Honors College- Y/N ? Forum

[azrobin]

I am going into my Junior year at Arizona State University and I have to option to apply to Barrett Honors College. I am confident if I apply I will be admitted but in order to complete the program I will have to abandon the economics minor I am currently pursuing.

Just wondering how benificial graduation from an honors college such as Barrett would be in law school admissions and if the econ minor would hold more or less weight. I know that GPA and the LSAT are most important but still. Thanks.

[Kiersten1985]

I'm not sure what Barrett is, but it doesn't matter almost at all what your major (even less, your minor) is or what UG you go to. ALL that matters is GPA and LSAT. Maybe if you also won a Nobel Prize. Law schools don't weigh your GPA at all by looking at where you went or what courses you took or anything else. They have to report your GPA for rankings purposes - just the number, not how you got it, etc.

Honestly, go wherever and do whatever will get you the highest GPA. That's it.

[OGR3]

This is my understanding of the rigors of the program:
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[HowdyYall]

i think id rather have .05 added to my GPA than be part of an honors college, but if you can maintain a high GPA go for it. It might be a nice 'soft' in the eyes of adcoms. Btw I have two minors and I dont expect them to add anything to my admissions chances

[HowdyYall]

i think id rather have .05 added to my GPA than be part of an honors college, but if you can maintain a high GPA go for it. It might be a nice 'soft' in the eyes of adcoms. Btw I have two minors and I dont expect them to add anything to my admissions chances

[CanadianWolf]

Some "honors colleges/programs" offer easier grading & better advising.

[Kent M]

You might have better classes and more access to scholarship money so I don't see a downside.

But with the possible exception of getting better LORs, this seems pointless if you want to do it for law school admissions.

[azrobin]

Kind of what I figured. I have a 3.81 right now and expect it to rise as I continue in my upper-division courses. Barrett is supposedly a highly ranked honors college haha

[CM612]

As someone who did an Honors Program as an undergraduate I would advise against it. I definitely got great LORs out of it because we worked more closely with our professors than regular students and it gave me the opportunity to write a thesis which I think looks good on the resume but every person I know in the program complained about how much the classes dropped their GPA. IMO the GPA drop outweighs any benefits.

[sojuteacher]

As someone who did an Honors Program as an undergraduate I would advise against it. I definitely got great LORs out of it because we worked more closely with our professors than regular students and it gave me the opportunity to write a thesis which I think looks good on the resume but every person I know in the program complained about how much the classes dropped their GPA. IMO the GPA drop outweighs any benefits.

Of course, don't ever do anything to compromise your GPA, but it doesnt look like thats an issue for OP.

I did the honors program at my UG, and like the above poster, I got great LORs and a thesis on my resume because of it.

I was in school in the states for only 2 years, and one year I was a part time student. I think that the honors program and lors helped quell any fears adcomms might have had about my ability to perform in school. Of course, this is just speculative.

Also, the peers in my honors classes added so much to my learning experience. I would whole heartedly recommend doing an honors program.

[Veyron]

Don't be an idiot, you get no gpa boost for "honors" college, you barely get one for an ivy. On the flip side, schools DO sometimes relax their evaluations of economic gpas so long as you have a killer LSAT. You're at ASU, either transfer to a truly prestigious school or, better yet, stfu and enjoy 4 years and bliss and paradise. Trust me, I actually did go to a prestigious ug, if I had to do it over again I would have done ASU Non-barrett, booked a 4.0 and watched the $ and offers of admissions roll in just as much or not more than they did while not havining had to kill myself with work and enjoying bars and parties with objective 9 s and 10 s every weekend /rant. Basically, don't be an idiot, a t14 is going to laugh at barret prestige before going on to reject the next yalie with a submedian gpa.

Ps plz excuse the spelling and syntax your idea was so outrageous, it had to be countered from a mobile device.

[pwyoung]

Having discussed Barrett with some other Prelaw students here at ASU, it doesn't offer any perks regarding law school (and a great many are uninformed about just how much of a numbers game it is). I've known students who excel in most of their classes but honors section professors at ASU decide to toss standard grading curves at the window and these kids suffer.

From my understanding, Barrett is really only going to benefit you in terms of networking and potential research or internship opporunities. While these may produce some good softs, the potential workload and GPA hit doesn't net the returns for me, so I opted out. If you're 100% set on law school, I can't see how much it will help you in that endeavor.

[azrobin]

Alright alright I get it. I am still going to consider it but I appreciate the advice.

