That is an astute observation, and certainly true. IMO most of these students could handle the extra credits, and certainly many are likely to want to be involved in research whether there was an honors program or not. That all has to be balanced against the opportunity to be more immersed in an environment that probably supports their studies better, and of course against their own personalities. I have known a few students that were brighter than I could fathom sometimes for whom the HP actually would not have been of interest or a good fit. Not many, and I could be wrong in this judgement since it is only a guess. But some students just don’t take to being directed in that particular way, and that’s fine. They are outliers and really don’t add to the issue here except to say that every student has to take into account their own goals for what they want to get out of college in all facets, and their goals for when they are finished.
Having said all that very generalized “stuff”, I would suggest that the student in question sit down with an advisor from the HP, or even ask Tom Luongo to lunch (I will have to quit suggesting that or Tom will be having 3 lunches a day) and just have an open ended discussion about the benefits of the HP and a short discussion about their particular concerns. There is certainly no shame in not participating as long as the decision was a well considered one. I think the program is really great for a large number of the brightest students, but that will never be a 100% truism.