With registration right around the corner, students are scrambling to put together their schedules for the upcoming semester.  For students in the Honors College, figuring out a way to make both honors classes and required classes for your major mold into one schedule may be a struggle. 

Honors students are having a tough time trying to fit in all the classes they have to take into their schedules. Required classes are conflicting with each other, which forces students to choose one or the other. Pace students who begin in the Pforzheimer Honors College program in their first year must complete eight honors courses before they graduate. According to Susan Dinan, the Director of the Pforzheimer Honors College, the goal of the student’s first year in these honors courses is to develop skills they will need to continue in the Honors program.

“The goal is to transform the first-year experience into one that provides all honors students with more analytical reading skills, more intense critical thinking skills, and strong oral and written communication skills,” Dinan said.  

Sophomore Jessica Monaco, who was undecided in her major last year, found that scheduling honors courses and trying to catch up in major courses has been difficult this year. 

“It was not too hard freshman year, because two honors philosophy classes are required, and some core classes/prerequisites classes can have the honors option, but it is super hard now because I have to finish AOK’s, make sure I stay on track with my classes for my major and complete the honors ones so it is difficult to find time for them,” Monaco said. “They definitely conflict a lot because there are not a lot of them and many do not fit in with my schedule.”

Honors courses are chosen by the directors of the Honors college, who speak to students and see what they would like to take, professors whom they liked, and what the majority of Honors students would like to see as an Honors course. Times and days of the courses are aimed to be varied throughout different time slots of the day in order to try to be available to all students. They also are dependent on professor availability and how long a professor would like to teach.

“We try to schedule honors classes at different times of the day to accommodate other classes students need to take and the demands of athletic teams to set aside time for games and practice,” Dinan said. “We also factor in the time the faculty member would like to teach.  We also have to recognize student preferences. I am a morning person and would be delighted to teach at 7:55am, but few students want to take classes so early in the day.”

Academic Advisor for Pforzheimer Honors College students, Tom Mooseker, feels that student feedback is crucial for professors and students to have a successful program and keep everyone pleased. 

“Every semester we try to find the largest gaps in students’ degree progress and assess which majors need the most attention,” Mooseker said. “And the Honors College staff is always welcome to suggestions. Input from our students is invaluable, as it helps us continually improve and develop the best possible opportunities for our students. We listen.”