miami ohio honors college essay

Honors' selectivity?

Hi, I’m an international student who just found out that she got a scholarship of $30,000/year (= full tuition) from Miami. But surprisingly enough, when I asked the international admission staffs about the Honors program, they said I was not originally admitted so they just put my name back in for reconsideration. Since I got their most prestigious scholarship, I should be at the top of the applicant pool. But why wasn’t I chosen for the Honors program? Not feeling bitter, just totally confused. And also if I get into the Honors program, it will help me decide between Miami and Temple easier (accepted as a Presidential’s Scholar at Temple - full tuition + summer stipends + Honors program). Anyone had the same experiences? And should I keep my hopes up for the Honors notification? A quick summary of my stats: 3.94 US-equivalent GPA, 2260 SAT I (730 CR, 800 M, 730 WR), 770/800/770 SAT II, 7.5/9.0 IELTS, great essays, great recommendation letters, unique extracurricular activities.

@evelynne1996 . My son’s test scores and GPA are very good but not quite as high as yours. He has passed 13 AP classes with mostly fives, captained his varsity basketball team, and had good volunteering and work experience. He received $20,000 per year from Miami. He was admitted to the Honors programs at all the other public universities to which he applied. but not to Miami’s. We don’t understand why he was not accepted into Miami Honors. Like you, he is being “reconsidered.”

@Beaudreau‌ Thank you for your comment and congrats your son on his college acceptances! I’ve heard that Miami’s Honors program used to require an additional essay and now it doesn’t.

@evelynne1996‌ We are visiting next week for a Make-It-Miami Day to help narrow down my son’s decision. Perhaps we will learn more.

Did you ever hear from Trinity in San Antonio? (I saw you there on a thread.) My son had a very nice second visit last week to compete in the Tower Scholars competition.

Good luck to you!

@evelynne1996 I’m sorry to hear about that. I do know that Trinity has been swamped this year with very qualified applicants. It’s very hard being from out of the U.S. and not being able to visit. As I’m sure you know, colleges gauge an applicant’s interest based on whether he or she has visited. Then they weigh “demonstrated interest” as an important factor in the admissions decision. We did visit Trinity and have kept in regular touch, so this may have helped him get admitted. And most of their students are from Texas, so most can easily drive to campus.

We were unable to visit Minnesota, where my son was wait-listed, even though his statistics were way above average for admitted students.

@evelynne1996 We have all his acceptances. We are waiting to hear from Rose-Hulman concerning merit scholarships, and from Trinity concerning the Tower’s Scholar competition for full-tuition scholarships. There were 350 people on campus last Saturday competing for one of 25 full-tuition scholarships. Whether Miami reconsiders the Honors program will also be another decision factor.

Have you applied to Arizona State? I don’t think it is too late. https://students.asu.edu/international/future/undergrad The Barrett Honors College is rated as one of the top public honors programs in the U.S. http://www.examiner.com/article/the-nation-s-top-public-university-honors-programs http://barretthonors.asu.edu/ We live nearby and have visited many times. It’s new, gated off from the rest of campus, and has its own dorms, cafeteria, gym, and lounge. Barrett graduates go on to some of the finest graduate schools in the world and are hired by the top companies. You should qualify for a significant scholarship. https://scholarships.asu.edu/estimator If my son goes locally, it will be ASU/Barrett. Many of his classmates have already decided on Barrett and most of them have options to go to one of the Ivy League schools, or one of the other top universities. As a parent, I would be delighted to see him there.

Also, the weather is great and there are quite a few Asian students.

This report is dated, but in 2012 ASU enrolled over 3600 Asian students including 48 from Vietnam. https://international.asu.edu/sites/default/files/IntlEnrollmentRpt031913.pdf

This video is pretty awesome: https://vimeo.com/31927104

Thank you for your information, but I’m done with this process. Actually big universities are not for me (looking for small liberal arts colleges) so after Temple & Miami acceptances, I’ll just rest assured that I have somewhere to go next year, while waiting for better offers. I think ASU and its Honors program will be great for other international students as well.

