<p>Just curious, as I know each route as its advantages and disadvantages, but what is the general consensus on enrolling an honors college in a not so "elite" university versus dealing with the pressure and competition of a higher institution?</p>
<p>Who is to say? It’s as varied as the programs you can consider. There’s no hard or fast rule or generalization.</p>
<p>Don’t assume all higher universities come with “pressure and competition.”</p>
<p>Every honors program is differently really. Some honors programs provide elite level educations. Some honors programs just require you to take a few extra humanities courses and do some research; really not involved enough to compare to elites. Need to look at each honors colleges on a case by case basis.</p>
<p>I agree with Pancaked. Each honors program is different than the other, but i say that both are equal based on the fact that either way you will be faced with a very rigorous curriculum.</p>
<p>Honors colleges are often 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. Regrettably this isn’t really the case.</p>
<p>Depending on the U’s program, what they offer may range from taking separate honors classes to taking just one honors seminar per semester. Some of the honors offerings may just be a special discussion section of the regular class (at many U’s classes can have 100-500 students, then everyone meets once a week in a smaller group with a TA). You really need to dig in to find what a particular school offers. And keep in mind honors college programs typically offer the small classes and top profs the brochures promise during the 1st two years of college, because it doesn’t take that many classes to come up with a set that will meet the lower-division requirements for most majors.</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 faculty members 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. Peer effects are big, too; when almost everyone around you at school is a strong student you have lots of good examples of how hard to work, of extras like doing research or internships to get a leg up for post-college. If the top kids are a few hundred strong dispersed among tens of thousands at the U then good examples may be harder to see. When it comes to finding a job, employers are less likely to send recruiters to campus with a limited number of honors college seniors compared to the campus-full they’ll find at more highly regarded schools.</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 if finances are not an issue.</p>
<p>Thank you for your thorough response. It is something to consider, as both an honors college and a more highly regarded university each have their advantages.</p>
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<p>Here’s my perspective: </p>
<p>In terms of getting an education, I think that an honors college at a large university is a good deal. You get to have all of the social strengths of the small academically-driven environment with all of the great social activities that you get from a larger school: like great parties and more athletic events. </p>
<p>In terms of being recognized, I don’t think that an honors college really matters. Most people won’t grant the prestige to the graduate of an honors college that they grant to the graduate of a highly selective university, even if the honors college is just as hard to get into.</p>