In our frequent reviews of honors residence halls, we come across a wide variety of room configurations, with the most typical being the traditional shared double with corridor baths or a combination of traditional rooms with some suite-style rooms that allow four students in two adjoining rooms to share a common bath.
But the Global Scholars Hall at the University of Oregon offers not only these basic options but an amazing six additional options. The hall will soon have its own dining facility, the Freshmarket Cafe, offering sushi, pasta, rice bows, deli sandwiches, special expresso drinks, and fresh produce.
The Clark Honors College at U of O ranked 24th out of 50 in Overall Excellence and 23rd in Honors Factors in our recent book, A Review of Fifty Public University Honors Programs. The Global Scholars Hall was not yet open at the time of publication, and if it had been open, the Clark Honors College would have ranked even higher with a stronger score for housing.
Home to students in the Clark Honors College, College Scholars, and global language scholars studying Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish, or German. Students in these groups must apply through their program for a place in the Global Scholars Hall. There are classrooms and study facilities in the hall, which even has its own librarian.
Here are the room options in the 450-student hall:
1. Traditional double with in-room sink;
2. Enhanced single with in-room sink;
3. Double with its own bath;
4. Triple with three sets of furniture, in-room sink, and no private bath (the least expensive option);
5. Single with its own bath;
6. Four-person suite, featuring two double rooms with a shared bath between them;
7. Six-person suite with one bath, with a private hallway, common living area and furniture, and three double rooms;
8. Two-person suite with bath, where each student has a single room and both students share one bath.
The Global Scholars Hall is open for Fall 2012, but we include it as “new” for 2013 as well.
Already recognized nationally for its outstanding study-abroad program, Indiana University and Hutton Honors College have received two more recent gifts that will provide honors students with greater financial support for studying abroad.
A $500,000 gift for the Edward L. Hutton Foundation will provide needed funding for high-achieving students who seek international experiences but are challenged by difficult economic times.
“Given the current economy and the surge in costs for airfare, living expenses and program fees, this generous gift and the IU match couldn’t come at a better time,” said Matt Auer, dean of the Hutton Honors College. “We’re thrilled that a second generation of Huttons shares our passion for study abroad.”
With the new funding and match from IU, the Hutton International Experiences Program will enable 600 students annually to incorporate international experiences into their academic programs.
Another gift of $100,000, to be divided between HHC and the College of Arts and Sciences, has come from an alumnus, Devesh Shah, through a Goldman Sachs charitable giving program. The funds will be used to support students studying abroad in developing nations, and to support those thriving academically who have financial needs.
Shah graduated in 1997 with an individualized major in applied mathematics in finance. When he arrived at IU, he knew no one on campus, but among several university faculty who helped and mentored him, he included former Hutton Honors College Dean Julia Bondanella.
According to Hutton Honors College Dean Matt Auer, the Goldman Sachs Scholarship is open to any undergraduate who meets academic and financial requirements.
“Over the past few years, the Hutton Honors College has encouraged high-achieving IU undergraduates to ‘go off the beaten track’ when they travel abroad to study, intern and volunteer,” Auer said. “This generous gift from Devesh Shah and Goldman Sachs is in sync with our goal of promoting profound learning experiences and personal development opportunities in nontraditional locations worldwide.”
In 2011-2012, HHC provided almost $745,000 for overseas study and volunteer experiences, along with nearly $324,000 for grants for research and internships and approximately $15,000 through a student funding board for student-generated extracurricular programs.
The Honors College at the University of South Carolina, ranked number one in our category of Honors Factors, now offers an extremely impressive choice of honors courses–a projected 464 courses for 2012-2013, up from about 300 in previous years.
In our recent book, A Review of Fifty Public University Honors Programs, the Honors College had the strongest overall curriculum ranking and was one of only a handful of honors colleges or programs that received the highest possible score for honors housing.
In order to provide advising and other services to support this range of courses, the staff size has grown from 18 to 20 and is in the process of growing to 22 in the next month or so.
The Honors College will provide over $200,000 in 2012-2013 to Honors undergraduates for research and travel. This funding is in addition to resources that students can access through the undergraduate research office (available to all students).
