THC

I've been getting a lot of questions lately about where I did my undergrad. I think I'll take this opportunity to talk about the wonders of the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University on the John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter, FL. (aka The Honors College, THC or the HC).

Basically, the HC will prepare you for graduate school. It's all honors classes with all honors students. There are policies that might be considered drawbacks (living on campus required, meal plan required), but they aren't so bad. There is (was when I was there) a great social network where everybody hung out with everyone else.

You get individualized attention from your professors (who ALL hold a terminal degree in their field) and there are small class sizes. The professors will all meet with you during their office hours or any other time if you can't meet then. The administration is willing to work with you. For instance, I wanted to take 3 classes that were offered concurrently for the Fall 2005 semester. I spoke with some people and they shuffled the class schedule so that I could take 2 of the 3 instead of only one. In the chemistry department, we got to use machines that undergrads hardly ever get to touch.

Overall, the HC was the only place I applied and if I had to do it all over again, it would still be the only place I'd go. I would turn down admission to Harvard to go to the HC (unless Harvard offered me a full ride).