Is Honor Courses and SB too much for freshman?

[PEPPERS]

Daughter next year is going to college, and has some money to play softball. With ball money and academic money everything is paid for the first year. She will be 17 for her first 2 months of college.

She received a letter from the school, that she is offered Honor Classes, which she has always taken Honor Classes being in HS.

Just wondering if some of you and daughters experienced Honor Classes and SB in college, I’m kind of thinking maybe too much for a freshman. She wants to do it and the final decision is hers. I advised her to talk to her school counselor and her college coach.

The more information the better decision she can make.

 

[7smom]

Daughter next year is going to college, and has some money to play softball. With ball money and academic money everything is paid for the first year. She will be 17 for her first 2 months of college.

She received a letter from the school, that she is offered Honor Classes, which she has always taken Honor Classes being in HS.

Just wondering if some of you and daughters experienced Honor Classes and SB in college, I’m kind of thinking maybe too much for a freshman. She wants to do it and the final decision is hers. I advised her to talk to her school counselor and her college coach.

The more information the better decision she can make.

It depends on the kid and the type of program, courses etc. I am an academic advisor at a large D1 school. I have worked with student athletes with very intense majors who ace their freshman year and I've seen some struggle. IMO it depends more on how your DD adapts to change. That is really the key for any college freshman, not just athletes. Can she adjust to a situation? Is she willing to ask for help? Did she have to work hard for grades in HS?

Also depends on what the honors courses are like at that school. At many schools honors courses are smaller and have handpicked instructors so that a student might actually get more attention than in a regular section of that course. Feel free to pm me if you want more information.

 

[Bouldersdad]

Depending on whether her college will be on quarters or semesters. Fall is the time to load your schedule, with more credit hours and Honors if she wants them. Spring or winter semester is the time to back off to say 15 hours or so. Alot of this will depend on what Division she is in and also what her winter/spring travel schedule looks like.

Tim

 

[chinamigarden]

Take a long look at the honors program. In the schools we looked with my son its a program designed for a well rounded liberal arts student. The kids who are in a hard science majors or an engineering degree were not in the honors college as their programs do not support those harder degrees.

Take a long look at the programs, just like you looked at the softball programs and use the same due diligence you used in picking a SB program and you might find that honors college does not fit with her future.

But to directly answer your question, when we were interviewing a couple of schools we did meet several athletes who were in honors college and were doing fine.

 

[sluggers]

For me, this is not a softball question. To me, honors courses in college are not worth the effort.

If her major is a science and she is considering taking a math or science honors course, I would advise her *not* to do it...and the reason has little to do with softball. If she doesn't get a really good base in math or science, she will be in big trouble in a couple of years. So, make sure her base is really good, and then build on it.

 

[jacketsfan]

My DD took 20 hours first semester: calculus, chemistry (w/lab), biology (w/lab), creative writing, and history. She too was 17 when she started. Her 1st semester GPA was 3.85.

It's doable, but I would say more than class work is tbe freedom of being away from home. Honestly, most of her teammates don't have the same degree ambitions as she does. Several of the upperclassmen live off campus, and their place is party central. In the fall, it was team drinkathon almost every night.

She had to tell her teammates she just wasn't going to do that - she had work to do. It caused a little friction at first, but they eventually realized she was actually serious about school.

I think that sort of thing is harder than the actual classwork.

 

[amanda_cake]

As a college kid playing D3 softball, I'd agree. I'm attending a women's college, so there is a lack of the partying aspect just because there aren't that many guys floating around to party it up with... but there are a lot of things going on. You have to balance yourself. Since I am majoring in English (double minoring in Education & Coaching/Exercise Leadership) plus I am applying into a five year program so I can work on my Masters of Arts in Teaching simultaneously, the honors program here wasn't worth it for me. You do need to advise DD to load up in the fall, then drop down for the spring semester. I took 18 hours fall semester, then 16 in the spring and I'm doing pretty good right now. (3.8ish GPA I believe & with prior college credits from HS, I'm already a sophomore).

 

[Coach JV]

The individual needs to learn to strike a balance between
athletics and academics. Yes it can be done, but don't let her load
up the academic schedule too heavy as a college freshman
as the adjustment is huge

 

[3'sDad]

Amanda_Cake: Wow ....major-double minor & playing softball. Yo must be very good at managing your time.

 

[amanda_cake]

Amanda_Cake: Wow ....major-double minor & playing softball. Yo must be very good at managing your time.

I'm hoping it will all work out... I've gotten a lot of my gen eds out of the way already plus will have a vast majority of the rest covered through the minors. What will be interesting to see is how things will work out when I get further along in the education program, since a lot of the courses are offered at night because of adult students in the program (taking two night courses next semester, for example) and that will really conflict when in season.

I've always been great at managing time... when I was in HS, I was involved in everything (Key Club, Varsity Club, SGA, HS Softball, rec ball [travel ball is a "new" thing here so that wasn't really an option], coaching rec when I aged out, AP & dual credit courses, blah blah blah. Graduated in the top 15 out of close to two hundred and was known to spend 9 hours on a ball field on school nights, plus the homework afterwards. It's all about what you make time to do.

Being at a women's college can also help tone down the social life, since it isn't very wild here vs. a lot of other colleges in general.