[ResolutePear]

This is my understanding of the rigors of the program:
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Well, that totally disqualifies me.


I can't seem to find Waldo.

[$1.99]

if someone has to ask you what barrett college is, it probably means it sucks

[ahduth]

What the hell is an honors college.

[dextermorgan]

Neither will matter.

[Bildungsroman]

Honors programs frequently offer benefits that could make them easier than their non-honors counterparts. You might get smaller classes, reserved slots within certain classes, extra recitation/lab time with the professor, priority registration time for classes, tutors, etc. Look into what benefits this honors program will offer you in terms of helping your undergrad performance, recognizing that almost nobody will give a shit that you were in the honors college.

[Pleasye]

Honors college at ASU is like...?

C'mon someone come up with a good one.

[ATR]

Honors programs frequently offer benefits that could make them easier than their non-honors counterparts. You might get smaller classes, reserved slots within certain classes, extra recitation/lab time with the professor, priority registration time for classes, tutors, etc. Look into what benefits this honors program will offer you in terms of helping your undergrad performance, recognizing that almost nobody will give a shit that you were in the honors college.

+1

[OGR3]

Well, that totally disqualifies me.


I can't seem to find Waldo.

Waldo is obviously a Wisconsin Badger:

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[Veyron]

Honors programs frequently offer benefits that could make them easier than their non-honors counterparts. You might get smaller classes, reserved slots within certain classes, extra recitation/lab time with the professor, priority registration time for classes, tutors, etc. Look into what benefits this honors program will offer you in terms of helping your undergrad performance, recognizing that almost nobody will give a shit that you were in the honors college.

Actually, honors college at ASU has stricter grading.

LULZ at taking a GPA hit for the "honors" college and then getting rejected from a school you otherwise would have gotten (or gotten $ from) with .1 higher GPA. Its people like you who end up attending a "T-25" at sticker, thinking you are prestigious, and then wondering why big/midlaw won't take a 2nd look at you. You're at the point in your life where shit ain't about impressing mom and dad anymore but is rather about GETTING A JOB.

If you are really serious about being a lawyer it is NOT worth the risk. Spend the time you save on your less rigorous "regular" classes studying for the LSAT. The non Barrett kids I know who did this and did much better at the end of the day than the Barrett kids.

[ResolutePear]

Some jobs require a certain GPA and honor's college.

I've seen this with Public Administration jobs.

[PolarBear]

Hey there!
I go to ASU as well! Luckily, since you are a junior, you would be applying as an upper-division applicant, rather than a lower-division applicant. Fortunately, this means a lot of the harsh grading (which does occur at Barrett, it's known for dropping perfect 4.0's down) is bypassed because you aren't required to take any of the Human Event classes. You are only forced to take:
1) One HON 394 class - 3 credit hours - (there are an abundance of these, and you can usually find one you like).
2) An Honors Thesis course (3-6 credit hours) - Which should be interesting seeing as you are writing about a topic you are interested in
3) 12-15 credits (depending on if your thesis was 3 or 6 credits respectively) of your choosing converted to Honors Credits. This means that you are taking a regular ASU class, and converting your credits to honors credits. In order to receive honors credit in these classes, you must talk to the professor and do extra work, however it usually involves one of two things...
If the class has 4 exams, for instance, and one of the exams is dropped for the class normally, your honors contract will state that all 4 tests are counted for you, and will factor into your grade (think ECN211/212, ECN 221, PGS101). Or, I've also seen professors merely make a student write a 10+ page paper on any subject related to the course work and receive a grade of an A on the paper (think AST112).

Because of #3, you may be able to be in Barrett and receive the Economics minor because you can take 12-15 credits of Economics courses and convert them into honors classes. For an Econ minor at ASU, you must only take ECN211, ECN212, and 12 other ECN credits. I don't know your major, but I know all the W.P. Carey students are required to take ECN211/212, so you'd already have those credits out of the way and would only need to fulfill 12 more to get the minor.

Overall, it all comes down to you. If you would like to learn more in school, then the honors college is really a great deal. They have good placement for internships/jobs, and you are more likely to get to know professors at a greater level, which is beneficial for LORs. I agree with those who say GPA matters, and therefore you must be able to keep up with the extra coursework, but if you can balance the little extra challenge, the benefits greatly outweigh the negative effects. Both the minor and/or the Honors college will probably not have much of an affect on your cycle, though.

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[BlueDiamond]

drop the minor and don't apply for the honors college

.. but keep the minor if you get straight A's in economics classes