With Honors: 2017

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From my first weeks as a freshman to presenting my thesis, I had a multitude
of defining experiences with the Honors College. Serving as an officer in the
Honors Student Cabinet all four years allowed me to interact meaningfully
with some of the sharpest student and professor minds. It also gave me first-hand
exposure in the form of dinners and one-on-one conversations with visiting lecturers,
including Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Ben Stein and Jim Carville.
Those were memorable events, but without a doubt, the most enduring
impact came from the long-term relationships with the Honors professors who
guided my senior thesis, which was an in-depth study of health care integrating
neuroscience and history. I studied the evolution of national health care policy
as experienced by a local physician group in Fort Worth—a study that now helps
me every day as a surgeon. My Honors experience motivated me to complete two
internships on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., and to get involved as a student
leader in medical school by serving as student body president. It would be hard
to imagine my four years at TCU without the Honors College. The nurturing
environment and world-class opportunities provided me tools for a lifetime of
learning and the confidence to pursue my dreams.
Neurotology/Otology/
Skull Base Surgery Fellow
at Michigan Ear Institute |
Otolaryngologist/Ear, Nose &
Throat Surgeon at LSU Health
Sciences Center | Med School:
The University of Texas Health
Science Center at San Antonio
| Student Body President,
Medical School Class Officer
Alumni Spotlight
Neal Jackson ’07 NEUROSCIENCE
FAVORITE
HONORS
MEMORIES:
• The dean taking us
to a national Honors
conference in New
Orleans
• Dr. Pitcock helping
me craft my personal
statement for
medical school
• Having pie and ice
cream with professor
Andy Fort at his
home during my first
semester freshman
years
ADVICE FOR
HONORS
STUDENTS:
“Be open-minded
for opportunity,
including an
opportunity that only
you might see. I’ve
been told that I was
the first TCU Honors
student to pursue
a senior honors
thesis outside of
my major. My major
was neuroscience,
but I had an interest
in studying the
evolution of health
care policy. I realized
I could pursue that
interest through
my minor (history),
and when I asked
the dean about
writing a thesis
outside of my
major, the Honors
College supported
me one-hundred
percent.”
Alumni: please share your accomplishments and Honors memories with us. Email .
“I wanted
a more
personalized
curriculum
that would
prepare me
for my
career as a
surgeon.”