Week 7 - Re-Assessing the Honors Institute

So my experience within the Honors Institute has been a good one, I've enjoyed the classes that I've taken in order to fulfill my requirements, even when they weren't applicable to my major.  I do feel however that an expansion on the classes available would be an excellent change that could be offered.  As a high unit Bio major, fitting in 6 classes that were not related to my requirements for schools was difficult and a bit trying at times.  For example, this quarter I had to pass on Chem 1B simply because the Honors class times are so limited that the schedules constantly conflict with one another.  By offering a greater variety of classes with a wider range of times, the Honors Institute might be able to combat these problems.  I do feel that the seminar requirements are actually really beneficial.  Although taking 1 unit classes may seem like a pain, I have really felt that the opportunity to "dabble" in other fields is great.  Perhaps creating even more Seminars would further expand this opportunity.  For example:  I feel that the lack of any Bio seminars is a shame.  Many Language/Arts majors don't have to take a Bio course for their requirements, and I definitely feel that the addition of a seminar within the field would be a great resource for these majors.  Obviously they won't want to take a 6 unit lab class, but a 1 unit introduction seminar into the field might be something that other majors would be willing to take.  However, on the downside of the seminars, it is difficult having a work load more applicable to a 4 or 5 unit class for a 1 unit one.  The physics seminar is more demanding than a calculus or physics course! And it's one unit! Ridiculous! The institute should impose a few more guidelines to prevent that from becoming an issue.  I immediately dropped from that course even though I wanted to take it simply because I didn't have the time to dedicate so much work to a 1 unit class.  Overall though, I feel that they Honors Institute serves it's purpose well.  In all honesty, most students use it as their "in" to UCLA, I certainly did.  But the experience along the way has definitely been worth it, I've taken courses that I never would have bothered with if I'd stuck to fulfilling my major requirements only.