I enjoyed telling people I’m an “honors student.” There were few compliments greater than the looks of shock, awe, and disgust I received.
They told me I “didn’t seem like that type of person.” Though amused, this “type” concerned me as both a member of the program and a student at Hillsdale College. So a few days ago, I chose to withdraw from the Collegiate Scholars.
The Collegiate Scholars Program is not a clique of super students on campus who always perform better than the rest, but they are some of the best and brightest students at Hillsdale College. They are, however, only a small portion of an incredible student body. There are many students at Hillsdale who qualified for the program but did not embrace the extra core classes, honors-specific courses, mandatory seminars, and senior thesis. There are also many who were upset that they met the requirements but didn’t make the cut. By rejecting qualified applicants, the Collegiate Scholars Program has implied an academic hierarchy at Hillsdale College.
The last line of the program’s online description now reads, “Collegiate Scholars promotes the College’s mission across all disciplines as it cultivates a community of scholars and pursues the life of the mind.” The Honor Code describes this community as one of “self-governing citizens and scholars.”
But this school boasts fewer than 1,500 undergraduates. If this is too large a community to engage in the intellectual discussions the Collegiate Scholars Program promotes, changes must be made to the program to accommodate a larger portion of campus.
The community the program offers is indeed a place that drives students to excel academically. Expanding it to include more students may lessen the pressure on members to push themselves intellectually. However, the current system only promotes extraordinary effort within the Collegiate Scholars. Students who cannot get into the program in their first three semesters have little incentive to push themselves to the same degree, because their achievements will never be recognized by the Collegiate Scholars.
This year, Collegiate Scholars applicants have to achieve a 3.4 GPA. Such a standard is an acceptable benchmark for determining academic merit, though while a member myself I never reached it in my first three semesters at Hillsdale. It should concern students that the program will not admit just anyone who meets the academic requirements. There is a cap on the number of accepted members, and upperclassmen who find academic success later in their college careers have no chance of admittance.
There is no sensible explanation for why the program is not open to upperclassmen. The Collegiate Scholars’ recent promotional efforts on social media, email, and the newspaper indicate the program has a sincere interest in attracting as many students as possible. The challenges it mandates — the thesis and extra coursework — are still a deterrent for potential applicants. Were these academic requirements reduced to appeal to more students, however, the program would be little more than a Greek organization or honorary. The Collegiate Scholars cannot give up academic standards to embrace a larger demographic. Therefore the decision to exclude eligible upperclassmen while desperately seeking to increase membership seems contradictory.
The recent changes make the program’s exclusiveness more palatable, but reduce its tangible benefits. The new structure has eliminated the honors sections of core classes and integrated the students into — for lack of a better word — regular courses. Freshmen and transfer students who enter the program will only gain early access to the seminars, a trip to Turkey, and a senior thesis.
Instead of the closed-door attitude currently exhibited by the program, it seems that it would be more prudent to make “Collegiate Scholar” status pursuable in the same fashion as a specialization. The faculty director of the Collegiate Scholars Program could determine the GPA, curriculum, and thesis requirements. An increase in the number of seminars would also benefit campus, but the program would no longer be a club or organization.
If this transition occurs, all of campus may take advantage of some or all of the program’s opportunities. Students intimidated by the program’s requirements, or upperclassmen who struggled academically in their early semesters, could still engage in some of the Collegiate Scholars’ activities.
The Collegiate Scholars Program could be exclusive if it existed in an institution where education was a secondary concern of the student body. However, at Hillsdale College students do not simply complete their education. They pursue it.
