{"id":412496,"date":"2026-08-21T03:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T03:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/412496\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T03:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T03:30:10","slug":"there-is-not-a-single-path-to-exploration-the-daily-texan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/412496\/","title":{"rendered":"There is not a single path to exploration \u2013 The Daily Texan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"There<\/a> <\/p>\n

Honors programs at UT boast of shaping tomorrow\u2019s leaders and being tailored for the most ambitious students. According to an introductory<\/a> webpage, honors is \u201cwhere excellence meets community.\u201d Such high standards can be daunting, especially for students who may not know yet which career path to follow.<\/p>\n

Because of their rigorous, energy-intensive coursework, honors programs at UT carry prestige but may also evoke apprehension. Labeling<\/a> honors students as \u201chigh-achieving students\u201d is already a form of academic pressure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tanushree Duggirala, a Canfield Business Honors Program<\/a> senior, said that the competitive environment is one of the most challenging parts of her program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are surrounded by people (who) very much have a certain idea of what is successful and what is not,\u201d Duggirala said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That competitive atmosphere may also be because some programs are harder to get into in the first place. Plan II Honors in the College of Liberal Arts, for example, requires a separate application and has a long list<\/a> of graduation criteria that must be met in a specific order.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The high expectations and heavy workload of honors classes can be overwhelming, leaving students with less flexibility to join clubs, hold a job or internship on the side and explore future career interests.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s an interesting trade-off: honors programs cultivate exploration in their own way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meenu Meyyappan, a Canfield Business Honors Program junior, chose the program for its smaller cohort. She said it allowed her to build stronger connections with her peers and broadened her horizons.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI came across careers that I never would have if I hadn\u2019t been a part of this honors program,\u201d Meyyappan said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even though honors programs are particularly demanding and often have more rigid course requirements, they still provide students with opportunities to explore their interests. They are not only for those who already have a clear career goal in mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Asian studies professor Chiu-Mi Lai, who supervised over 35 students on honors projects in Asian Studies Honors, Plan II Honors, Natural Science Scholars and Polymathic Scholars, said that the smaller class sizes allowed her to go more in-depth with the material. Because Plan II honors students are required to write a senior thesis<\/a>, some develop new research interests and potential areas of specialization during the course of their degree.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an academic journey, but it\u2019s also a really personal journey of self-discovery for the students,\u201d Lai said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to remember all honors programs differ across schools, and the same benefits and drawbacks may not apply equally to each. Therefore, it\u2019s important to consider all of one\u2019s options carefully.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, through deeper connections between students and professors, honors classes leave just enough room for self-exploration and are as valuable as any other on-campus opportunity to add to your resume. No matter how scary they seem, honors programs can allow you to explore in their own way.<\/p>\n

Doat is a journalism and media master\u2019s student from Versailles, France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Honors programs at UT boast of shaping tomorrow\u2019s leaders and being tailored for the most ambitious students. According…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-412496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}