<p>When I hear of such a good student who didn’t apply to the Honors College… I wonder what kind of guidance counselor they have. Honors in college is nothing like honors in high school. It makes a huge difference for your access to classes (you make your own schedule in college, so being able to choose the class, the professor, and the time it meets is worth its weight in gold), you have the better dorms, you have direct access to professors right off the bat instead of Junior year (and that makes a huge difference for recommendations, especially if you want an internship along the way), your classes are interactive (not harder, just smaller and discussion-based or hands-on, rather than lecture - and Honors College students tend to get higher grades in them than in “regular” classes), sometimes you get free tickets or free trips, and sometimes there are special scholarships for the Honors students only … in short, the benefits are many and I fail to see any disadvantage.
No problem with not trying to reach, but do yourself a favor and apply to the Honors College at both.
If you have EFC 40k or more, I see why many colleges wouldn’t be affordable, but if your EFC is around 10k, then the most selective colleges are also the ones that offer the best financial aid. So it really depends on your situation.</p>