Honors Programs and Honors Colleges: A Difference that Makes a Difference? Mobile AL

Honors Programs and Honors Colleges: A Difference that Makes a Difference?

Peter C. Sederberg, Dean Emeritus, South Carolina Honors College, University of South Carolina

Congratulations on being an academically talented and motivated student searching for the best school to fulfill your educational ambitions! All the schools represented on this site offer enriched opportunities and challenges that promise to fulfill your goals. The variety, though, must seem daunting. On top of the range of sizes, structures, and locations of the hundreds of colleges and universities offering honors opportunities, you probably noticed that they present themselves as being either an honors “program” or an honors “college.” What does it all mean?

Permit me a rather surprising answer—perhaps not that much. I can think of a number of more important considerations, like the size of the institution in which you feel most comfortable, the programs of study you wish to explore, and the inevitable considerations of cost and location. Using these factors, you can narrow the number of schools you are considering by a significant degree. Then you can take at look at honors opportunities.

Honors programs have been around for decades; some even prior to World War II. The honors phenomenon really took off with an upsurge in demand for higher education after that war. Elite private schools could not accommodate that demand, neither could most students afford that path.

Author: Kimberly Marcelliano

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