I’m not too well informed about Honour’s programs, they’re often labelled as coming with some sort of “prestige”, but what does “prestige” even mean? What does being in an Honour’s program have over the regular ones? Can I enter an Honour’s program after my Freshman/Sophomore year, or convert a normal degree into an Honours by taking an extra class? Do they help you for graduate applications? I never even considered them at first but the more colleges I look at, the more I see them plastered all everywhere. From what I can tell, other than an extra Capstone experience and an additional class, there’s nothing too different other than the increased application procedures. I’m almost feeling inadequate for not being too interested.
Every university’s honors program is different, so it’s difficult to answer your questions specifically, especially the stuff about when you can enter and how to enter an honors track for your major.
At the college I am going to attend, there are two different kinds of honors: Honors in liberal arts and Honors in the major. Generally Honors classes are more difficult, in-depth, and require more work. They also usually have much smaller class sizes which can be a huge advantage, which means you get more individual attention and more time with your professor. They’re also considered more rigorous, which could reflect well on any future applications to grad schools. Personally, I’m planning on doing Honors in the major, because I think the extra depth and opportunities would benefit my career interests.
But like I said, your decision to do an honors program all depends on the university, as well as what kinds of interests you have. Don’t feel bad for not being interested in them; not everyone feels that they need an honors degree for what they want to do in life.
Are you still applying to colleges? If so, it seems a little odd to me that they would want you to apply to their honors programs before you’re even accepted. I would worry more about honors when you decide on what college you attend.
Honors programs associated with a specific honors college sometimes require separate applications, to be submitted alongside the regular one… Mine did. Perhaps OP can reply with a little more detail – what school, what type of honors program/college? The two to which I was accepted are very different; one was auto-admit, if you applied to the school itself and had good stats, while the other required a separate app and had an 8% acceptance rate last year. Different perks and such as well.
Some universities will only give Latin honors to honors students (e.g. magna cum laude) at graduation. In any case, Yes, it can help with grad school applications if you are in the honors program. Not only would it look good, but participation in the program might open doors for you along the way to activities and internships that you might not have had otherwise. You will also make more connections with top students, and those connections can pay off lifelong. Depending on the university, honors students can have a lot of perks that can include special events with professors, special tutoring opportunities for help with difficult classes, special class registration help and advisers, student mentoring, etc. There can also be special housing offered to honors students.
Overall, you have the right gist. In rare cases, honors does mean something, but few to none will care in the real world. Do it if the extra classes or experience interest you for any reason, but otherwise it’s very normal not to see the appeal of honors.
At some schools, students in honor’s program get priority registration which can be a significant benefit.
It probably doesn’t have any significance as far as being an honor, but a lot of the requirements are things you should be doing anyway (getting good grades, taking extra classes, writing a senior thesis, etc.) if you want to go to graduate school. I don’t see any reason not to participate, unless the school has random requirements attached to it that you don’t want to fulfill.
You get some fancy recognition on your diploma, register ahead of everyone else except veterans, access to a special lounge with free snacks, really small class sizes, advising from faculty, scholarships, and close connections / special opportunities with your graduating class. Access to special honors program events and banquets.
The downside? As a student coming in with a ton of AP credits or transfer credits, you can’t use them all. You have to take the classes in the honors program. Plus meeting the honors requirements are difficult to do in a major such as engineering where your lower division years are filled with prerequisite courses and the general education is more spaced out. ~The honors program would’ve turned my 3 year graduation into 4 