WOW—I’ve gone the whole semester without any updates. Sorry about that!
Where to start?
This was supposed to be my last semester at Miami, but it’s actually not. I planned to graduate after finishing my undergraduate requirements this semester (4 more English classes, and I’m also taking French and a class for Scholar Leader), but it turns out that two of my favorite English professors are teaching graduate courses next semester. Even though I’m taking these classes for graduate credit, I am still enrolled as an undergrad because I would have to go through an additional petition process if I were a non-enrolled student. That’s a little disappointing—I really, really wanted a red or green parking pass!
I guess this would be a good time to mention that undergraduates are allowed to take graduate courses through the Senior Permission program, and this counts as an Honors experience. You need 112 credit hours, a 3.0 in the department in which the class is listed, a 2.75 overall GPA, and a few other requirements, none of which are especially difficult to meet. Well, unless your name is Kori, and your ability to run into weird problems is seriously unsurpassable. It’s kind of a long story, but I got permission from the Dean of the Graduate School to take both classes after I supplied a little extra paperwork. Lesson learned: some requirements can be flexible. :) (Shh! I didn’t tell you that!)
Well… time to race toward the end of the semester. Two papers down, two papers and two exams to go.
Question of the Day: “What benefits do you get by being in (Honors)?”
I just did an informal and unscientific survey of my friends, and we all agreed that priority registration is amazing. When you're majoring in a popular subject, it's really nice to be able to choose your classes without needing back-ups. I’ve also really enjoyed most of my Honors classes (my favorite one was Folk and Literary Fairy Tales). A lot of the biggest benefits aren’t directly coupled with Honors, but they can count toward the 12 required experiences. For example, I have UAed (a UA is an undergraduate TA) for three classes, I did a course extension in a 400-level German seminar, and I’m currently working on my senior thesis. I also heard a rumor (which may or may not be true, so don’t quote me) that Honors students don’t have to do Miami Plan.