Competition for Miami’s honors program has become very intense, and it is likely that many qualified students will not be accepted. My understanding is that there are only about 400 seats for the honors program out of a total incoming class of 3600. Based upon history, roughly 45% of all Miami applicants are from the top 10% of their class, and with total applications of 27,400 for the fall 2015 incoming class (2,000 more applications than last year) selectivity is very high. Any strong signals you can provide the admissions dept that you will attend Miami if accepted into the honors program will certainly help your chances. Best of luck to all!

I didn’t realize that the Honors Program at Miami was so selective but it makes sense since they had a record number of applicants this year. We are in-state and DD received Honors admission along with $9000 per year. She is planning to do the Honors program but may or may not live in the Honors dorm. My son is a current junior at Miami and was not in the Honors program. He has had a great experience there and has had many wonderful opportunities so I don’t think whether you are accepted into the Honors program should define your decision.

DS received Honors admission with $7000 in state scholarship (4.0 GPA, 31 ACT). If he attends Miami, he is planning on the Honors program and the Honors dorm as it will get him a spot on South Campus rather than Western Campus, a big advantage in my opinion.

My son was accepted to Miami last year, and received a great scholarship he was accepted to IU, and the Kelly school, plus honors, but no honors at Miami. he is not going to either, but it does seem like Honors at Miami is quite competitive. Good luck.

Thanks everyone for your insightful comments. Does anyone know if it’s easy to apply and get into the Honors program later (after enrollment)?

We visited Miami last week and During the honors session they explained that it is a 2 year program and if the student applies for next year there was a good chance for admittance assuming academic success. I believe the merit money, scholars program, and honors program are stand alone decisions. I sincerely believe there are so many highly qualified applicants that decisions could have gone either way for many students for the programs.

More than other schools, we felt there was so much interest in the students and so much in which to get involved. If son wouldn’t have been invited to the honors program it would not have interfered with his decision as we we visited several higher profile schools and this was by far the best fit. If you received a $30k offer they want you to come. When you visit I believe you will see that this place is special!

Thank you for your detailed comment, @StewyGriffin‌. I wish your son success and I hope he ends up choosing Miami! It’s a really good school and I’m aware of that. Right now I’m leaning towards Miami too.

My son was just accepted into Honors. Successful appeal!

Congratulations to your son, @Beaudreau ! I was rejected once again, unfortunately.

@evelynne1996 It could be a coincidence, but we paid the enrollment deposit on Sunday afternoon, and he got the email on Monday afternoon. Maybe they were looking for a commitment from him, before giving him a spot. He had decided that he wanted to go to Miami, honors or no honors. And being honest, we did not see as much value added by Miami Honors, compared to Arizona or especially Arizona State’s Barrett Honor College. Miami’s base commitment to and quality of undergraduate education far exceeds ASU’s. Barrett levels the playing field. Barrett’s facilities are also significantly better than Miami’s honor facilities. Barrett is actually gated off from mega-ASU. The complex is less than ten-years old, with great dorms, a really nice Barrett cafeteria, a dedicated fitness facility, student lounges, meeting rooms, and classrooms.

So our conclusion was that Miami would be a great college to attend, with or without the honors program, whereas we would not want to go to ASU without Barrett. ASU was losing too many top Arizona students to OOS schools and Barrett was the response. Arizona kids can get a great education with in-store tuition, and generous merit aid. ASU/Barrett also attracts OOS and International students that would not even have considered ASU alone. My son wanted to go OOS, so he is Miami bound.

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Honors College

Defining characteristics of honors college courses.

"Honors education is characterized by in-class and extracurricular activities that are measurably broader, deeper, or more complex than comparable learning experiences typically found at institutions of higher education. Honors experiences include a distinctive learner-directed environment and philosophy, provide opportunities that are appropriately tailored to fit the institution's culture and mission, and frequently occur within a close community of students and faculty."  – National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), "Definition of Honors Education," 2019.

