2008 Woodie Awards
Higher honors bar will mean fewer honors graduates
The Traveler Editorial Board
Issue date: 10/29/07 Section: Opinion
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As the competition for everything goes up, our university is trying to keep up with the moving train by raising the quality and worth of our degrees. The Fulbright Honors College has decided to increase the minimum required GPA for students to enter and stay in the program from 3.25 to 3.5, according to Friday's article "Honors college raises GPA standards."
Although this change doesn't apply to the current members of the program, it makes us wonder how it will affect the number of people who will actually complete the program and graduate with honors. A large percentage of honors students already drop out of the program before completing their theses, according to a May 2 Traveler article.
In 2006, about 500 new students enrolled in the honors program, but only 344 honors degrees were awarded in the spring, according to the article.
The incoming freshmen for the academic year 2008-2009 will need at least a 3.5 GPA to be accepted into the program. For most of these young overachievers, the requirement won't be a big deal - until they get here and realize college comes in a bigger package that includes tougher classes, more work, more extracurricular activities and an active social life.
This all requires a balance many cannot handle. In the midst of this, the demand to maintain high grades and write an honors thesis can push some over the edge, or, at the very least, push them to give up the benefits of being an honor student.
The perks of being an honor student include smaller classes, priority registration, special housing, increased interaction with faculty, and also study abroad and hands-on research opportunities, according a Sept. 24 article in the Traveler.
Many of the people who enroll in the honors program are students who win fellowships and other scholarships. Most of these students must maintain a 3.0 GPA to keep their scholarships. It's funny that with the new GPA requirements, a student could be on honors scholarship at the UA and still not qualify for an honors program.
Although this change doesn't apply to the current members of the program, it makes us wonder how it will affect the number of people who will actually complete the program and graduate with honors. A large percentage of honors students already drop out of the program before completing their theses, according to a May 2 Traveler article.
In 2006, about 500 new students enrolled in the honors program, but only 344 honors degrees were awarded in the spring, according to the article.
The incoming freshmen for the academic year 2008-2009 will need at least a 3.5 GPA to be accepted into the program. For most of these young overachievers, the requirement won't be a big deal - until they get here and realize college comes in a bigger package that includes tougher classes, more work, more extracurricular activities and an active social life.
This all requires a balance many cannot handle. In the midst of this, the demand to maintain high grades and write an honors thesis can push some over the edge, or, at the very least, push them to give up the benefits of being an honor student.
The perks of being an honor student include smaller classes, priority registration, special housing, increased interaction with faculty, and also study abroad and hands-on research opportunities, according a Sept. 24 article in the Traveler.
Many of the people who enroll in the honors program are students who win fellowships and other scholarships. Most of these students must maintain a 3.0 GPA to keep their scholarships. It's funny that with the new GPA requirements, a student could be on honors scholarship at the UA and still not qualify for an honors program.
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