So, what do we mean by “honors components only”?
In our latest book of honors program ratings, we listed the honors programs and colleges that received an overall five “mortarboard” rating. One component of the rating model used in order to determine the leading programs is prestigious scholarships–the number of Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater, etc., awards earned by students from each university as a whole.
In most cases, honors programs at these universities contribute most of the winners of these awards, but not in all cases. So while the prestigious scholarship component is worth including, we do not want it to override the 12 other rating components used in the ratings. These components are “honors only” because they do not include awards earned by non-honors students of the university as a whole.
Therefore, we decided to do a separate rating, one that is not included in the new book, INSIDE HONORS. The new rating uses only the 12 components listed below. Farther down, you can see whether the prestigious scholarship component had a major impact on the overall ratings of top programs.
Those 12 additional components are…
- Curriculum Requirements
- Number of Honors Classes
- Number of Honors Classes in 15 Key Disciplines
- Extent of Honors Enrollment
- Average Class Size, Honors-only Sections
- Overall Average Class Size, All Sections
- Honors Graduation Rate-Raw
- Honors Graduation Rate-Adjusted for Test Scores
- Student to Staff Ratio
- Type and Extent of Priority Registration
- Honors Residence Halls, Amenities
- Honors Residence Halls, Availability
Below is a comparison of the honors programs that received a five mortarboard OVERALL RATING (left side) and those that receive the same rating for HONORS COMPONENTS ONLY (right side), all listed ALPHABETICALLY.
| OVERALL FIVE MORTARBOARDS | HONORS ONLY COMPONENTS, FIVE MORTARBOARDS |
| Arizona St | Clemson |
| Clemson | CUNY Macaulay |
| CUNY Macaulay | Georgia |
| Georgia | Houston |
| Houston | Kansas |
| Kansas | New Jersey Inst Tech |
| New Jersey Inst Tech | Oregon |
| Oregon | Penn St |
| Penn St | South Carolina |
| South Carolina | Temple |
| UT Austin | UT Austin |
It is notable that the overlap is almost identical: Arizona State is not on the second list, while Temple is not on the OVERALL list but is on the HONORS COMPONENTS list.
We must add that Temple barely missed a five mortarboard overall rating, while ASU was similarly close to making the honors components list.
