2008 Woodie Awards
Acceptance with honors
Chances:Honors Transfer program has pros and cons
By: Katrina Romero
Issue date: 3/25/04 Section: News
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Students have the opportunity to increase their chances of being accepted to a university by completing the Honors Transfer Program.
By completing a minimum of six honors classes with a C or better, maintaining a 3.0 GPA, attending seminars and visiting with academic counselors, students can have priority admission consideration to "select" universities such as UCLA, said Angela Simon, Honors Transfer Program director and psychology professor.
"There's roughly a fifty percent success rate of El Camino students accepted to UCLA, and for students in the honors program, well over ninety percent get in," Simon said.
"They are considered first when decisions about admissions are made, and that's a big benefit," Simon said.
For some, priority consideration is better than no consideration at all.
"There's a lot of competition these days to get into a good college," Melissa Lao, biochemistry major said. "At least you get a better chance if you're a priority rather than just a regular applicant."
Priority consideration was one of the reasons that Lao said she joined.
"I wanted to get into a good college and I know that they (Honors Transfer Program) have agreements with other colleges," she said.
However, taking an honors class is much different than taking a regular class, Lao said.
"The instructors that I have had are really enthusiastic about the subject, and there's more cooperation with other students," Lao said. "They (students) know they want to get the better grade as opposed to just coming to class and showing up for the tests."
Typically, honors courses have a greater workload than that of regular courses, designed to be "intellectually stimulating" for students, Simon said.
"The classes help students develop their reading and writing skills as well as their critical thinking skills," Simon said.
Students who are not in the honors program sometimes have to take the classes due to conflicts with other classes.
By completing a minimum of six honors classes with a C or better, maintaining a 3.0 GPA, attending seminars and visiting with academic counselors, students can have priority admission consideration to "select" universities such as UCLA, said Angela Simon, Honors Transfer Program director and psychology professor.
"There's roughly a fifty percent success rate of El Camino students accepted to UCLA, and for students in the honors program, well over ninety percent get in," Simon said.
"They are considered first when decisions about admissions are made, and that's a big benefit," Simon said.
For some, priority consideration is better than no consideration at all.
"There's a lot of competition these days to get into a good college," Melissa Lao, biochemistry major said. "At least you get a better chance if you're a priority rather than just a regular applicant."
Priority consideration was one of the reasons that Lao said she joined.
"I wanted to get into a good college and I know that they (Honors Transfer Program) have agreements with other colleges," she said.
However, taking an honors class is much different than taking a regular class, Lao said.
"The instructors that I have had are really enthusiastic about the subject, and there's more cooperation with other students," Lao said. "They (students) know they want to get the better grade as opposed to just coming to class and showing up for the tests."
Typically, honors courses have a greater workload than that of regular courses, designed to be "intellectually stimulating" for students, Simon said.
"The classes help students develop their reading and writing skills as well as their critical thinking skills," Simon said.
Students who are not in the honors program sometimes have to take the classes due to conflicts with other classes.