Mag University pro's- Wtf is up with honors college ?

[detrusor]

Wife graduated from the honors college at U of O. As has been mentioned…small classes, personal relationship with prof’s l, scholarships. There is also a desperate building and computer lab for study etc. she has nothing but positives. Was able to do a NOLS mountaineering and sea kayaking in Patagonia and retain her scholarship.




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[east or bust]

I don't have a horse in the honors college race, but as a UVM'er with a couple degrees from there... I'd love to hear his take on the MechE professors.

Most of my friends unequivocally hated many of their upper level ME professors at UVM. As a CE I’d have to say the opposite, the professors seemed to get better as the curriculum advanced for us.

[Norseman]

Another engineering grad here, not from the honors college but I'd echo many of the above replies.

As a freshman I took honors chemistry and calculus, which were excellent. I'll never forget the amazing multicolor artistry on the blackboard(!) of the math class which was so much more interesting and clear than standard stark whiteboard scribble.

The profs were the good ones, top dawgs nearing retirement, who cared and actually had time during office hours to help students.

Students could speak up and ask questions in class without gathering a hundred impatient gazes. There was a sense of camaraderie that was missing in other larger classes.

So for the real core material early in a college environment that can make or break, I enthusiastically support the honors courses.

[adrenalated]

I was in an Honors program and lived in the Honors dorm my freshman year. In our case the dorms weren't really any nicer (they were in a good location) but all the other students were generally pretty like minded and it was overall a good experience.

My particular Honors program didn't really require any particular extra work and gave me opportunities for a couple pretty cool spring break trips. We didn't have special versions of classes for Honors students. Overall it was certainly worth it and being able to put it on my resume after graduation helped. However if my program had required a bunch of mundane bullshit work or massive extra cost, it probably would not have been worthwhile.

[plugboots]

Mini Plug just graduated from WSU in the honors program. Her experience mirrors Mofro’s kid’s. She thinks it was definitely worth it.

[riser4]

Most of my friends unequivocally hated many of their upper level ME professors at UVM. As a CE I’d have to say the opposite, the professors seemed to get better as the curriculum advanced for us.

It was a mixed bag in that regard in CS at UVM in late 90s. Love hate. I loathe a few and absolutely wouldn't have stuck with it without the rest. I mention CS because it's all in Votey Hall, and lots of cross curriculum especially with EE.

[::: :::]

thanks for the comments in here -- i'm reading along with interest with a junior who has started considering things for next year

We took him to visit OSU. The HC there has a designated dorm tho it didn't appear to be any better/worse than the others when we visited.
There are designated smaller versions of the big lecture classes for max 30 taught by a prof directly. But for the specialty programs, those offerings peter out.
They also offer seminars that are more like the cool, interesting things that you might take to spice up any curriculum and are usually hard to get into cuz filled by upper classmen.
The HC seems geared towards the lib arts majors; or at least it seemed that's who would benefit most from the offerings.
Otherwise, the benefit is being around students who are motivated to be at college (high performers who know why they are there).

[fatnslow]

thanks for the comments in here -- i'm reading along with interest with a junior who has started considering things for next year

We took him to visit OSU. The HC there has a designated dorm tho it didn't appear to be any better/worse than the others when we visited.
There are designated smaller versions of the big lecture classes for max 30 taught by a prof directly. But for the specialty programs, those offerings peter out.
They also offer seminars that are more like the cool, interesting things that you might take to spice up any curriculum and are usually hard to get into cuz filled by upper classmen.
The HC seems geared towards the lib arts majors; or at least it seemed that's who would benefit most from the offerings.
Otherwise, the benefit is being around students who are motivated to be at college (high performers who know why they are there).

Last time I took a quick look 4 years ago for my second kid it just didn't impress me much. My take at the time was putting like minded(more motivated??) kids in a living situation and a few classes a term of HC courses in smaller setting. We mentioned OSU multiple times but the kid is showing no love. I like the OSU campus much more than UO but I'm not the one attending. IDK, the kid will have to explore it and figure out if it's worth his time/effort. Most likely putting the cart before the horse since he actually hasn't even applied to the HC let alone be accepted.

