Honors Program (ucla).. worth it?

[premedicine555]

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Well, I'm a freshman starting this fall (at UCLA), and am considering not doing honors. I've heard the course is a lot more rigorous (because in honors you have to complete these honors classes). But is it really worth it since it might actually DROP my GPA? do med schools care that you have honors?😕

😀

 

[premedicine555]

here'ss the website for it:
http://www.ugeducation.ucla.edu/honors/

also, any med students who DIDN'T take honors and got in med school?

 

[SBK]

07 grad checking in.

The honors program is absolute bulsh*t. They dont even allow engineering students to be a part of it; and, considering we are generally considered the best academic students (or at least the hardest curriculum) raises flags about what type of program it is.

My friends were in it, you basically have to take an 'honors' level alternative to a regular class, meaning more units (such as a 2 unit lab). NOT worth it at all. Don't even bother.

 

[metalhead1023]

I remember reading somewhere that if you do anything to lower your GPA that it is bad.

 

[StIGMA]

Just so people with bad reading comprehension do not make some bad decisions: Many "honors" programs at universities are excellent. Many times you will take separate gen ed courses, but these are smaller, more intimate classes with the better professors. Also, some schools give you other perks like scholarships, registering early, and better faculty mentors. Check with the current students at your school.

 

[SBK]

Just so people with bad reading comprehension do not make some bad decisions: Many "honors" programs at universities are excellent. Many times you will take separate gen ed courses, but these are smaller, more intimate classes with the better professors. Also, some schools give you other perks like scholarships, registering early, and better faculty mentors. Check with the current students at your school.

About this:

At UCLA, the sole benefit of signign up for honors is that you have priority enrollment every other quarter. Many times this doesnt matter, but sometimes it does. But trust me, my med school friends did not like the honor program and got out of it after the first year. It's just an ego boost, and a crappy one at that.

Sorry, theres a lot of hate in me regarding this🙂 I still can't find out why we engineers get screwed out of this.

 

[harrisonIM]

Not worth it. I signed up at the start of freshmen year realized it was a waste of time. Doesn't do anything for you. Actually, one thing it helped with my freshmen year was it gave me priority registration. So you could sign up and just keep the priority registration for a year until they kick you out for not taking any honors courses.

FYI: Physiological Science and MIMG are two big pre-medical majors at the school. When I say pre-medical I mean they prepare you for medical school.

 

[lord_jeebus]

An "Honors" curriculum is not worth even a 0.01 point drop in your GPA.

 

[premedicine555]

any med students who DIDN'T take honors and got in med school?

 

[atalkinghead]

any med students who DIDN'T take honors and got in med school?

Um, yeah.

 

[172858]

any med students who DIDN'T take honors and got in med school?

here.

to the OP, honors curriculum programs can be very beneficial in many rights. admissions to medical school is not one such explicit benefit. participate if you feel that it will enhance your personal experience. but whether you are in it or not, you will still need to have a high GPA and blow up the MCAT. do whatever you think will help you meet that goal easiest.

 

[funkydrmonkey]

I think it is worth it. All you have to do is add on 1 extra unit to the class to make the class honors. This gives you greater access to the professor, and you will have an easier time with LORs in the future. I got an LOR from a professor I took the honors seminar with. I think it is worth it.

 

[bcat85]

any med students who DIDN'T take honors and got in med school?

Yes.

At my school honors was a bunch of literature/philosophy junk that was co-taught by a couple of professors each semester. I don't think it got them anything other than the following:

A medal at graduation

A line on their diploma

Incidentally, many of the "honors" students ended up being not so good once they got to college.

 

[ReptarBar]

yea im going to ucla in the fall and i was wondering the same thing. will the time spent doing honors be better spent pursuing EC's, extra research, volunteering, etc.? will the workload be significantly higher in honors courses? i'm definitely planning on doing departmental honors, but im just not sure about the regular honors program..

on another note, would it look weird if med school adcoms see that i'm a regents scholar, but i didnt do any honors courses? i think the regents scholarship is pretty significant so i was planning on including it on my amcas way later on, but would they think im a slacker or something if i dont do honors (but im planning on doing departmental honors...will i be able to show that)?

 

[lord_jeebus]

will the time spent doing honors be better spent pursuing EC's, extra research, volunteering, etc.?

yes

on another note, would it look weird if med school adcoms see that i'm a regents scholar, but i didnt do any honors courses?

I don't think they'd think to look for this

 

[Livingapparatus]

any med students who DIDN'T take honors and got in med school?

haha, a majority didnt do honors

 

[spyderracing32]

Only take the honors course if you want to. Honors is in no way shape or form prerequisite to gaining admissions to a medical school. I am in the honors philosophy program at my school (as part of a dual major), however the only thing making it an honors degree is an extra 3 credit research seminar precluding writing an honors thesis. I enjoy philosophy and writing about it so I have no qualms with taking the honors route. If you feel an honors program is going to seriously hamper your GPA, don't do it.

 

[Lukkie]

i was in this up through my junior year. freshman year i took a cluster so i was eligible. sophomore year i took some 1 unit addon to physics 6A and that covered me for the year. i didnt do anything with honors during junior year and they kicked me out. didnt care, i got priority enrollment for my first 2 years (which helped get me into the high demand classes like biochem, LS, chem labs, etc) and i didnt need it for the last 2 years (classes for my major were pretty much guaranteed enrollment)