College honor programs?

Answered

Honors colleges within a private or public university are sort of a hybrid program that is very much different than going to college just as a non-honor undergrad. I use the term hybrid loosely because while you are attending the University, whether it's American, UPitt, or UofOregon, you arrive on campus with a slew of perks compared to other students. Although Honors programs vary from college to college some common denominators are the following:

-Tuition, room and board costs can either be higher, lower or the same. I know that at UofO, it's more expensive to be in the Honors College.

-Scholarship and internship opportunities are greater at honors colleges. Since you are the cream of the crop at the school, there are more resources dedicated to securing better scholarships and job opportunities with better recruiting.

-Coursework is harder and more complicated. However, most honors colleges have additional mentors and dedicated staff to help honors students tackle the work load. So there are more tutors, and admin per student than a regular matriculate.

-Community is a different experience primarily since most Freshman live in honors dedicated housing, dining halls and take honors classes in separate classrooms. Sometimes Honors colleges are like their own hermetically sealed communities on campus like UofO where everyone eats, sleeps, studies and attends classes in an Honors self contained building. At UPitt, one of the top floors of the Tower of Learning is dedicated to the Honors College students like their own floor to study and hang out. So its like the Ritz Carlton Gold Level where you get special treatment and access to spaces other people do not get. Also at UPitt there is honors housing which is upscale compared to other dorms.

-Exclusivity and entitlement. What all these honors colleges have in common is that they are trying to curate a more impressive cohort of students that prop up the academic reputation of the school and these students go on to better grad schools and PhD programs or get better jobs. Some have stated in their marketing material that they are trying to re-create a Liberal Arts College setting with in the larger University at a lower cost so that in-state students can have that Vassar, or Middlebury experience while being part of a larger overall campus. I'm not sure in practice, this actually happens. I do not think that any Honors College can properly replicate the kind of experiences one would get at Williams or Pomona or Bowdoin. It's a poor copy always.

Therefore Honors Colleges do serve a specific purpose and cater to students that are slightly smarter in GPA and Test Scores than the average admit. I have some friends at the Honors College at UofOregon. They seem to like it very much. Instead of having to be a #number in an incoming class of nearly 4000, they are part of a class of 200 and know everyone from the get go.

To answer your last question, of course you can drop out and matriculate back into the main campus. At UofO they have a huge problem with Honors college drop out rates. It's 40%. 15% of the 40% drop out purely based on add'l cost because UofO honors tuition is like 20% more than the regular tuition. Other reasons are that once students are on campus maybe the don't like the isolation from the rest of the school and want to pledge frats and sororities and have a normal college experience. Others feel they were oversold a bill of goods and since the Univ. can't replicated the true small Liberal arts college experience, they are disappointed that they didn't shoot their shot and apply to other out of state liberal arts colleges. Some drop out because they transfer to better colleges where they should have started in the beginning.

My gut reaction is that if the big university is a research university and had lots of STEM focus, having an in-house Liberal Arts colllege doesn't mesh well with the parent school. So if the child and parent don't jive, the students at the Honors college will leave because they want to pursue more STEM majors.

One of the reasons I like schools like Columbia, UChicago, Harvard etc is not only the prestige factor but because regardless of your major, you have to do a core curriculum. At Columbia its a 33 credits minimum, so whether you are a CS major, an English Major or a pre-med student, you are all engaged in the Liberal Arts for a 25% of your college career. This kind of requirement creates community on its own and you get to interact with all kinds of people from other majors. Also, it give all Columbia students a common base foundation in learning how to think critically which serves anyone well regardless of whether they go on to Wall Street jobs, Hospitals or work for the government as Judges.

Good luck.