[fastfred]

holy shit
over achivers and then they get into real life and can't function like normal people
buy the kid a bong and send em off to a ski town after high school
much cheaper and they will end up being able to relate to the rest of us

[fatnslow]

holy shit
over achivers and then they get into real life and can't function like normal people
buy the kid a bong and send em off to a ski town after high school
much cheaper and they will end up being able to relate to the rest of us

Don't you think I already offered that up ? A season pass AND rent would be cheaper than state college. Kind of funny since my biggest fear in parenting life was my kids might end up like me and my cohorts age 14-25 but mom did a good enough job where they all ended up OK.

[fastfred]

just trying to help w my vast knowledge of life which streatches from one side of town to the other
they didn't have honners college for thespians maybe if they did I'd be winning today

seriously though best of luck

[fatnslow]

just trying to help w my vast knowledge of life which streatches from one side of town to the other
they didn't have honners college for thespians maybe if they did I'd be winning today

seriously though best of luck

IF there was a guarantee my kid could be bumpin around in a $250K sled running million dollar projects in 10 years after living a adventure filled life I would drop him off at the ski town of his choice TODAY.

[::: :::]

holy shit
over achivers and then they get into real life and can't function like normal people
buy the kid a bong and send em off to a ski town after high school
much cheaper and they will end up being able to relate to the rest of us

rest of us = prep school kids?

[plugboots]

Early access to get the classes she wanted at the time she wanted along with the counselor were among the reasons she liked the program.

[TBS]

thanks for the comments in here -- i'm reading along with interest with a junior who has started considering things for next year

We took him to visit OSU. The HC there has a designated dorm tho it didn't appear to be any better/worse than the others when we visited.
There are designated smaller versions of the big lecture classes for max 30 taught by a prof directly. But for the specialty programs, those offerings peter out.
They also offer seminars that are more like the cool, interesting things that you might take to spice up any curriculum and are usually hard to get into cuz filled by upper classmen.
The HC seems geared towards the lib arts majors; or at least it seemed that's who would benefit most from the offerings.
Otherwise, the benefit is being around students who are motivated to be at college (high performers who know why they are there).

The answer for E is OSU Cascades.
+ farther away from you (vs Corvallis) so won’t be coming home as much
++ Jonesy, Tap and I are here to provide guidance (and bail if necessary)

[::: :::]

The answer for E is OSU Cascades.
+ farther away from you (vs Corvallis) so won’t be coming home as much
++ Jonesy, Tap and I are here to provide guidance (and bail if necessary)

if nothing else, at least one year there
maybe he ends up liking the outdoor gear design track?

[fatnslow]

Hey Fastfred, can you PM me a curriculum /tuition breakdown for your 2 year skitown life style PHD program ? I think I'm looking at this all wrong.

[gavinski91]

I did it for a year at WWU. After 3 quarters of reading 10 classic books a quarter and navel gazing with the rest of the well off kids about the meaning of the Epic of Gilgamesh I decided my time could be better spent in classes that interested me and applied to my major.

That was 15 years ago. FWIW.

I did a year of the honors program at WWU as well, 10 years ago. Only benefit IMO was that the 3 freshman honors classes counted towards 4 GURs, so I had fewer general classes to take and could focus on my major. Honors program there does not jive well with STEM majors, but could be a good fit for a humanities major.

[XXX-er]

I duno but after 30 yrs in a corporate gig how to be a ski bum was not really apparent, it took me a few years

[riser4]

I duno but after 30 yrs in a corporate gig how to be a ski bum was not really apparent, it took me a few years

LOL

[fastfred]

rest of us = prep school kids?

Sillyme am the only one who went to private school?

The sylabus will be posted in the morning for ski Town College

[schuss]

holy shit
over achivers and then they get into real life and can't function like normal people
buy the kid a bong and send em off to a ski town after high school
much cheaper and they will end up being able to relate to the rest of us

My experience at a state school honors program was that 90% of the honors kids partied quite hard, so no help needed.