And now the College offers priority registration for all classes for honors students, not just for honors classes.
The College also provides 100% of its students with some form of scholarship funding.
This post about the University of Florida Honors Program is the first post about honors changes effective for Fall 2013. We anticipate several additional posts in this series, including upcoming discussions of Indiana University’s Hutton Honors College, the South Carolina Honors College, the Texas A&M Honors Program, and others.
Previously students in UF honors had to complete four honors courses and at least one enhancement experience, which could be an internship, study-abroad course, research project, or a leadership activity.
But in some cases students found it difficult to complete these requirements, so now program completion requires at least cum laude achievement in the college of the student’s major along with 14 honors points, eight of which must be academic (A) points and six of which must be enrichment (E) points.
Below is a list that shows the point correlations to course and enrichment activities:
Activities worth 1 Honors point
1- or 2-credit Honors course (grade of B or higher) (A)
Apply for a nationally competitive scholarship or fellowship (e.g., Rhodes, Marshall, Truman, Goldwater, Fulbright) (A)
Induction into Phi Beta Kappa or Phi Kappa Phi (A)
A publication in a refereed undergraduate journal (such as the UF Journal of Undergraduate Research) (A)
Complete a minor (A)
A regional conference presentation in a discipline relevant to the student’s major (A)
Short-term study abroad (E)
Participate in a Partners in the Parks program (E)
Participate in leadership activities (e.g., hold a leadership position in a student organization or activity) (E) (note: a maximum of 3 points is allowed for this type of activity)
Participation in a leadership conference (e.g. LeaderShape, Gatorship, UF Women’s Leadership Conference) (E)
Participation in a Florida Alternative Breaks trip (E)
Activities worth 2 Honors points
3+ credit Honors course (grade of B or higher) (A)
Graduate course (grade of B or higher) (A)
A publication in a refereed professional journal (A)
Complete a second major (A)
Faculty-directed independent study or research (A)
A national conference presentation in a discipline relevant to the student’s major (A)
Six-week summer or semester study abroad (E)
Complete at least 50 hours of community service (documentation required, hours may come from multiple sources) (E)
Complete an internship at least 45 hours in duration (E)
Activity worth 3 Honors points
Complete an Honors thesis as part of requirements to graduate magna cum laude or summa cum laude (A)
For students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, complete the CALS upper-division honors program (A)
Please note that IDH 4917, Honors Research, and IDH 4905, Independent Study, do not count as Honors courses for these purposes, but they do serve as proof of faculty-directed independent study or research; that is, you may not receive points for both IDH 4917/4905 and performing research/independent study. The same comment applies for IDH 4940 and internships.
Note also that the maximum number of points that can be earned for community service is two; that is, performing 100 hours of community service is not worth four points.
sis as part of requirements to graduate magna cum laude or summa cum laude (A)
For students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, complete the CALS upper-division honors program (A)
Please note that IDH 4917, Honors Research, and IDH 4905, Independent Study, do not count as Honors courses for these purposes, but they do serve as proof of faculty-directed independent study or research; that is, you may not receive points for both IDH 4917/4905 and performing research/independent study. The same comment applies for IDH 4940 and internships.
Note also that the maximum number of points that can be earned for community service is two; that is, performing 100 hours of community service is not worth four points.
As we review honors curricula we sometimes encounter so many options that we find it difficult to emerge with a clear impression of the requirements. The curriculum for the University of New Hampshire Honors College is that rare combination of clarity and flexibility that can be readily understood.
Moreover, the curriculum is extensive, requiring 32 hours of honors credits for graduation if students pursue the University Honors Designation. This option includes 16 hours of honors seminars, usually limited to 20 students, which also count toward general education requirements. Then students go on to complete another 16 hours in Honors in Major courses, including at least 4 hours of which are the honors thesis.
This kind of clear integration between honors general education requirements and departmental specialization, including a thesis, strikes us as one of the most sensible ways to structure the honors curriculum. Students who do not choose to receive the University Honors Designation simply go straight to the Honors in Major track when they reach upper-division status.
