<p>obviously one is being the best of the best...</p>
<p>but are there any others? more scholarship opportunities, better chance of getting a job right out of school, etc.?</p>
<p>This tends to depend on your school. At mine (University of Arizona), the Honors College gets:</p>
<p>Our own dorm buildings, tutoring, more research opportunity, chances at more scholarships, lecture lunches, first choice at classes, and some more benefits that I'm not yet fully aware of.</p>
<p>If your school has a page for honors, check it out.</p>
<p>I'm also probably going to be in the Arizona Honors college,</p>
<p>they also will get more academic advising, special events (such as guest speakers), and everything that atomic cafe said.</p>
<p>Be careful though, some honors colleges don't really give that many benefits...at least from what I have heard. But generally speaking, I think they are a great way to get more personal attention at a larger university. I wouldn't even consider my in-state colleges if it weren't for the honors programs.</p>
<p>Oh also, a lot of schools will have departmental honors instead of a school honors program...or even both. So be aware of that as well.</p>
<p>i see...i'm lookin into UT Austin's honors engineering and Deans Scholars honors...</p>
<p>I'm about to look more into it, but does anyone have firsthand experience with these programs?</p>
<p>Mine aren't first-hand exactly, but from a friend who is in the UA Honors College. She says the bonus lectures are great, and the honors academic advisors are wonderful for when your usual one isn't helpful/swamped with other peoples' problems. I sort of look at it as getting twice the help you normally would.</p>
<p>Like 2legit, I wouldn't both with a state school unless it had this program. I mean, early registration?!?! FABULOUS!!! And they have Summer of Excellence for high school students each summer which is fun and counts for credits.</p>
<p>hm University of Arizona honors must be a popular program?</p>
<p>I'm wondering what the advantages of honors programs versus smaller, more elite colleges are.</p>
<p>your expected to have more chances at scholarships of course.
concerning the issue with jobs it all depends on where you may be applying. but it does look good on your resume that you are a honors student </p>
<p>and those honors classes boost your gpa also. good gpa. goood school. great job afterwards and your living a pretty solid life!</p>
<p>I'm at Arizona State's honors college, and not only do I get all those amazing benefits in the college itself, there are joint honors-major benefits. For instance, I'm a business major, and because I'm in the honors college, I'm also a business honors student, where I can do a special degree program, or a certificate program if I choose. There's advising specifically for the honors college and the honors program within whatever major you choose. </p>
<p>Other standard benefits: priority registration, more scholarship and internship opportunities, employers looking for honors students only, small honors classes, regular class breakout sessions for honors students, guest speakers, discounts on events or free admission, and lots more.</p>
<p>Honors colleges can be oversold, the glossy pamphlets giving the impression a small LAC has been set up inside a larger university. Honors colleges do offer some very valuable perks and let you meet some of the top students at your college. But when you're thinking of honors colleges the pitch is often that you're getting an elite private education at the public school price. Sadly, this isn't true.</p>
<p>Depending on the U's program, things may range from taking separate honors classes to taking just one honors seminar per semester. Honors college programs offer the small classes and top profs predominantly for the 1st two years of college, when for liberal arts majors its easier to craft a standard set of offerings that will meet the distribution requirements for almost any major.</p>
<p>It is rare to find more than a token amount of offerings upper-division since the honors program simply doesn't have enough staff to duplicate an entire major or set of majors. So the last two years most/all classes are taken with the rest of the students in the regular U's classes. The teaching of the profs will be geared towards that level, the discussions and student involvement in class will be dominated by the regular students, and so on. And class sizes may balloon, too, if you're in a larger public U and a popular major.</p>
<p>Honors colleges do offer some valuable perks in addition to the classes. Typical ones include registering for classes before everyone else so you get the classes you want (a perk worth its weight in gold!), special counselors, guaranteed housing, special library privileges. They will stamp your diploma with some indication of honors college or make a note on your transcript. But I would be skeptical of attending a college for its honors program in place of a more highly regarded U; think of it as a strong enhancement to the large U experience.</p>