Last fall, EC’s Honors Transfer Program (HTP) welcomed 225 new students, the largest group of inductees in its history.

This spring, 21 of the program’s students will present at the 14th Annual Student Research Conference at UC Irvine.

“We have the distinction right now of being one of the biggest and best honors program in the state,” Rachel Williams, co-director of the HTP said. “We’re usually one of the top three in California. We want to continue to be a big program and a really strong program.”

Its co-directors, Rachel Williams and Joe Holliday, were able to grow the HTP due to a budget increase back in fall of last year. A plan is currently underway to further expand the program.

“We currently have 500 students and we are going to grow to 700 students in 2-3 years,” Williams said, adding, “we are going to grow gradually.”

Among benefits and incentives to joining the HTP are smaller class sizes, priority registration, and an opportunity to present original research at a statewide honor conference at UCI. All of these atop a greater likelihood of transferring to your top choice school – most significantly UC’s and private institutions. For instance, Williams said the, “acceptance rate [to UCLA] is 75 percent” as a member of the HTP.

The Honors Transfer Program has had a profound effect on both Joy De Guzman, 20, international major, and Corrine Kosidlak, 19, physics major.

Guzman said that the program helps students, “navigate el camino college” and helped her narrow in on her major. Koisdlak’s academic path, on the other hand, vastly shifted after taking an honors astronomy course.

“I changed my major. I was an English major and now a physics major,” she said. “The HTP definitely [gave] me more resources to look at as well as open[ed] my mind to the possibilities that are out there for colleges.”

The requirements are simple to remember. You just need to keep the “five” in mind, Williams said.

Prospective applicants one must take “five honor classes over your time here.You have to attend four workshops geared towards helping students transfer…maintain that 3.1 GPA or above… meet two times with a counselor, and you have to fill out one [completion] form.”Each requirement corresponds to the numbers five, four, three, two, and one.

Although participating in the program can be challenging, it is definitely not an arduous, unmanageable undertaking. Williams encourages students to apply for the program as long as they have the minimum 3.1 GPA requirement.

She wants for the HTP to be, “an inclusive program at El Camino” and she “think[s] that some students get intimidated by the idea that it’s an honors program.

“The truth is, yes, you have to have some strong skills in terms of your writing and critical thinking; but if you’re a motivated, driven student you will be able to succeed in honors courses,” she said. “Students who meet the requirements… and are willing and excited to do the work should apply and do not be intimated.”