Do graduates of honors colleges get a different diploma, or some other recognition that matters to employers? I understand they may have smaller class sizes and maybe priority registration for certain courses, but is that the entire payoff? What do you get for taking on a supposedly tougher academic burden?

is honors at a&m a tougher academic burden? We've not done an a&M campus tour yet, but from a couple of other college tours, if anything honors programs seem to be more of a perk than a burden. Smaller classes, better profs, better schedule, more choice in which profs you take and additional academic support not available to other students is what I've seen at other universities we've looked at so far.

I have heard of some schools having separate dorms for the honors college kids.

Buck Turgidson said:

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I have heard of some schools having separate dorms for the honors college kids.

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UF just completed a new set of dorms for their Honors Program students, and they are really nice. What I would be more curious about is whether there are any companies that specifically recruit out of schools' Honors Programs. If so, that would make it worthwhile.

It's a big deal at Wisconsin. They don't do the magna, suma, cum laude. The highest degree is comprehensive honors degree which is an honors degree with a thesis that requires completing the requirements for an honors BS and BA in one field. I'm only familiar with their college of Letters and Science. The honors classes are graded like graduate school classes.

That's the only school I'm familiar with where honors is a big deal.

My Granddaughter just accepted a slot in the UT Honors program. She was one of 140 students accepted.
They do have a special dorm if the student is interested. It's considered a pretty big deal. Being in the honor's program is reported on their official transcripts.

Following is the university's description.

History
Since 1990 Liberal Arts Honors has provided gifted students with special opportunities for enriched learning and recognition at every level of their academic careers. Almost 800 students, including 140 freshmen, participate in the program each year. In addition to taking honors coursework focusing on reasoning, research, and writing, Liberal Arts Honors students are encouraged to study abroad and become global citizens. Nearly all participate in internships to help them build professional networks, and define themselves. Prospective students considering attending The University of Texas at Austin with a commitment to a Liberal Arts education are encouraged to visit campus, visit us, and attend a prospective student information session to experience first hand all that the Liberal Arts Honors Program has to offer!
Overview
The Liberal Arts Honors Program is home to a variety of honors opportunities within the College of Liberal Arts all with the objective to give some of the University's best students the tools they need to change the world. With small classes, top professors, individualized coursework, and an active learning community, Liberal Arts Honors broadens students' worldview and prepares them to lead. Students call this program the best of both worlds - the personal attention of a small liberal arts college with the resources of a major research institution.
Nearly 800 students participate in our programs each year, including our Liberal Arts Honors Scholars Program for incoming first year students, College Honors with upper-division Liberal Arts Honors classes, and the Humanities Honors major.
Liberal Arts Honors Scholars Program
Students apply to the Liberal Arts Honors Scholars Program when applying to UT as first year students. In addition to taking honors coursework focusing on reasoning, research, and writing, Liberal Arts Honors Scholars participate in a range of academic enrichment experiences which can include study abroad, research, internships, demonstrated leadership, and community service.
Upper Division Liberal Arts Honors (College Honors)
Any student pursing a major in the College of Liberal Arts, with the exception of Plan II majors, may qualify for graduation with Honors in the College of Liberal Arts by taking three upper division LAH courses. These are small, intensive, seminar style courses. No application is required, but enrollment in these courses is limited to students who have earned a cumulative UT GPA of 3.5 and who have completed of 60 credit hours. Students who meet these criteria will receive College Honors on their official UT transcript.
Humanities Honors Program
The Humanities Honors major is an individualized, interdisciplinary course of study that cannot be adequately pursued by a single departmental major, double major, or dual degree. Applicants who have earned a 3.5 GPA in at least 30 (but not more than 90) credit hours at UT Austin may prepare a contract proposal in collaboration with the Humanities Honors Program advisor.
Departmental Honors
Each department in the College of Liberal Arts has an honors program for exceptionally accomplished upper-division students. A departmental honors student earns Special Honors by completing advanced undergraduate work and the preparation of an honors thesis in the senior year. Apply to the honors advisor in the major department.
Junior Fellows
Junior Fellows is a society of juniors and seniors from the University at large who are engaged in independent research projects under the direction of members of the faculty

We just had a tour of Univ of Arkansas this past week. The Honors Program presentation was very impressive. The program was started with a 300 million dollar grant from the Walton family. The program seems organized and committed to student success during college and afterward. A senior engineering student (a Texan) in the honors program spent about an hour with our family, and we were impressed by how highly she spoke of her experience there. It's worth a look. The diploma does have an "honors" seal. I am not sure how important that is to employers.

Definitely varies by school. Penn State and Arizona State are 2 schools that make a big deal about it and it's almost like graduating from a different school. At A&M it is really more about the college honors programs that are separate from the Honors program for the school. Mays Honors is great and I've heard good things about Engineering Honors (my son has applied and is expecting to be accepted for Eng Honors but decisions are slow). It's becoming more and more of a thing at Public schools as a way to attract top students and give them perks that feel more like a private or smaller school.

In terms of jobs and such that varies widely in value. Some schools have special career fairs for Honors and really push it, others don't.

Benefits vary, most have:
Class choice priority
Housing options
Counseling benefits
Easier classes
Some have:
Better undergrad RA and TA opportunities
Degree and transcript recognition

It can be meaningful for grad school applications, especially med school.

Easier classes? I expected them to be harder.

As described by our student, above average is an "A". Honors classes are small and low stress. You get the same grade 18 points above average as the other students making 1 point above average in honors classes. There is no reason to make 18 points above average. Everyone in the class is capable. It's nothing like the large non-honors class where the students and grades have a bell shaped distribution.

