<p>I hear about honor colleges or honor programs a lot but I don't understand them. Do all colleges have an honors, and is it significantly beneficial and superior to get in it or is it not that big of a deal? Do students in honors programs receive special treatment, or is it simply more work for those who want more of a challenge? </p>
<p>What are honors programs/colleges all about, are they hard to get into, and what are the benefits or differences of being in one?</p>
<p>And it seems they aren't widely talked about, so are they more of a secret?</p>
<p>An Honors College is typically (There could be many meanings for all I know) an honors group within a large state university. The students take some of their classes within the honors college, with other honors college students, and most of their classes with the university at large. There may be special housing. Obviously, there are varying degrees of program quality and extensiveness. You get the advantages of a large state university (cost, class choices, football games) and some of the advantages of a liberal arts college (smaller classes, honors peers).</p>
<p>Many (most?) honors programs offer priority registration. Honors is an attempt to attract students who might be considering smaller, more selective institutions by recreating some of those features. Of course if you’re considering a smaller, top-level school, that school is smaller and top-level all the time and in all the settings that a student encounters. The large university honors program is only intimate and rigorous when the student is in a specific honors activity.</p>
<p>It depends on the school and how developed their honors program is. Some schools have an honors program in name only. Some have honors programs that offer LAC-like classes…very interesting, small class-size, discussion-based. </p>