A typical first-semester freshman entrant should have an ACT/SAT of at least 29/1970, and rank in the top 10 percent (or equivalent) of her high school class. Second-semester freshmen may also apply if they rank in top 10 percent of their college; if students have a 3.4 college GPA but do not rank in the top 10 percent of their college, they may submit a personal essay and teacher recommendations to the honors advisor.
Honors students may apply to live in Hubbard Hall, a co-ed hall that houses about 250 students in traditional rooms with corridor baths. Hubbard is not as close to some classes as other dorms, but it is still in a good location near Williamson and Christensen residence halls. All three are very convenient to Philbrook Dining Hall, one of the major dining locations on campus.
Hubbard Hall is definitely the place for the most serious students on the UNH campus. Here is what some of them say:
“The Hubbard Hall community is perfect for incoming freshmen; it allows them to be around other freshmen and some upperclassmen. Also, it provides a good balance where one can explore social things in a safe way, and still have a quiet place to live and study to come home to.”
“Hubbard is a nice dorm which has an environment that provides many social and academic opportunities for students who wish to make a bunch of new friends as well as maintain their grade point average.”
Among the best academic programs at UNH are earth sciences, history, sociology, and English. The intellectual law program at the law school is one of the leading programs of its type in the nation.
The 2012Princeton Review measures student satisfaction in a variety of areas, and shows that Penn State, Virginia Tech, and Clemson do extremely well when it comes to making students happy. Please note that our list of satisfaction does not include the famous Princeton Reivew categories of best party schools, “reefer madness,” “don’t inhale,” and “got milk?”
Other public universities that made the top 20 lists in one or more categories are Kansas State, Mississippi, Auburn, Georgia, UT Austin, Florida, UC Santa Barbara, Virginia, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Washington, Binghamton, Indiana, Miami of Ohio, Ohio University, Purdue, Vermont, Washington State, NC State, Pitt, Michigan, and UMass Amherst.
The rankings listed in parentheses are national rankings of all colleges, public and private.
Virginia Tech: Career Services (18); Students Love These Colleges (3); Town-Gown Relations Are Great (4); Quality of Life (6); Food (2).
Penn State: Career Services (2); Students Love These Colleges (7); Best Quality of Life (18); Happiest Students (13).
Clemson: Career Services (5); Students Love These Colleges (8); Town-Gown Relations Are Great (1); Happiest Students (4).
Kansas State: Town-Gown Relations Are Great (2); Quality of Life (4); Happiest Students (8).
Mississippi: Town-Gown Relations Are Great (11); Happiest Students (12); Most Beautiful Campus (4).
Auburn: Town-Gown Relations Are Great (13); Quality of Life (19).
Georgia: Best Value (8); Food (15).
UT Austin: Best Value (10); Career Services (20); College City Gets High Marks (20).
Florida: Best Value (7); Career Services (6).
UC Santa Barbara: Students Love These Colleges (11); Happiest Students (3).
Virginia: Best Value (2); Financial Aid (2).
Wisconsin: Best Value (5); College City Gets High Marks (19).
North Carolina: Best Value (1).
Washington: Best Value (9).
Binghamton: Best Value (4).
Indiana: Study Abroad (12).
Miami of Ohio: Food (18).
Ohio University: Most Beautiful Campus (15).
Purdue: Food (14).
Vermont: College City Gets High Marks (15).
Washington State: Town-Gown Relations Are Great (9).
When the President and educators across the country emphasize the importance of community colleges, the message is usually that the two-year institutions are mainly important as a means of providing the advanced technical and vocational instruction that is so important in today’s economy. Less is said about the critical role these institutions play in preparing students for high academic achievement at some of the best public and private universities.
Michigan. Cornell. Georgia Tech. NYU. Wisconsin. Mt.Holyoke, Smith, UCLA, Northwestern, UNC Chapel Hill. Columbia and Yale. These and many other institutions are among those who have accepted the outstanding honors students of the Hillsborough Community College Honors Institute, which offers honors courses at five campuses in the Tampa area.
