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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]They vary widely but generally help academically-focused students find like-minded peers. Some have rigid requirements, others have minimal requirements (generally a GPA floor). DC is in a loosely structured one and has really enjoyed the community and the honors class options. They serious considered a much more structured honors program at another large university that offered $$$.

All schools have info about what’s required to be considered (some are automatic, some are an additional application with general application, some are separate application after receiving an admissions offer).[/quote]

I agree with the advice above. It varies a lot from school to school. I picked my big state U for the honors college and lived in the honors dorm.  It was not a good experience.  The participants skewed male/Engineering and I was female/Liberal Arts.  So the social benefits were minimal.  I didn't make any good female friends that year and my roommate proved to be a jerk. The dorm was a bit nicer but other things were wrong with the whole school culture (very drinking and sports-focused, not intellectual).

I ended up transferring to School A's rival state school which also had an honors college.  The honors college kids and classes were more to my liberal arts taste there but also a bit quirky and pretentious.  The administrators were comically snobby about certain majors (pharmacy, etc.).  From hanging around School B's honors college, I learned valuable lessons in how to create a personal "baby genius" impression to get scholarships to grad school.  However, I quickly decided I'd had it with trying to integrate with the "elite" and gave up on taking honors college classes after sophomore year.  The regular ones were just as challenging and meaningful with less instructor quirkiness and I was one of the top-ranked students in my major and graduating class. Overall, I was quite satisfied with School B, highly recommend it, and would "do it again".  But I remain skeptical of honors colleges.

Summing up what I learned:

1) the university has to be an excellent fit first;

2) the demographics of the program matter to having peers and making friends;

3) much better to talk to students actually in the program about it vs. reading materials;

4) employers probably don't care about honors vs. non-honors degrees and it remains unclear to me whether special efforts and degrees have any value proportionate to the effort required to complete them. I was never disadvantaged by forgoing the opportunity to write a thesis or to get a special degree name.

[/quote]

Were the schools Penn State University and the University of Pittsburgh ?

About a decade ago, the honors college administrators at Penn State complained about the honors college being dominated by engineering students. Adjusted selection criteria to be more holistic in order to change the composition of the honors college.[/quote]

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