by Cecilia Pham
News Reporter
Some students may think their classmates in The Honors College are different. In reality, Honors College students and faculty report they're not.
The major differences between regular and honors classes tend to deal with class size and material, said Jodie Koszegi, an honors academic adviser. Honors class size is usually between 25 and 30 students, and the material covered tends to be more in-depth than in normal classes.
Honors classes can be closed or open to all students, Koszegi said. Most sections are not closed honors courses and can be taken by anyone who registers for them, but the course material and standards will be the same whether the class contains any non-honors students or not.
Honors classes are meant to replace regular core classes required by the university, Koszegi said. For example, the normal freshman English requirements, ENGL 1303 and 1304, are replaced in an honors program with Human Situation, a course integrating literature, English and cultural heritage elements.
Bill Ainsworth, a senior sociology honors student, said he does not see anything negative about the honors college, but added that a flaw comes when the college deals with students who are science or math majors.
"The program tends to be more liberal-arts oriented, and I know a few students who are biology and engineering majors who left the college because they felt there really wasn't someone (there) that could relate to their field," he said.
Koszegi said The Honors College works with each of the other 13 University of Houston colleges to try to offer students the range of honors classes they would need to fulfill their 36-hour honors requirement.
She did admit, however, that there is a lack of upper-level science and math honors courses, although students in the honors track are still able to complete their requirements.
Furthermore, she said if a student wanted to get honors credit for a class and it is not offered by The Honors College, the student could petition to try and receive honors credit.
"We rarely turn down petitions, and if we do, we give the student a chance to resubmit the petition and have it worked out between the student and the professor," she said.
To earn honors credit for a non-honors class, a student must meet with the professor who teaches the class and arrange for coursework to be counted as honors work. Sometimes the honors element consists of writing an extra paper or working on a special project.
"The work the professor gives the student must be an enhancement of the course and not just 'busy work,'" Koszegi said.
The college, she added, tried to give honors students as much support, help and guidance as it possibly can. Each semester, the college sets aside a week for advising to make sure that its students are on track and taking courses they need to be taking.
"The college gets behind me and makes sure I am getting things done. They acclimate my classes and they are really helpful in answering questions I might have," Ainsworth said.
Many students who are part of the honors program are recruited from high school and are asked to submit an application to the college, Koszegi said. Students with an average SAT score of 1270, who graduate in the top 10 percent of their class or are national merit scholars are those targeted for enrollment.
"I entered The Honors College on the recommendation of my high school counselor, and I was also recruited by UH because I was a semifinalist national merit scholar," Ainsworth said. "I had to submit a writing sample and two teacher recommendations with my application."
The majority of students in the college enter when they are freshmen, said Melanie Barr, an Honors College academic adviser.
"(The honors program) I think best serves freshmen because they get to establish a community on campus while trying to deal with the travails of the first year in college," Barr said. "They get to be around people who are in the same situation they are."
Barr said the college does have a surprising number of non-traditional students, those 25 years of age and over, and does include some transfer students as well. She said she spoke to a girl recently who is attending Harvard but would like to transfer into The Honors College at UH.
Some of the requirements of remaining in the honors track are full-time enrollment, registration in a minimum of one honors course per semester and maintaining a minimum 3.25 GPA.