Honors College required?

[AaVa18]

Helloo,

so im a senior in high school and i already applied to all my schools, including a few bs/md program. But im starting to notice stuff about honors colleges on college confidential so I was wondering, will applying to honors colleges next year help my chances of getting into medical school or is it unnecessary. There are also a few schools for which I still have a week before the honors deadlines.

Also what is honors college really? is it a lot harder than regular college if im going somewhere like drexel or rutgers?

btw i know there r probably other threads on here that will answer my question so i get it if u dont answer and also appreciate it if u refer me to another thread, im just too lazy rn to look for them

thanks!

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[Spectar]

What you are talking about is very specific to each school.

Applying to a New York suny school by any chance?

Also, some schools require that in order to be in the bs/md program, you are also accepted to the honors college. Some others don't require this. Generally the honors college means different class requirements (could be harder could be easier). Almost always the honors college means priority registration for classes. In general however, if you are in a bs/md program, this doesn't matter. Even if you decide to apply out, nobody will care if you were in the honors college at xyz school. #1 thing is gpa and mcat.

 

[Saifa]

Honors programs vary heavily. It's not the actual title that will help you out but the opportunities you may be afforded by participating, such as priority advising, research access, or participation in a long-term scholarly project. You'll need to see what each program offers and whether or not it interests you, but don't apply just to give your application an edge. They can be an unnecessary pain.

 

[WaveRace]

I was in the honors program at Umich. They claim that "the acceptance rate for Honors graduates to MD granting programs hovers around 80% every year, with the general population of UM achieving 56%". This is compared to the national acceptance average of 42%. Personally, I think this has more to do with self-selection than anything else. People who are in honors colleges are, in general, more driven individuals. You really have to have a drive to finish an honors thesis.

I don't think that anything in the honors college itself is inherently going to give you an edge for acceptance to medical school. The real advantage in my case was the friends I made. Surround yourself with people who are trying to achieve great things, and you will too. My closest friends from the program are: working on wall-street, in a Hopkins PhD program, and in several top-ranked medical schools (Columbia, Chicago, Duke, Umich). These are just my former roommates (all of whom I met in the honors program). I'm matriculating at Umich Dental School this year. Would I have achieved it without the honors program? Probably. My advice is to do some research into individual honors programs and see what they have to offer that the general college doesn't.

 

[deleted859535]

I was in the honors program at Umich. They claim that "the acceptance rate for Honors graduates to MD granting programs hovers around 80% every year, with the general population of UM achieving 56%". This is compared to the national acceptance average of 42%. Personally, I think this has more to do with self-selection than anything else. People who are in honors colleges are, in general, more driven individuals.

Agree with this. I'm sure there is grooming in such honors programs (I didn't do one when I was in college) but you have to be the right kind of person for it first.

OP: Looks nice on résumé / future CV but not required.