My daughter is currently accepted in the Honors Housing Community, but just got an email from Cornerstone Honors saying that because she's so awesome, they want her.

My wife and I have no idea what the difference really is and their internet pages really don't go into much detail.

Is one more prestigious than the other? Just a different philosophy? Does it matter?


Probably wrong place to ask. We'll call them tomorrow, but wanted to started getting as much information as many different sources as possible.

Can't help you with Cornerstone because that is Liberal Arts (I believe) but my Class of '18 was in Honors and had a positive experience. Dr. Datta was a good resource.

Not cool

Cornerstone is an amazing experience. If Dr. Curtis is still running it, you should go for it. And I think you can do both honors programs. I think. It's just different housing (not sure if you already knew that).

Dread Pirate Roberts said:

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Not cool

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College sex is very cool, or so I've been told.

This housing thing... it's like Lechner but with less letterheading?

Why not pick a dorm by whatever is going on around it, or if it's her first year just pick one and by next year she'll figure out where the real place to be is?

I hope neither of those is code for "Walton, but full of nerds."

PoohAh97 said:

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I hope neither of those is code for "Walton, but full of nerds."

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When I think Walton, I think academic excellence. Or is it academic excrement?

I dunno, I graduated with a 2.0x. How bad could it have been?

Claude! said:

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PoohAh97 said:

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I hope neither of those is code for "Walton, but full of nerds."

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When I think Walton, I think academic excellence. Or is it academic excrement?

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So, the main thing I learned from this thread was "Asking GB'ers about Honors Programs is like asking GB'ers about what it is like to have sex with another living person (consensually)"

Nope.

"I thought she was going to Rice because A&M sucks and all."

Yeah what happened? How did your kid end up deciding on A&M?

So, Rice was affordable for us for the first two years because they base their tuition on your tax returns. And they used 2016 returns for freshman year. My wife was essentially working part time, then so we were below a threshold that allowed them to give us a "tuition grant" that was big enough to make it almost equal to A&M.

But now that my wife has a full-time job, next year we will be well above that threshold and the tuition per year would skyrocket by to $20,000 MORE than this first year.

Can't justify that much money for a Liberal Arts degree.

[/in before LOLPoors]

Quote:

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Can't justify money for a Liberal Arts degree.

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Fixed!

PoohAh97 said:

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Can't justify money for a Liberal Arts degree.

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Fixed!

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I know. I know. Trust me, this is not how I wanted this to go down. But she is self-aware of the "value" of liberal arts degree and knows she will need graduate school.

91_Aggie said:

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PoohAh97 said:

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Quote:

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Can't justify money for a Liberal Arts degree.

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Fixed!

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I know. I know. Trust me, this is not how I wanted this to go down. But she is self-aware of the "value" of liberal arts degree and knows she will need graduate school.

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She'd better do a better job of picking in round two, because I have a few degree collecting friends that still haven't figured it out yet and can't find work.

The Fife said:

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91_Aggie said:

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PoohAh97 said:

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Can't justify money for a Liberal Arts degree.

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Fixed!

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I know. I know. Trust me, this is not how I wanted this to go down. But she is self-aware of the "value" of liberal arts degree and knows she will need graduate school.

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She'd better do a better job of picking in round two, because I have a few degree collecting friends that still haven't figured it out yet and can't find work.

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yeah, I think everyone has a couple of those friends. They either stay in school forever, or they get a job with a governement entity or a university.

Does graduate school even "guarantee" anything with a LA degree?

AgEng06 said:

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Does graduate school even "guarantee" anything with a LA degree?

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Like most majors, depends on the degree as well as the school.

Got it. I guess I just don't understand knowingly going into an education path that will make your life more difficult once you get done (both in finding a job and paying off increased amounts of student loans).

My wife had the choice of going to Memphis or Chicago for archaeology, and she explained that the difference is pretty significant. She chose the latter, since not only will they get you in contact with the right people to get you where you want to be, they'll also basically set you up with a job, as opposed to getting you in contact with people who could.

Hey nerds, you can get a degree in Liberal Arts and get a good job. It might not be as easy to find a job right after graduation as an engineer, but you can actually have a job and life you enjoy with a LA degree. If you don't, it's because you have other problems besides your degree.

PrincessButtercup said:

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Hey nerds, you can get a degree in Liberal Arts and get a good job. It might not be as easy to find a job right after graduation as an engineer, but you can actually have a job and life you enjoy with a LA degree. If you don't, it's because you have other problems besides your degree.

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True, but the odds are typically against you. And the person I know who majored in social justice (what the hell?!).

To be fair I think a couple of them ended up there because they weren't sure what exactly they wanted to do so they just picked something. Then worked at Target or Chipotle for a while and went back to try again. Some figured things out, others graduated over 20 years ago with no true end in sight that doesn't involve working for a university somewhere.

PrincessButtercup said:

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Hey nerds, you can get a degree in Liberal Arts and get a good job. It might not be as easy to find a job right after graduation as an engineer, but you can actually have a job and life you enjoy with a LA degree. If you don't, it's because you have other problems besides your degree.

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I have a degree in Liberal Arts and not even very good grades (rock bottom!) and I do pretty well. I have a whole separate rant about the value of an IT job now, but I still do fine.

Okay well this thread got derailed but if she is still deciding, living in Lechner (Honors Housing Community) was the best part of college for me. I met all my best friends in honors (still hang out with them!). It became my home. If she is worried it's too geeky, I promise it isn't. The residents are some of the most diverse, well rounded people I have ever met. For reference I was in a sorority and heavily involved as a leader in lots of orgs on campus too. Also it was great being closer to Sbisa, Hullabaloo (free printing & starbucks), Northgate, and West Campus. I've heard a lot of the other dorms don't have such a close knit community, so I feel lucky I decided to live in Honors. In fact, I decided to stay on for another year as a Sophomore Advisor, which is a live-in personal mentor assigned to 10 freshmen, kind of like an RA but it's a volunteer position. If you have any more questions or your daughter would like to hear more about it I'm happy to help.

Thanks for the info. She called and talked to the Cornerstone people and they said she could do cornerstone at the same time as living honors one in lechner/McFadden. So she is set for that.

Thanks for the background, though on the actual program.