriate action.