Under the longtime directorship of Dr. Lydia Lyons, a past president of the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), the HCC Honors Institute has been the springboard to excellence for thousands of outstanding students who have gone on to obtain bachelor’s and graduate degrees, not only from most universities in Florida, but also from the schools listed above and many, many more.
There is a sound argument to be made that community college honors programs may even be the best way to graduate from a premier four-year honors program or a prestigious private college.
One big reason, according to Dr. Lyons, is that most community college students pay relatively little to attend school during the first two years; therefore, if they get accepted to a fairly expensive four-year school, even without a lot of financial aid, their total cost for four years is still much less than they would have paid if they had attended a four-year school from the outset.
Another reason is that there can be more support at the two-year schools. “In our Honors Institute,” writes Dr. Lyons, “we are mindful of creating Honors students, not simply providing services for students….”
This does not translate, however, to indulgence. Many of the Honors students “have come to understand that they had to apply themselves to be successful in their courses.” For some of the most talented students, the Institute may be the first place that has required them to accept and, ultimately, to embrace this challenge.
This process of creation requires a faculty that is committed to traveling from one campus to another when it is necessary to do so, and a staff that is ready to nurture and support students through advising and mentoring, especially, perhaps, when the time comes to apply to the four-year institution.
Dr. Lyons has established informal but effective relationships with scores of colleges around the country. When a student wants to attend one of these schools, she is their advocate. Examples of her success with this sort of outreach are the presentations that Institute students receive from outside representatives, including those from Columbia and Mt. Holyoke.
Dr. Lyons and her staff also provide counseling that helps students match their school choice with their majors, rather than just the “brand” of the four-year school.
But just as important in preparing Institute students is the extensive honors curriculum. Completion of the honors curriculum requires 24 semester hours of honors credits–as many or more honors credits as are required by a lot of four-year honors colleges and programs.
Applicants must meet at least one of the following criteria to qualify for the Honors Institute:
High school GPA of 3.4 (unweighted) or higher -or-
SAT combined score of 1160 or higher -or-
ACT combined score of 26 or higher -or-
Top 10% of graduating class with SAT combined score of a minimum 1050, or a minimum ACT composite score of 25, or CPT score of a minimum of 90 in writing and a minimum of 92 in reading -or-
12 hours dual enrollment with 3.8 GPA
As for the honors community, students from all campuses meet at the Dale Mabry Campus in Tampa for student association and board meetings and also use frequent service projects and film study groups to form closer associations.
The mission statement of the Institute says that “Honors students will be challenged to accept their moral responsibilities which include leadership, thoughtful self-governance, and service to others.”
The New College of Florida, located in Sarasota, is the official public liberal arts college for the state, and with only about 800 undergraduates enrolled, the entire campus functions in much the same way as a relatively small honors program at a larger university.
New College is not, strictly speaking, an honors college. But with an estimated average SAT in the 2000 range and average GPA of about 3.75, it is as selective as many major research university honors colleges and programs, and the curriculum and extremely flexible options appear to have some of the same elements as Echols Scholars enjoy at the University of Virgina along with tutorial choices that are similar to Ohio University’s Honors Tutorial College.
Like Echols scholars, all students at New College can create their own, individual curriculum, with a choice of forty majors and additional choices for double concentrations. Classes are with very small–about 12 students–or one on one, in the tutorial format that is associated with Ohio U.
And there’s one other thing you should know about New College: there are no grades.
Students receive lengthy and detailed narrative evaluations of their performance in course work and tutorials. Does this hurt New College students when they apply to graduate and professional schools?
The answer appears to be no. “About 80 percent of New College alumni go on to graduate school within six years of graduating,” the college reports. “For the 2010 graduating class, 86 percent of graduates who applied to a Ph.D. program were accepted, and 100 percent who applied to law school got in! It’s no wonder that The Wall Street Journal ranked New College the nation’s no. 2 public feeder school for elite law, medical and business schools.”
Another key feature of New College is that Kiplinger’s Best Values in Public Colleges ranks New College at number 5 as an in-state public college value, and at number 19 as an out-of-state value.