Described honors classes as similar to high school AP classes with better teachers, better students, but without the insane competition level of high school. His high school was insanely competitive,

Same for our son. Admitted to LAH at UT with major in Economics. We did a two hour info session with them a few weeks back and it was impressive with the maroon blinders removed. Looks like he's about to get a Blinn TEAM offer from A&M but will be hard to pass on UT or UGA at this point.

There's a lot to like about schools rolling out the honors red carpet. Ours couldn't resist, and they kept adding goodies all the way through college graduation.

I didn't enter into A&M as a honors student, but started enrolling in honors courses starting my sophomore year. The benefit was always the smaller class sizes, better profs, and the priority registration as described by the OP.

I can speak to the Business Honors program at Mays. It is structured and managed like an MBA-lite experience over a student's 4 years.

Professional development events where you have front seat access to executives, sponsored trips, small class sizes, the best profs, etc. It's amazing they don't charge a different level of tuition to those in the program. It is absolutely a differentiator.

To be honest, I think that honours programs are kind of overrated unless you're really into academics or planning to go to grad school. Schools love to hype them up like this golden ticket, but in reality, you're just doing more work for a line on your diploma that most employers probably won't even notice. In most real-world job markets, what matters a lot more is your experience, skills, how you adjust to changes and how you present yourself. That's why skills such as resume writing are so useful. I've always had a little problem with that. So the last time I needed help with it, I used some assistance of https://craftresumes.co/, which, for me is one of the best services in the USA, and I think it helped me a lot. That resume was so much better, and I think it greatly improved my chances of getting a job.

AlexNelson said:

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To be honest, I think that honors programs are kind of overrated unless you're really into academics or planning to go to grad school. Schools love to hype them up like they're this golden ticket, but in reality, you're just doing more work for a line on your diploma that most employers probably won't even notice.

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There is tremendous variance in the quality and opportunities with honors programs. Even just at A&M for instance I don't know of anyone that thinks the University Honors program has much value but I also don't know anyone that has done Business Honors that feels it wasn't a gamechanger. Engineering Honors also has a ton of value.

You also have schools like Arizona State or Penn State where being in Honors makes it almost like you are attending a different University entirely due to the resources and opportunities available.

Then you have schools and programs where Honors is kind of a joke or adds very little value. I know kids at Arkansas in the Honors program for instance and it doesn't seem to mean much of anything.

In terms of having "Honors" on your resume making much of a difference that varies widely.

You seem to have information about several of these. Do you have any info about the University of Florida Honors program?

My son never really expected to end up there, and didn't apply to the Honors program. He said you get an invitation at the end of your freshman year if you have at least a 3.75 GPA, which he should be able to have. Honors dorms were a nice attraction for incoming freshman classes this year, but after that I don't know how big of a deal Honors is there and if it will offer him much in the future. He is most likely going to want to apply to law school after college.

He Who Shall Be Unnamed said:

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You seem to have information about several of these. Do you have any info about the University of Florida Honors program?

My son never really expected to end up there, and didn't apply to the Honors program. He said you get an invitation at the end of your freshman year if you have at least a 3.75 GPA, which he should be able to have. Honors dorms were a nice attraction for incoming freshman classes this year, but after that I don't know how big of a deal Honors is there and if it will offer him much in the future. He is most likely going to want to apply to law school after college.

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I don't know as much specifically about UF's Honors, my impression is it is something they are trying to build. The things I would research is what types of opportunities are available to Honors kids and if they have additional funding to do them like Seminars, Study Abroad, special networking and job fairs exclusive to them, etc. That's where the value really comes in. If it's mainly just having extra busy work and a stamp on your diploma that's what to watch for. Still it's going to come down to what your kid makes of it. If they are waiting for someone to come to them and create opportunities it is unlikely to work out. If they get actively engaged with the folks who run the program and professors that are involved they can get real value.

You have to look at it from the school's perspective. What they want is kids that are going to give them something to brag about both during and after school. They want the story of the Honors student who started X Club or went on to do some cool event or internship or of course ended up being highly successful after graduation. If they see you as someone that will help create that value you can usually find someone who will help you to get there. Being in Honors typically just opens some extra doors, at a great Honors program it's like having a Fast Pass at the amusement park, still you have to want to go to take the ride.

My son is graduating from SHSU in a couple weeks and is part of the Honors program. He only saw benefits from it and no drawbacks.

• Was given an Honors scholarship that paid for about 50% of expenses.
• Stayed in the honors dorm is freshman year, where he met like-minded people and made some great friends.
• Register for classes earlier so he was able to decide what his schedule looked like instead of having to take whatever was available when it was his turn to register.
• Honors counselors that seemed to really care and were available whenever he needed help.
• Was a student worker for the Honors College and became an Honors Ambassador. Being an ambassador allowed him to travel to different conferences as a representative of the University. The were great networking opportunities. Also, since he worked at the Honors College, he was made aware of additional scholarships that nobody was applying for. Over his 4 years, he earned another $10k - $15k in scholarship money that was going to go unclaimed if he didn't apply for it.
• Graduating with Honors distinction is helping him stand out from his peers when looking for a job.

The way I see it: If your kid has achieved enough to be invited to join an Honors program then they likely won't mind the slightly higher academic workload and it'll be nothing but beneficial.

2nd point is big. Ours moved into the sophomore slums for two years with four of his friends from the honors dorm and they still keep in touch and get together several times a year.

My daughter was in the Honors program at A&M and meet her future husband the first week there. Now she did graduate with 2 majors and a free ride for her masters and PhD at UTDallas.
She added her Mrs after graduating from A&M.

It really depends on the school. Some Honors programs come with extra academic opportunities, research funding, or special classes, while others are more about perks like better housing and early registration. Not all give a separate diploma, sometimes it's just noted on your transcript. Employers don't usually seek out Honors grads specifically, but it can help with grad school or standing out if you take advantage of what the program offers.