My daughter was admitted to the Sciences honors program. Is the program worth the time in terms of helping her in her future endeavors? She believes she wants to be a dentist.

Thoughts?

I have sons at two other colleges and we visited many others. IMHO, TAMU's honors program is not worth much. TAMU only gives whole grades, no A-minuses or B-pluses. In two cases, taking honors engineering classes actually hurt my son's GPA. The only difference between the two classes was the grading scale. There were no other differenced between the lectures, assignments, or exams. If he had taken the regular sections, he would have gotten As. With the "H" designation, he got Bs. In one of those classes, not one student taking it for honors got an A.

Real (Latin) honors is entirely GPA based. Summa cum laude is printed on your diploma for a 3.9 or above GPA, magna cum laude is 3.7 to 3.89, and cum laude is 3.5 to 3.69. Would you rather graduate magna cum laude or just miss and have a couple of classes with an "H" after their class number?

It has been a long time (decades) since I took any honors classes but back then they were great for the big weed out classes. Mainly because you had a proof that was spoke English and cared about the students.

The classes also had the same percentage of A's as the regular sections had passing.

My experience was like mentioned above.....took a honors physics (218 if I recall) and ended up with a C. Had I took the regular class I would have gotten an A. After that, I decided honors was a waste. That class was the difference between suma cum laude and magma cum lauded as I ended with something like a 3.87 GPA. Not that the difference matters now but I still wouldn't recommend honors. At least in engineering.

College of Science Honors is fine. One of our students has done well and did benefit from the early registration and smaller class size. Some of the program has undergone revision, too, I believe.
Biology Honors is new(er) and they have been working on establishing a mentoring program to retain the best students (heard through the grapevine).
I don't know anything about the grading; hasn't been a problem that I have heard.

I'm on med school admissions and it doesn't matter there. That being said I would go back and do honors college right now. I was a regular grad who graduated honors, but not honors college.

VanZandt92 said:

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I'm on med school admissions and it doesn't matter there. That being said I would go back and do honors college right now. I was a regular grad who graduated honors, but not honors college.

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Why doesn't it matter there? I would think the extra rigor and depth would mean something for the next step?

Also, why would you go back and do honors?

GenericAggie said:

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VanZandt92 said:

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I'm on med school admissions and it doesn't matter there. That being said I would go back and do honors college right now. I was a regular grad who graduated honors, but not honors college.

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Why doesn't it matter there? I would think the extra rigor and depth would mean something for the next step?

Also, why would you go back and do honors?

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There are many factors taken into account in med school admissions. The honors college stuff would be horribly watered down it it mattered at all. At my institution it doesn't matter.

I'd go back and do honors for the challenge and for depth of interest. When I did my regular plan, I was already aware that an A is an A and that I could do well in regular coursework.

VanZandt92 said:

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GenericAggie said:

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VanZandt92 said:

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I'm on med school admissions and it doesn't matter there. That being said I would go back and do honors college right now. I was a regular grad who graduated honors, but not honors college.

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Why doesn't it matter there? I would think the extra rigor and depth would mean something for the next step?

Also, why would you go back and do honors?

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There are many factors taken into account in med school admissions. The honors college stuff would be horribly watered down it it mattered at all. At my institution it doesn't matter.

I'd go back and do honors for the challenge and for depth of interest. When I did my regular plan, I was already aware that an A is an A and that I could do well in regular coursework.

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Thank you. It's like my daughter gets a 3 on an AP test and gets credit for the course. She could take that credit, or, she could take the class again and go for the A....

Is your daughter entering a Departmental Honors program or at the College level? It was my understanding that the College of Science Honors was undergoing some revision (and may not be enrolling students) but that may have been sorted out, which was why I mentioned Biology (a departmental program).

The advantage to early registration and (depending upon the department) smaller class sizes cannot be stressed enough. The enrollment levels are trending upwards and there is limited classroom capacity. Even if registrars open sections on a rolling basis, you will be limited by available instructors to teach sections. (State hiring freeze, remember?). Honors classes in your student's major are often taught by faculty as opposed to lecturers. To some parents and students this matters, others don't really care as long as they get the grade. Note, I am not saying the lecturers are unqualified, some of the best instructors on campus have no research programs, it really depends upon your student and the educational experience she desires.
Best of luck to your Aggie!

She was accepted into the University Honors program, not College or Department. I may have stated that incorrectly earlier.

She chose to not accept the offer, as there wasn't time (email issue) to explore what this meant to her before the deadline. We had a day to make the decision, and without having good data points, she decided to wait.

Thanks all who responded. It was helpful.

I graduated with university and foundation honors. I am glad I did the honors coursework and would do the same again. It really is the difference between a run of the mill and exceptional academic college experience, but, of course, it depends on what the student puts into it and what the student wants out of it. If one is taking just one honors course a year to maintain some early registration perk, they might not derive as much benefit from the experience.

It also depends a lot on the academic department. I was fortunate that my department offers one of the best slates of honors courses, with honors options for almost all of the mandatory courses. You might see if the academic department will put you in touch with upper level honors students. They would be the best to share the value of being an honors student in that particular degree program.

On the other hand, I don't think any of the medical school admissions boards noticed. So, in that regard, I would have been better off spending my time on politically preferred resume padding activities, that is, if my sole purpose in life were to pander to politically biased admission boards. Frankly, I wonder if it is prudent to take advanced science courses beyond what the professional schools require as it can be a risk to the GPA. Don't overestimate an admissions board.

Obviously (I hope), a high GPA, especially in the courses considered by the professional school, and high standardized test scores are the most important. Race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, sexual orientation, and hometown can also be fairly influential factors, if you are able to modify any of those to preferred identifies. Honors coursework is probably mostly inconsequential, and, I suspect if there were two almost identical students seeking the last spot, the one who fought Trump on Obamacare and spent afternoons volunteering at free clinics would get the spot over the honors college student.

Pondering on it, students who enjoy the honors program should probably go into academia instead of professional school.

It's a great thing to go to school with a goal (and is a great concern that so many go to college without a clue), but it's also okay to discover your calling and follow a new path.

Good luck. Gig 'em