The academic quality at both schools will be very similar. Honors at UCONN might bump up the rigor a little, but it will certainly make the school feel more personal—and lead to more access to research.
In general, UCONN does not feel like a “state school” as much as many other state flagships do. It has strong academics, a smaller enrollment than other state flagships (19K), smaller class sizes, a wealthier alumni network, and a “preppier” feel—the last two are due to UCONN being the University OF Connecticut, a state that is known to have a lot of resources and wealth.
That’s just my two cents.
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BTW, part of the reason why GWU might not consider UCONN as a peer school is because UCONN is a public school, and because of that, they naturally have lower tuition (even OOS). You might be able to bring up Carleton, since Carleton is tougher to get into than GWU, but no guarantees that they’ll bite.