One thing that students should consider is very small size of the college. On the plus side, there is the flexibility, the individual instruction, the research opportunities, and excellent options for studying abroad, especially in language-related study. New College students have an extraordinarily high rate of success in attaining Fulbright Student Fellowships, to go with the excellent prospects for placement in graduate and professional schools.
But on the other side of the ledger, the small campus is also like a very small town, and some small towns can seem confining. One factor that may offset the small size is that about 80 percent of students live on campus.
“New College’s Pei Campus is the center of residential life, the college says, “with eight out of a total of nine residence halls located there. Along with the dorms, Hamilton ‘Ham’ Center, Palm Court, the Fitness Center and other recreational facilities form a student village where academics and campus life seamlessly intertwine and ‘learning occurs around the clock.'”
“Designed by internationally-renowned architect I.M. Pei, New College’s Pei Residence Halls opened in 1965 and accommodate more than 250 students in double and triple-occupancy rooms, each with its own private bathroom. Community spaces and laundry rooms in the Pei buildings are located in each of the three quads, and the outdoor Palm Court around which the rooms are grouped is a focus of New College student life. Pei rooms are spacious, measuring approximately 15′ x 15.’
“All of the rooms have recently, and some feature covered porches or large balconies, providing additional living space. The clustered construction, communal spaces and orientation around Palm Court affords Pei residents a strong sense of community.”
Dining options include the student-run Four Winds Cafe, located on the Bayfront section of campus, a market cafe with sandwiches and traditional entrees, and a deli.
And we shouldn’t neglect to mention the nearby beaches.
“Lido Key offers quiet North Lido Beach, the popular Lido Beach with parking and restrooms, and South Lido Beach, which has BBQ grills and picnic tables under Australian Pines. Boutique stores and restaurants can be found on St. Armands Circle.
“Siesta Key Beach, named America’s #1 beach and known for its powdery white sand, has volleyball nets, tennis courts and picnic area. Every Sunday at sunset there’s a drum circle. Siesta Village offers restaurants and nightlife. Turtle Beach, on the southern end of the island, is quieter with coarser sand and beach dunes.
“Or head up north to Anna Maria Island for a change of scenery. There are many restaurants and funky shops along the beautiful beaches. Check out the island’s annual Bayfest, too.”
The Honors College at the University of Utah may have more interesting options for living, learning, and participating in honors projects than any other program or college that we have reviewed–and we’re not talking about the fabulous skiing that is so accessible from Salt Lake City.
Okay, we do have to mention that the brand new Donna Garff Marriott Honors Residential Community (MHC for short) does in fact have a ski wax room as well as storage space for skis and bikes.
But what is most impressive is the thoughtful, coherent, yet flexible curriculum that blends effectively with so many living and learning options that it will be difficult to list them all.
Admission is selective but holistic, with no ironclad test and GPA requirements. From what we gather from the website, applicants are “highly likely” to be admitted with SAT 1490 (ACT 34) and above, plus a GPA of at least 3.8. It appears that “likely” admission requires an SAT of around 1360 (ACT 31) and a GPA of 3.6 or so. SAT of approximately 1250 (ACT 28) and a GPA of 3.5 or higher may require the applicant to go through a portfolio admissions process. The portfolio must contain two letters of recommendation, a graded writing sample that includes the name of the teacher who issued the grade, and a personal statement of 1-3 pages. Portfolio applications may require four or five weeks for review.
The requirements for the preliminary honors certificate are six hours of credit in Intellectual Traditions (IT) courses; three hours of credit in an honors writing course; and six more hours that can be from several honors core options. These include American Institutions; honors calculus; and core courses in behavioral sciences, physical and life sciences, fine arts, Construction of Knowledge, or any honors seminars. Note: AP credits can apply to general education requirements but DO NOT displace honors course requirements.
The university honors degree requires an additional six hours of honors courses and a thesis or capstone project. Most departments also offer an honors track, and even those that do not offer the separate track do have honors advisors that can supervise the thesis.
It appears that it would be difficult not to continue taking honors courses, given the range of options.
