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Underwhelmed and disappointed: A first year’s perspective on the Honors College

As a student who took all honors and AP classes in high school, applying to Miami University’s Honors College seemed like a no-brainer to me. I was promised a tight-knit community of academically-focused students, rigorous courses, meaningful extracurricular opportunities and invaluable resources. Instead, I have been underwhelmed by almost every aspect.

When I was considering applying to Miami, I heard all about its Living Learning Communities (LLC). It sounded exciting – I liked the idea of choosing my neighbors based on a shared interest. But when I was accepted into the Honors College, I was automatically put into the Honors Residential College LLC. 

This means what my neighbors and I have in common is … being honors students. This isn’t exactly something you can bond over very easily.

The Honors College is supposed to be a tight-knit community of academically-focused students, but instead I have found a pervasive attitude of elitism. There is a prevailing idea that being honors students makes us special, better or more deserving than others.

Honors students must complete six “honors experiences,” including two honors courses. The remaining four experiences can include volunteer work, study abroad, leadership positions in clubs, research or tutoring. Students are already involved in many of these, and that just makes “honors experiences” extra paperwork. 

In their senior year, honors students must also complete a senior project, which uses experiential learning or a traditional thesis to allow students to dive deeper into a subject of their choosing. I am excited to do this project; it’s the type of thing I hoped to find in the Honors College. 

However, I’m disappointed that this is the only requirement that really pushes students to put extra effort into their studies. The honors experiences just feel like more hoops to jump through – on top of the Miami Plan and divisional requirements – with minimal added benefit to the student. 

As a first year, I was advised to only take one honors class per semester because these courses would be very academically challenging. This semester, I chose a philosophy class. Although I love this class, the only difficult part of it is being able to understand the subject matter. No further classwork or deeper thinking is required as an honors student in this course.

Granted, I haven’t taken the non-honors version of this course, but I can’t imagine the honors version is much harder. In fact, I’ve heard from friends in honors contract courses – classes where an honors and non-honors section are taught at the same time – that the difference between the two is one project. This isn’t the type of academic rigor I was hoping to get as an honors student.

There is nothing the Honors College offers that can’t be achieved through Miami at large. Research and internships can be accessed through departments directly. The high-achieving students that Miami claims comprise the Honors College can, and do, find these opportunities on their own. Even when they go through the Honors College, these students still have to go out of their way to access research and internships, so it doesn’t streamline the process. 

I’ve heard the Honors College experience is what you make of it; you must put work in to get benefits out of it. My experience has been that you still have to search for opportunities through the Honors College, and that it is often easier and equally beneficial to access similar opportunities directly through the departments. All the research and internship opportunities I have found have been through departmental programs, or campus organizations like the Political Science Department or the Humanities Center. 

I will admit the Honors College has its perks. I like the early move-in and class registration. I have met amazing people here, and there have been some fun events. But there are amazing people and fun events all over campus. Other than early move-in and registration, there’s nothing that the Honors College provides that can’t be found elsewhere in Miami. All that makes the Honors College special is its name and the arbitrary hoops through which its students must jump.

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sullivei@miamioh.edu 

Eliza Sullivan is a first year double majoring in diplomacy and global politics and Russian, Eastern European, and Eurasian studies. She writes for the opinion section of The Miami Student. She is also involved with model Arab league and plays in the Miami steel band.

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