The Miami University Honors College offers a rigorous, engaging, and distinctive learning experience for its honors students, utilizing the NCHC’s definition above as the foundation for its academic mission. The Honors College fosters an academic environment within its course offerings that builds community and inspires and challenges honors students to build their academic competence by connecting classroom learning to their learning outside the four walls of a classroom, and integrating intellectual concepts and tools to assume deeper relevance and application to the world at large. To this end, Miami faculty, staff, and student members of the Honors College Advisory Committee (HCAC) have developed the following set of defining characteristics of Honors College courses, to be used by faculty to shape the pedagogical spirit of their course. Faculty who propose new Honors College course offerings, and those who teach existing courses, integrate these characteristics into their plans and approaches for their courses. Although these characteristics are defined here individually, it is the judgment of HCAC that each of them can be conceived as working well in conjunction with one another. These characteristics will assist faculty in developing courses into a learning experience distinct from non-Honors versions of the same course and/or other non-Honors courses in their cognate areas. These characteristics are also designed to be flexible enough to give faculty the freedom to design lessons, projects, and assignments that align with their particular cognate area. HCAC recognizes that there is no one way to teach an Honors course. However, these characteristics acknowledge that there are best practices and approaches which each faculty member should consider when designing Honors courses, which makes an Honors learning experience distinguishable. From the following list of characteristics, faculty are required (A) to incorporate research at some level; and (B) to demonstrate how they will embed at least one (1) of the other characteristics into the course.

Connections to concepts outside the classroom

Student-directed learning.

Honors students are encouraged to take initiative in their learning. They are given a variety of opportunities to become active participants in the exploration and application of course material. With activities such as data collection and analyses, critiquing various sources of information, leading class discussions, and peer editing work, faculty allow for honors students, individually and collectively, to intensively explore ideas, topics, and material throughout the semester. Student-directed learning contributes to academic competence and intellectual curiosity, engaging in projects that are both challenging and rewarding as they are on the path to becoming critical thinkers and active learners.

Meet with the Honors College!

• Honors College Prospective Student Information Session Wednesday, September 18 at 8:00 PM
• Honors College Prospective Student Information Session Wednesday, October 16 at 8:00 PM
• Honors College Prospective Student Information Session Wednesday, November 13 at 8:00 PM

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We'll never make you choose between the Bobcat experience and the Honors experience. The OHIO Honors Program blends beautifully with any major so you can dive deeper into the things you're interested in — both as an exceptional student and a regular college kid--all majors are welcome. You’ll complement your learning with special projects, seminars, and out-of-the-classroom experiences within three pathways.

As an OHP student, you’ll take challenging classes, but you’ll also apply your knowledge outside the classroom. You’ll work closely with dedicated honors advisers throughout your time in the program to choose appropriate curricular (courses) and co-curricular (outside the classroom) experiences from these pathways, building toward your fourth-year capstone portfolio: 

Community Engagement

Communities can be based on geography or shared interest, and this pathway allows you to build relationships within all kinds. You might work with a local nonprofit organization, engage with distant communities through study abroad opportunities, or develop an event that draws together people with a common interest or experience. 

Research and Creative Activity

Research is a vital and enduring element of the academic experience. This pathway encourages you to consider the various ways to collect information, make sense of it, and share it in a meaningful way. You might work in a laboratory, conduct research based on interviews or focus groups, or develop an exhibition or performance based on personal stories you collect.

Explore various ideas about leadership and develop your own understanding of the concept and how you can use and build upon your existing skills to practice it. While pursuing this pathway, you might participate in student government, work with campus and community organizations to respond to local challenges, or mentor your peers. 

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The OHIO Honors Program welcomes students from all majors. Take the first step to becoming an OHIO Honors student today.

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Whether you’re interested in diversity issues, a major-specific honors offering, or innovative problem solving, several honors and scholars programs at OHIO allow you to take your honors experience to the next level. 

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How to Write the University of Miami Essay 2024-2025

The University of Miami has one required supplemental essay prompt for all applicants. The prompt asks about how your life experiences, challenges you’ve overcome, or skills you’ve acquired would contribute to the UMiami community.

Since UMiami receives thousands of applications from academically strong students, your essays are your chance to stand out. In this post, we’ll discuss how to craft an engaging response to this required prompt.

Read these UMiami essay examples to inspire your writing.