Students can select honors internships “to work alongside a community leader in a real-world situation to bring about change in a community,” meanwhile receiving a $1,000 stipend for the 16 weeks required to complete the internship.
Or students can take honors tutorials that enable them to work one on one with a faculty member on a research project, while meeting with the instructor weekly.
Most interesting to us is the option to participate in the honors think tank collaborative classes, limited to 12 students, many with different majors. These two-semester courses bring students together to apply multidisciplinary perspectives to a “contemporary societal challenge under the guidance of faculty,” and also carries a stipend of $1,000.
Students may also participate in honors cohorts of 20 students, who focus on topics of mutual interest. Examples are cohorts for religious studies, environmental studies, pre-med, pre-law, ethics, American Studies, Sciences, and LGBTQ studies. Students meet monthly to discuss their projects and aims.
The legal cohort, for example, allows students to attend hearings, meet with judges and attorneys, do legal research, learn about the Socratic method of teaching, and study case law and courtroom practices. Students also have the opportunity to consult with advisors about the many career options and specialty fields available to lawyers.
Another exciting feature is the early assurance program, which is open to students with SAT scores of 1170 or higher (ACT 26) and GPA of 3.8, who want to attend graduate school at the “U.” Most honors students are eligible. The program allows students to take up to two years to decide on a graduate major–a remarkable level of flexibility.
Each year, the most elite applicants to the early assurance program are selected as Eccles Distinguished Scholars, who receive full support for tuition, fees, and housing as long as they remain eligible.
All honors students are eligible for the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), which offers some grants of $1,200 for first-time research projects in collaboration with and $600 in renewable grants.
Students may earn honors credit for studying abroad and can choose from seven special honors options:
Theater, humanities, and fine arts in London
British studies–the Bloomsbury Group–in London
Environmental studies in Costa Rica
Summer studies in Berlin
Summer studies in Cambridge
Social work in Mexico
Writing in Costa Rica
Students may also receive credit for non-honors study-abroad courses, but not for courses in language study abroad.
The new Marriott Honors Center (MHC) is opening this Fall. The MHC is located near the Huntsman Center on Campus, at the intersection of Mario Capecchi Drive and South Campus Drive. The MHC has 309 beds in apartment/suite configurations, and there are plans to expand the facility.
The MHC has its own cafe, coffee shop, laundry, ski wax room, music room, secure bike storage, and is near a TRAX line that provides transportation around the city.
The residence hall includes an honors core experience floor for students who have not decided on a major; a first-year honors floor for students who have chosen a major; an upper-division honors community; and residences for Eccles School of Business honors students and College of Engineering honors students.
Additional honors communities are located in the Officer’s Circle section of the campus. These include The Law House for pre-law students; the Honors Innovation House; the Poulson House for students working on capstones and theses; and another Honors First-Year Floor at Sage Point.
Editor’s Note: There is a full, updated profile and detailed rating of Macaulay Honors College in our book, INSIDE HONORS. You can see a list of the highest rated honors programs here.
Students who are residents of New York State have the unique opportunity of qualifying for free tuition and other benefits at the Macaulay Honors College, which is affiliated with eight senior colleges of the City University of New York. Admission to Macaulay for state residents not only makes them Macaulay Scholars with free tuition but also presents to them the Big Apple in all its fascinating dimensions.
Out-of-state students who meet CUNY New York State residency requirements can also receive the full tuition scholarship. And for those who do not qualify for the free tuition support, CUNY provides one of the best values in higher education. In addition, the student will receive all of the enhanced benefits of a Macaulay education.
Macaulay students study at the following CUNY campuses: Baruch College, Brooklyn College, City College, Hunter College, John Jay College, Lehman College, Queens College, and the College of Staten Island (CSI). There are special honors housing packages at City College and Hunter College. All the other colleges have residence options. Macaulay Honors College is housed in an elegant, renovated brownstone located in the Upper West Side, near Central Park and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
In addition to free tuition, Macaulay students receive a $7,500 Opportunities Fund “to pursue global learning, internships, and other service and learning opportunities”; a MacBook Pro laptop; a “Cultural Passport” that permits free or discounted admission to arts, cultural, and educational institutions across the city; and specialized advising through the Macaulay Advising Program (MAP).
