Honors program evokes mixed student response

While the start of the Honors Program at Tech next fall may not directly affect students already here, there are still a multitude of heated opinions surrounding the issue.

We’ve heard from the administrators planning the program, but what about the average student—what are they saying about the program?

Here is a sampling of student opinion from across different majors and years in school:

“It’s about time [for an Honors Program] because UGA has had one for the past few years. I was surprised that we didn’t have an honors program,” said Royal Law, a third-year Biomedical Engineering major.

“It seems like it’s [a] trend with a lot of other schools...and we’re just trying to compete,” said Joshua Strully, a second-year Computational Media major.

“I think its good, but I don’t think it’s necessary,” said Katie Base, a first-year Public Policy major.

Alex Molnar, a fourth-year Industrial Engineering major, is not as supportive. “Who is it trying to help? How many students are going to go to Tech because it is not easy?” Molnar said.

The opinion that Tech in general is not an easy place was common among most students.

“I thought the classes themselves are hard enough as they are,” said Nicholas Peterka, a first-year Nuclear and Radiological Engineering major.

“I thought the classes were as good as they could be,” Peterka said when asked about what he thought about the special sections of classes opened for honors students.

Another distinction in the Honors Program aside from the special sections of freshman classes is the fact that all honors students will live together in Howell Hall.

According to Dan Morrison, associate director of Residence Life, Howell was chosen because it has ancillary space that will be useful for the program, such as the learning center.

Because of the layout of Howell, the ratio of male to female residents must be six to four in order to maintain same-sex floors.

This may require some shuffling around when the final numbers of students come in.

“This is separating out those students,” Molnar said.

“It seems cool that you live with the people you take classes with. [However] there just doesn’t seem like there will be a lot of fun in that building and you need fun...to balance things out,” Base said.

To ease the distinction between students in the program and others, “maybe [the honors students] should share the building like the international housing,” said Christopher Swann, a second-year Civil and Environmental Engineering major.

“It’s good to have different places for different people to take advantage of their abilities,” said Gregg Van Laningham, a third-year Material Science Engineering major about the separation between students.

“[The students in the] Honors Program might have a sense of superiority,” Law said.

“[The program] will run in many ways like any other Freshman Experience residence hall with the Peer Leader Program, tutoring, meals, etc...we are trying to make sure that we are not excluding or making exclusions on too many things [for the students],” Morrison said.

On the flip side for the students who have been accepted to Tech and to the Honors Program, there is the question of if this program will affect their decision to come here.

“[The program] is more intensive, but if that is what they are looking for then it might compete against other schools like MIT which have quite focused programs,” Swann said.

“I think that anything that involves you standing out from a group of people makes you want to come because of the prestige that comes with it,” Base said.

“I’m not sure that the honors program will affect people’s decisions because a lot of decisions are based on financial reasons,” Law said.

“Hopefully (there will be) students willing to stretch themselves a little bit more because Tech has all the components they are looking for,” Morrison said.

This is one of many differences between the Honors program, which as of now has no scholarship funding by itself, and the President’s Scholarship Program, which offers incoming freshmen scholarships based on merit.

For students applying to Tech to consider both programs “is a lot to deal with…since the application process is tiring enough,” Base said.

Another issue with the Honors Program is the question of whether or not there should be an Honors Program designation on the diploma for students who go through the program.

“[Joining the Honors Program] is something you volunteer to do…it’s just like joining a club…you don’t get distinguished on your diploma for joining a club,” Base said.

Also, the interest in joining the program is also varied. “I feel disappointed that Tech started it now when I am a third year,” Law said.

“I don’t know if I would want to join,” Swann said. For him, there are many other things to get involved in.

“It doesn’t sound appealing to me,” Molna said.

Ultimately, for students like Peterka, however, it is still too early to judge the program, “I can’t really say until I see what happens.”

“We are all very committed to helping this [program] work and also studying it this first year and seeing what we need to do for its subsequent years...programs like this evolve,” Morrison said about running the program.

For more information about the Honors program visit www.honorsprogram.gatech.edu.