University of Miami Supplemental Essay Prompt

Located within one of the most dynamic cities in the world, the university of miami is a distinctive community with a variety of cultures, traditions, histories, languages, and backgrounds. the university of miami is a values-based and purpose-driven postsecondary institution that embraces diversity and inclusivity in all its forms and strives to create a culture of belonging, where every person feels valued and has an opportunity to contribute., please describe how your unique experiences, challenges overcome, or skills acquired would contribute to our distinctive university community. (250 words).

This prompt is rather open-ended in that you can essentially discuss anything! Unique experiences, challenges overcome, and skills acquired are the three explicitly stated categories of things you might want to discuss. Given the introductory paragraph about diversity, you may want to consider writing about a unique life experience that highlights an aspect of your identity. That said, we will go over writing a diversity essay and an “overcoming challenges” essay so that you can write to your strengths.

Writing a “Diversity” Essay

Note that diversity encompasses several disparate aspects of identity, including ethnicity/race, country of origin, language, gender or sexual identity, geographical location, income class, disability or illness, personality trait, extracurricular interest, or something else entirely!

An aspect of diversity might also be something that taught you or inspired your passions, something that you were born into, or something you’re just now learning that you’re a part of. The life experience you write about simply needs to represent a part of yourself that is genuine.


A quick note if you intend to write about your racial background: In June 2023, the United States Supreme Court struck down the use of affirmative action in college admissions. The ruling, however, still allows colleges to consider race on an individual basis, which is one reason many schools are now including diversity prompts as one of their supplemental essay prompts. If you feel that your racial background has impacted you significantly, this is the place to discuss that.

Once you’ve chosen the life experience or aspect of your identity you want to write about, reflect on the impact that it’s had on your life and begin weaving that into your response. Think about the lessons you’ve learned along the way, the people you’ve met, and the skills you’ve learned. Consider this example:

“Ever since I was a little kid, stories have run rampant in my mind. I would make up stories in the car, in the shower, when I would close my eyes to go to sleep. They’d play out like movies in my head, and I got overwhelmed by not knowing what to do with them, so I turned against myself and wished that I would stop. That’s when I found the Creative Writing Club at my school.

Finding other people who shared the same inherent reflex I did not only made me feel normal again but made me feel accepted. I found that my habits were not unhealthy, but inspired. I suddenly found an outlet for 16 years’ worth of pent-up ideas and creativity. I had people to share my stories with, but more importantly, I was a person with whom they could share theirs. Swapping stories became a way for us to learn about different perspectives, cultures, and identities, and in doing so, it has made us all more worldly and empathetic.

I wish to join the Written In My Soul club to share in the experience of using creative writing as an outlet for emotions and ideas. I am excited by the idea of joining a new vibrant community of writers that is so different from the ones I have been in before.”

Writing an “Overcoming Challenges” Essay

Besides life experiences, aspects of diversity, and interests, you can choose to write about a challenge you’ve overcome. This topic can reflect your ability to handle difficult situations and learn from them.

To write an effective response, you’ll want to construct an anecdote that goes through both the challenge and your thought process during and after it. Start with a brief description of the challenge. Next, describe the steps you took to approach the challenge.

Also make sure to discuss the outcome of the situation and show the admissions officer how you matured from this experience, specifically identifying what you have learned from it. The most common mistake students make is to focus too much on the challenge, rather than their thought process, emotions, and growth as a result of overcoming it.

As you brainstorm and begin drafting your response, here are some questions to direct your thinking:

• Why was this challenge so important to you? What is its significance?
• At that moment, what was your reaction to the situation? How did it affect you (thoughts, emotions)?
• Were the steps you took to manage the situation successful? Why or why not?
• How did this challenge allow you to grow and mature as an individual?

Try to avoid “challenges” that are too trivial; although you may be upset that you got a B on that one calculus test, this is not a significant enough challenge to analyze. For this prompt, it’s important to demonstrate personal growth and maturity, as these are traits that will help you contribute to the UMiami community.

You should also avoid challenges that are clichés , such as:

• A sports injury
• Working hard in a difficult class
• Adjusting to a new culture or school
• Facing tragedy (death, illness, abuse)
• Romantic relationships and breakups

To get you thinking, here’s an example of a hypothetical student’s experience:

A student who is passionate about robotics wanted to start a competitive robotics club at her school. She gathered a group of interested students and began the process of getting the club approved by the administration, but to your disappointment, the club was rejected. Instead of accepting defeat, she and her peers petitioned the school in hopes of having the board members reconsider their decision.