The laptops are an integral part of Macaulay’s plan to enable students to participate in social and academic programs at campuses other than their home campuses and to prepare and present e-portfolios of their college work, with the help of Instruction Technology Fellows (ITF’s) assigned to each of the honors seminars. “ITFs are CUNY doctoral students in a wide range of academic disciplines, carefully selected for their familiarity and experience using technology both in the classroom and in research,” according to the Macaulay site.
Admission to Macaulay is selective, with an average SAT score of 1410 and grade average of 93.9. In addition, co-curricular activities, essays, and letters of recommendation are required. The acceptance rate was 29% for the Class of 2016; approximately 540 freshmen will be entering Fall 2013.
The honors curriculum for the first two years is focused on the city of New York itself:
“Seminar 1 introduces Macaulay Scholars to the arts in New York City and the Cultural Passport. During the semester, students attend theatrical, operatic, and musical performances, exhibitions of visual art, and other highlights of the current cultural season, and help to create the annual “Snapshot of New York City” exhibition.”
“During Seminar 2, Macaulay Scholars investigate the role of immigration and migration in shaping New York City’s identity–past, present, and future. Visits to archives, interviews, mapping and walking tours allow students to create the collaborative Neighborhood Websites, presenting their research through audio, video, photography, and other media.”
“In Seminar 3, Macaulay Scholars analyze issues in science and technology that have an impact on contemporary New York. Students work together to create scientific posters and presentations for a Macaulay-wide conference of their peers and others in the Macaulay community.”
“The purpose of Seminar 4 is to analyze the ongoing interplay of social, economic, and political forces that shape the physical form and social dynamics of New York City. Throughout the semester, students engage in a team research project, sometimes including Public Service Announcement Videos, to be presented at a model academic conference.”
Macaulay’s upper-level seminars encourage students to integrate course work and their own primary research, in a richly collaborative and supportive interdisciplinary setting. Recent topics include Sexuality and American Culture, Imagining the End of the World, The Future of Education, Religion and Public Policy, and Women and Global Public Policy Since the 1960s.
As for off-campus opportunities in New York City, Macaulay students benefit from special access to network with New York’s most dynamic firms.
“Macaulay students often use some of their $7,500 Opportunities Fund to develop customized programs that enable them to explore different professional paths, or to gain additional hands-on experience in fields they wish to pursue in graduate school or professionally after college.”
Examples of recent internships are New York Life, HBO, The New York Historical Society, The Earth Institute Center for Environmental Sustainability (EICES), NYU Langone Medical Center, BBC Worldwide Americas, The New York State Office of the Attorney General, US Trust, Free Arts NYC, The Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), and Northwestern Mutual.
Over 90% of Macaulay students intend to study abroad. Again, they can use their Opportunities Fund, outside fellowships, and additional resources CUNY makes available to them to pursue a wide range of semester and year-long study abroad programs, at universities around the globe.
Students might analyze marine life in the Galapagos, study drama at Trinity College of Dublin, learn Arabic at Bosphorus University in Istanbul, or study mathematics at the City University of Hong Kong.
Other examples of recent study-abroad locations are the following: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Barbados, Brazil, China, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lithuania, Morocco, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey. Macaulay students have studied on every continent with the exception of Antarctica.
Macaulay graduate, David L.B. Bauer of City College, became something of an undergraduate “brainiac” celebrity, who chose Macaulay over the Ivies after he won the Intel Science Talent Search as a high school student in 2005. A winner of Goldwater, Rhodes and Truman Scholarships while at Macaulay, Bauer focused on research in clinical medicine at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics (WTCHG) at the University of Oxford, where he worked during his junior year at CCNY. Bauer is currently a DPhil candidate in clinical medicine at Oxford.
A second Rhodes scholarship was awarded to a Macaulay student in October, 2011 to Zujaja Tauqeer (Macaulay and Brooklyn College ’11). Zujaja, who graduated with a BA/MD, is studying the history of medicine in a two-year program at Oxford.
