Honors Colleges

What are Honors Colleges?

Universities are in strong competition with one another. They’re constantly competing against each other for prestige, for lucrative research grants, for the best faculty members, for donation dollars, and of course, for the best students. Ultimately, universities are judged by the caliber of graduates they produce: do they go on to become CEOs, prominent politicians, leading authors, top medical researchers, etc. Therefore, universities are constantly looking for new ways to attract the most promising, high-achieving students, because those are the students who are most likely to a have a profound impact on society that reflects positively on the university.

Thus… the birth of Honors Colleges.

In particular, large public universities are looking to steal away top students from smaller, elite private colleges like the Ivy League. So they invest considerable money and resources into specialty programs at their schools that are reserved exclusively for a hand-picked group of “honors students.” The idea is to create a small, elite, exclusive community of ambitious, academic scholars within the larger university, and to shower this special group with an irresistible array of VIP perks that no one else at the school is getting. In theory, these honor students get the benefit of a small, elite liberal arts education without giving up the endless resources and opportunities afforded by a giant public research university. In short, it’s the best of both worlds.

What are the perks of an Honors College?

Whether it’s called an honors college or an honors program, the perks tend to be very similar, and they are extensive. For one, students in the honors program frequently receive scholarship money. It can be as little as $1,000/year like at UIUC’s program, or as much as $30,000/year at Northeastern’s John Martinson Honors Program, or even a four-year full ride scholarship like at CUNY’s Macaulay Honors College. (Yes, Northeastern is a private university; even some large private universities have jumped on the bandwagon and instituted honors programs to attract top students.)

What else do you get? How about “priority registration” so you can sign up for all of your classes before everyone else! That’s a huge perk because at many universities it can be very difficult to get into the classes you want. As an honors student, you immediately move to the front of the line, every time.

You also get treated to really small seminar-style classes featuring 15-20 honors students instead of having to deal with 300-person lecture courses. Not only are these discussion-based seminars more interesting and interactive than large lectures, but you get to know your professors (and classmates) really well, which naturally leads to better research opportunities and teacher recommendations down the road.

Many honors programs also allow honors students to live together in the best dorms on campus, and many of these “living-learning communities” even have their own dining hall, classrooms, study rooms, social areas, etc. A big part of your college education takes places outside of the classroom, and here you’re surrounding yourself with the best and brightest students at the university. This can not only improve your educational experience, but help you network with students who are destined for career success, which will help you later in life when you’re job-hunting.

You also get the benefit of a small, tight-knit, supportive community within the larger university. Because you frequently live, study, and take special field trips with other students in the honors program, you arrive at college with an instant “family,” which is often hard to find at a large university with more than 30,000 students.

But that’s not all. You typically have better access to faculty, such as your own faculty mentor in your major and career advisors who are exclusive to the honors program. You might get money to study abroad or fund internships. You’ll have special honors courses that are available only to students in the honors program, and these are frequently taught by the best professors at the university, like Nobel Prize winners. And, if you’re an in-state resident, you get to stay closer to home and save a ton on tuition costs, in addition to any scholarship money you receive.

What are some of the cons of an Honors College?

The biggest question students want to know is this: Will graduating from the honors program look good on my résumé? Will it help me get a good job or get into grad school? The answer is, it depends.

Simply having an honors designation on your diploma probably won’t move the needle very much in terms of helping you out with your career. Either companies won’t know much about the program, or they won’t care. But where an honors program can help you considerably is by providing endless opportunities to enrich your education. These programs open doors for you, but it’s up to you to take advantage of those opportunities, and turn them into impressive research, internship, advanced scholarship, and travel experiences.

Think about it like this: honors programs give you the keys to the castle, where the best of everything at the university is available to you. You’re given encouragement, support, and guidance. But it’s up to you to make the most of the opportunities. And if you do, you were certainly stand out from the competition and attract the interest of top employers and grad schools.

Another potential con of honors programs is that they frequently require more work, and sometimes harder courses. These programs are generally looking for students who are seeking an academic challenge, so many of these courses are more rigorous and accelerated than the standard curriculum. But this is not always the case, and it varies from program to program. In addition, you’ll often have to take special honors courses in addition to the school’s general curriculum, so you’ll need careful planning to make sure you can finish all of your course requirements in four years. For example, sometimes students find it hard to compete the requirements for a double major, while also completing requirements for an honors program. This would be something to discuss with your faculty advisor.

Finally, graduating from an honors program at a moderately-competitive public university like Arizona State University or Rutgers University is not as “prestigious” as graduating from a top-tier private university like Villanova or Yale, or a top-tier public university like UCLA or University of Michigan. You might choose the honors program because of the scholarship money and the other perks, and it may be right decision for you, but you’re going to need to maximize that experience to compete in the hyper-competitive job marketplace against graduates of those other high-profile schools.

What are some of the best Honors Colleges?

Honors programs are now popping up all over the place, and they vary considerably in terms of what perks they offer, how much scholarship money they provide, and how you apply to them. Here’s a brief overview of some of the top programs. But there are many more good ones to choose from, and it’s tough to go wrong with any of them.

UT AUSTIN: UT Austin is already a top-10 ranked public university, but they offer a variety of prestigious honors programs that are also very difficult to get into. For example, “Plan II Honors” is actually a liberal arts major at the college that only has a 22% acceptance rate. And the “Canfield Honors Program” is a specialty major within the undergraduate college of business that has a 16% acceptance rate. There are multiple other honors programs to choose from as well. You apply to them when you apply to UT Austin, and they require additional essays.

ARIZONA STATE: ASU is famous for its top-ranked honors college, Barrett College, which has produced a large number of Fulbright Scholars. You can apply to the program right after you apply to the university, and can become part of the elite group of 7,000 honors students at the university of 65,000 undergraduates.

CUNY: One of the best honors colleges for scholarships, the Macaulay Honors College at CUNY accepts 500 students each year and they all get free four-year tuition, plus funding to study abroad, and pursue research and internships. The program is a no-brainer for New York state residents who want to study in New York City. Roughly 90% of Macaulay students graduate from college debt-free.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: The program has 1,300 students (out of 37,000 total undergraduates) and provides a special interdisciplinary curriculum of small classes and experiential learning.

Other good programs to consider…

There are many other great programs to consider, particularly if one of them is in your home state (but even sometimes if they’re not) including: Northeastern, Purdue, Boston University, UIUC, Penn State, University of Virginia, University of Kansas, University of South Carolina, University of Tennessee, University of Alabama, Indiana University, University of Mississippi, Drexel University, Colorado State, University of Oregon, University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, University of Connecticut, University of Delaware, University of Georgia.