While she ultimately didn’t win over the school board, the student discovered her talent for persuasive speaking in the process, and decided to join the Debate Team. She has since won several awards and even got to give a local TED Talk. She wants to major in Communications at UMiami and hopes to share her knowledge and expertise with her future peers on the Debate Team.

A Final Note

Whether you decide to write about an aspect of your identity, a life experience, a challenge you overcame, a skill you acquired, or something else entirely, be sure to describe how your topic served as an opportunity for learning and personal growth. Also don’t forget to address the final part of the prompt by stating how you will contribute to the UMiami community. This contribution can take a variety of forms, but it’s best to find a specific resource or opportunity at UMiami that you can see yourself being a part of.

Where to Get Your University of Miami Essays Edited For Free

Do you want feedback on your UMiami essays? After rereading your essay over and over again, it can be difficult to determine where your writing might be improved upon. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

Need feedback faster? Get a  free, nearly-instantaneous essay review  from Sage, our AI tutor and advisor. Sage will rate your essay, give you suggestions for improvement, and summarize what admissions officers would take away from your writing. Use these tools to improve your chances of acceptance to your dream school!

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Ohio University

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We take every aspect of your personal profile into consideration when calculating your admissions chances.

Ohio University’s 2023-24 Essay Prompts

Overcoming challenges short response.

This essay is optional. You may use this space to describe any academic challenges you have faced, your preparation for success in your academic and career objectives or any additional information that you would like to have associated with your application. You may also use this space to explain any discrepancies in your academic history that you believe are not representative of your potential for academic success.

Role Models/Personal History Short Response

We expect that one reason you seek a tutorial education is for the one-on-one interaction with faculty, but other than that, what interests you about pursuing a tutorial-based undergraduate education? What aspects of your education and life experience have prepared you for a tutorial education with its emphasis on research and creative activity?

Special Program Essay

Applicants are encouraged, but not required, to submit an essay detailing how they want to help shape the future of journalism

Submit a writing sample of at least 10 pages in length (up to 30 pages in total maximum). Though dramatic writing samples are typically preferred, writing samples can be any creative writing or academic/scholarly writing that you believe best represents your voice as an artist.

Select-A-Prompt Essay

College of Fine Arts Film and Honors Tutorial College Film applicants are required to submit at least one of the following items

Short essay

Original screenplay

Personal statement - should include the following: Personal story - Describe an event in your life and how it changed you or someone close to you. This event can be dramatic and/or comedic and can be major or minor. Ultimately, we are looking for evidence of your potential as a storyteller. Please do not write about why or what led you to pursue a degree in film and television production. Creative influences - How has a film, play, book, television series, painting, music, or other significant work of art inspired or influenced your own work or the way you look at the world? Artistic statement - Describe your artistic goals and aspirations.

Link to your relevant work(s) - should include one or more of the following items: Short film(s) or clips of your work shot on film or video Still photos Written work (fiction, screenplay, essay) Hand-drawn sketches, paintings, or computer-aided drawings Photos of models, sculpture, or other 3-D work Elements of theatrical production

Creative resume Should highlight your creative work, activities, and/or relevant employment. This resume is distinct from your academic resume and should focus on your artistic and creative endeavors. We also welcome information about any community service you‘ve done or part-time jobs you‘ve held. These do not have to be strictly creative if they illustrate and engagement with your community and/or a significant time commitment from you.

Honors College Essay

Please explain why you have chosen your particular program of study.

Common App Personal Essay

The essay demonstrates your ability to write clearly and concisely on a selected topic and helps you distinguish yourself in your own voice. What do you want the readers of your application to know about you apart from courses, grades, and test scores? Choose the option that best helps you answer that question and write an essay of no more than 650 words, using the prompt to inspire and structure your response. Remember: 650 words is your limit, not your goal. Use the full range if you need it, but don‘t feel obligated to do so.

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you‘ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

What will first-time readers think of your college essay?

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