Hi, I was accepted at Northeastern Honors (Where I would be studying CS or Engineering) and also University of Southern California (Viterbi school of engineering). I am aware that USC is ranked higher than Northeastern but would the benefits of being honors at Northeastern outweigh the benefits of being at USC without honors (a higher ranked school). What benefits would being honors really bring me?
Honors programs vary school to school, so the question is what does each bring to the table? In the case of Northeastern, honors is more perks than anything fundamentally different about the academic experience. It basically amounts to nice housing for the first few years, a few smaller intro courses, and a free global experience over one summer with the global scholarship.
That said, for engineering/CS where both of these schools are strong and rankings are not really focused on, I’d also consider fit more than rank here. You have USC with LA and a more traditional experience and then you have Northeastern with co-op and Boston. If one of those really stands out as fitting you better, don’t get blinded by ranks between two schools. Where you want to end up postgrad east/west coast could also be a consideration, though both degrees are pretty “portable” between coasts.