honors

[cure0008]

I will be a junior next year and it will be the last possible time for me to apply to honors. I was wondering how medical schools see honors. Is it worth the work? I think that my grades won't really drop, if so mabye a little, so is it worth it.
Also, I will be younger than mabye most of the people when I am applying. I don't want the adcoms to see me as not mature enough so to prove this I will be volunteering more and having a good clinical experience (and such). I wanted to see if honors classes will help prove to them that I am mature enough to handle medical school.

Your responses would be great!!

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[Mobius1985]

Medical schools won't care if you are in an honors program. They care about a high GPA. If you get lower grades because you are in honors classes, you will be at a disadvantage. At some schools honors classes are graded on a better curve, which might help your GPA. Talk with friends who've done this at your institution and see how it will be.

You will be looked at as sufficiently mature if you have well-rounded ECs and have taken on responsibility, so be sure your application reflects your leadership ability and a broad range of interests, in addition to lots of clinical exposure.

 

[tiedyeddog]

Medical schools won't care if you are in an honors program. They care about a high GPA. If you get lower grades because you are in honors classes, you will be at a disadvantage. At some schools honors classes are graded on a better curve, which might help your GPA. Talk with friends who've done this at your institution and see how it will be.

You will be looked at as sufficiently mature if you have well-rounded ECs and have taken on responsibility, so be sure your application reflects your leadership ability and a broad range of interests, in addition to lots of clinical exposure.

I agree. Junior year is way too late to start the program. Honors is generally considered an "EC".

 

[DRBHOOM]

I agree. Junior year is way too late to start the program. Honors is generally considered an "EC".

would you list it under work/activities then if you were going to graduate with honor's & honor's thesis?

 

[Danbo1957]

Honors are for the student. But, Honors does allow one to get educational time with better professors, get better chances at jobs with professors, and Honors students generally get better chances at post bacc slots in the sciences, business and law. But, as mentioned above, med schools do not consider Honors in any real material way.

 

[Mobius1985]

would you list it under work/activities then if you were going to graduate with honor's & honor's thesis?

You wouldn't list it unless you already received the honor. Don't list that you plan to complete a thesis, and plan to receive honors at graduation. Things don't always happen as you intend. If you have taken honors-designated courses, they will show up on your transcript portion.

When listing honors on the AMCAS application, it's best to lump them all under one heading, and list them specifically in the narrative portion under that heading.

 

[Brown8472]

I guess it all depends on your school. Where I am at, it was an interesting experience but it was hell. The professors would give anyone an A- for no apparent reason. They always say that we have to polish our craft. Bogus, I say! I could have easily graduated with a 4.0 without participating in the honors college. In any event, I think I enjoyed the challenge.

To answer your question: Yes adcoms take honors into account. From my conversation with them and school advisors, they would easily take an A- honors student over a 4.0 reg. student if it comes down to the last straw. If you are willing to put up the time and effort to do the work and finish it with high honors, investigate it and go for it. Otherwise, you may not enjoy it and even hate the fact that each A- chips away a piece of a perfect gpa.

Just my $0.02

 

[scarletgirl777]

You wouldn't list it unless you already received the honor. Don't list that you plan to complete a thesis, and plan to receive honors at graduation. Things don't always happen as you intend. If you have taken honors-designated courses, they will show up on your transcript portion.

When listing honors on the AMCAS application, it's best to lump them all under one heading, and list them specifically in the narrative portion under that heading.

If you are an honors candidate, I'm pretty sure you can mark all your courses for your degree with an H next to it or something (at least in past cycles). Or maybe it's checking an honors box.

 

[DRBHOOM]

I guess it all depends on your school. Where I am at, it was an interesting experience but it was hell. The professors would give anyone an A- for no apparent reason. They always say that we have to polish our craft. Bogus, I say! I could have easily graduated with a 4.0 without participating in the honors college. In any event, I think I enjoyed the challenge.

To answer your question: Yes adcoms take honors into account. From my conversation with them and school advisors, they would easily take an A- honors student over a 4.0 reg. student if it comes down to the last straw. If you are willing to put up the time and effort to do the work and finish it with high honors, investigate it and go for it. Otherwise, you may not enjoy it and even hate the fact that each A- chips away a piece of a perfect gpa.

Just my $0.02

this isn't funny but it is... i got an A- in biol II honors barely got an A in the lab it was honors and taught by the professor... but other classes went well and it was a great experience. i have 16 of the 24 hours needed and 2 out 3 experiences needed to graduate with honors; so i think i will list it.
There was one class that I contracted for honors credit, my bioethics class I think that was is the only one that I did.

The reason for me trying to push hard with all that I have academically is bc i only have 78(41 science credit hours including all prereqs) atm w/ 3.98 gpa

 

[Mobius1985]

If you are an honors candidate, I'm pretty sure you can mark all your courses for your degree with an H next to it or something (at least in past cycles).

Each Honors-designated class (not all your courses) you took can be marked with an H next to it on your AMCAS transcript. If you forget, AMCAS will put them there. For me that was one class each semester.

 

[DRBHOOM]

do you guys know if 90 hours is like written in stone for every school? Because that would be detrimental to my application even though i would graduate with a BS in biology w/ chem minor before gettting in in fall of 09(if that actually happens)

 

[scarletgirl777]

Each Honors-designated class (not all your courses) you took can be marked with an H next to it on your AMCAS transcript. If you forget, AMCAS will put them there. For me that was one class each semester.

At some schools, being in the "honors" track means that you can put Hs next to everything in your major...it's complicated