INSIDE HONORS: Ratings and Reviews of Sixty Public University Honors Programs

About this book

How do parents and prospective students have any idea about the true quality of an honors program assuming that the students enrolled have met high admission standards? Understanding what makes a program substantive must begin with an analysis of the ground game the graduation requirements the specific mix of classes by discipline the total number of honors sections actual class sizes honors grad ratesand yes the availability of special housing and perks including priority registration for all courses. These factors and others are rated for the 50 honors colleges and programs listed below. Another 10 programs receive unrated summary reviews Find out if honors programs are really a combination of a liberal arts college in the midst of a prominent research university with all the advantages of both? This typical description of public honors programs is sometimes true sometimes misleading and fairly often offset by equivalent values that are not mentioned in the hype. College choice almost always involves money. Is that private college that your National Merit Scholar has always dreamed of attending really worth an extra $30 000 a year since all merit aid at the private college is need-based and your income even with a family of four leaves such a big balance? What then might make a public honors option truly competitive? It might be those eight honors math sections or those interdisciplinary seminars at every class level or that study-abroad stipend to attend Oxford in the summer or that (mostly) quiet honors dorm with on-site dining mentors and study lounges on every floor or the combination of writing rhetoric and honors business classes that will make your student a well-rounded success in life. And often it will be that merit award worth $10 000 a year to go with a waiver of out-of-state tuition. Yes honors programs are complicated but so are your college choice decisions. To understand exactly what these programs offer parents and prospective students need to look inside honors. Rated Programs: Alabama Arizona Arizona State Arkansas Auburn Clemson Colorado State Connecticut CUNY Macaulay Delaware Georgia Georgia State Houston Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kentucky LSU Maryland Massachusetts Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana New Jersey Inst Tech New Mexico North Carolina Oklahoma Oklahoma State Oregon Oregon State Penn State Purdue South Carolina South Dakota Temple Tennessee Texas A&M Texas Tech UC Irvine Univ of Central Florida UT Austin Utah Vermont Virginia Commonwealth Virginia Tech Washington Washington State. Editor John Willingham has spent five years researching and writing about public university honors programs. This is his third book on the subject.