<p>Honors colleges 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>No honors college that I know of is a college in the sense that Amherst or Yale or whoever they like to imply they are like is a college; having its own faculty and giving its own degrees. Honors offerings mainly cover your 1st 2 years, and range from one class per semester to a package with all your classes. These classes are indeed in the honors college with the hand-picked profs and bright fellow students, but all the rest of your classes are out in the regular U.</p>
<p>And after the first 2 years you complete your degree by taking upper-division classes with the regular students in the regular university. Often there are supplementary honors discussion sections available, but in the end the majority (or even all) of the classes you take upper-division are the same ones everyone else takes. And class sizes may balloon, too, if your in a larger public U and a popular major. At the top colleges you continue in smaller classes with the same bright students around you that were there the 1st 2 years.</p>
<p>A digression for HS student who may not know how college classes are structured -- it is common to have lecture 3x a week by the prof, and then meet once a week with a grad student in a class of 15-25 students. This is called the discussion section. So for more popular majors, the honors college may be able to arrange one discussion section available only to the honors college students.</p>
<p>Honors colleges do offer some valuable perks for those who can't attend a true elite college for whatever reason. 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.</p>
<p>But if you think its just like going to Williams or Dartmouth or whatever at 1/5 the cost, it just 'aint so.</p>
<p>BTW also see the thread at <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=190060&page=1&pp=15%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=190060&page=1&pp=15</a></p>