My daughter made her decision to become a Cyclone and couldn’t be more excited. Now she is deciding if she should join the Honors program. I go back and forth on if she will be better off being in the program or not. I have heard it is harder classes and the grading curve is harder since everyone is at a higher level. But there are good benefits of housing, smaller classes, and it looks good on resumes later in life. Any suggestions?
Honors Program
- Thread starter BeTheCyclone
- Start date
You dont have to take all honors classes just bc you are in the honors program. There are extra classes and a activities you can do as part of it. One of the best benefits is you get to register for classes early. It used to be that even if you decided not to continue in the program you still had that benefit, not sure if still that way
I think it depends on the major she's persuing. My daughter was an engineering major and decided not to join the honors program. She had an excellent job lined up a semester prior to graduation with a good but not elite gpa. (She did have two interships and two management positions on her resume.)
My was was in the honors program at Iowa State. It brings some different opportunities and slight advantages that other students don’t get. If she’s eligible she should do it.
Looks great on her early-college resume as well as she looks for her first job or internship.
Looks great on her early-college resume as well as she looks for her first job or internship.
Ya 3.5 h.s. gpa and a 30+ act. I qualified as a freshman but went to a different School and then didn't qualify as a transfer haha.
I was in the freshman honors program and would recommend doing it. Met some very cool people and the perks are nice. The freshman honors English class wasn't hard, and the honors seminar during 1st semester was fun. As an engineering student who cruised through high school with **** study habits, I didn't have the freshman GPA to stay in the program but I would have liked to. I think you have to maintain a 3.5 to stay in? FWIW I met my wife in the program.
I don’t know if they’ve changed things since I was in school, when I was in school being in the honors program had many benefits. The freshman honors program had a first semester small groups of students that met weekly, I think, to do different activities around campus. It was a nice way to meet different people. Second semester, I got to help out with research (I worked with someone in the Health and Human Performance department, which looking back was really interesting and not something most freshmen get an opportunity to do). I lived in honors housing, which I enjoyed. I got to pick my classes ahead of most students in my class. I could take any class without doing the prerequisite classes before them (I took upper level history and anthropology classes which usually would have required taking other classes first. It worked out fine for me but I wouldn’t recommend it for just any subject). I got to take more credit hours than they usually allow. I think I usually took 20-21 hours a semester. Which let me get a double major in four years. Since I was on the honors student board, I also got to be on some university honors committees including the Institutional Review Board and I got to help plan a regional honors conference which was at Iowa State one year. I also think getting a personal recommendation from the director of the honors program helped a lot on applications. Finally, the Jischke Honors Building was a pretty good place to study.
I’m sure I’m forgetting some things but the gist is that it opens up a lot of opportunities. I don’t think there were really any downsides and if she doesn’t like it after the first semester, she can just quit.
I’m sure I’m forgetting some things but the gist is that it opens up a lot of opportunities. I don’t think there were really any downsides and if she doesn’t like it after the first semester, she can just quit.
20-21 credits sounds like a downside to me.
Not sure how it works at Iowa State, but often Honors Programs offer special integrative, cross-discipline courses that are really interesting. And they tend to be more seminar-and-project rather than lecture-and-test style. And you get special advising that can help with other aspects of course scheduling.
Haha, true! But I did get done with school in 4 years with a double major and all my prerequisites done.
Thanks all. I want her to have a good college experience as well so trying to guide her on the right balance.
ISU had those when I was there - Honors seminars or something like that. Usually half semester 1 credit classes on really different topics.
As to the OP, I didn't graduate out of the program because I just ran out of time and bandwidth to put together a Honors project (and had been hemming and hawing whether to take the classes necessary) but as others say, at least the first couple years, getting to register early and the printing quota at Jishcke were pretty nice. And the honors group - think they did a retreat, too. Good resume builder/scholarship boost.
