Myth vs Reality
Myth: Honors is just like high school.
Reality: Honors courses at SIUE are not simply accelerated versions of general education courses as found in many high schools. They offer a unique experience by emphasizing discussion and seminar-based learning over a broad range of topics and disciplines.
Myth: Honors courses are harder.
Reality: Honors courses are NOT harder than general education courses. They offer a unique experience that differs from general education courses by utilizing discussion and seminar-based learning. Honors courses are also unique in that they cover a variety of interesting topics from many different fields. They are challenging because they force you to think critically and sometimes that thinking is difficult. But it is not more work, or generally harder than general courses.
Myth: I won’t fit in with honors students.
Reality: The Honors Program prides itself as having a diverse and inclusive student body with members from all walks of life: athletes, musicians, artists, people from rural, urban, and international backgrounds. These students have a range of interests as broad as their backgrounds. From Star Wars to longboarding to Greek life to esports to metalworking, there is something for everyone. At the same time, honors students are similar in their drive to achieve, their strong work ethic, natural curiosity and willingness to serve others.
Myth: Honors is a waste of time if I am already bringing in credits.
Reality: Honors courses provide students with a classroom experience unlike anything they have experienced before. Through seminars, deeper level thinking and specialized teaching, honors proves to be time well spent in the classroom and leads to a brighter future. Additionally, honors students have the opportunity to be involved in a community that not only prepares them for a life’s challenges but also gives you an opportunity to make connections with faculty and staff that otherwise would not be made available.
Myth: Honors won’t do anything different.
Reality: Honors provides one of the few spaces in your college experience that not only makes you comfortable failing, but invites you to explore it, and come out better on the other side of it. A student should do honors so that they can explore various paths, ones of which they may never encounter again in their life. Honors allows you to explore and get to know the unknown and get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Participating in the honors program will not help me get hired after graduating; it has no professional value. Employers recognize the value of: self-direction; leadership skills; mental and emotional resiliency; critical thinking; problem identification and problem solving; collaboration with similar and dissimilar people; and more. The honors program is designed to impart these skills, abilities and behaviors unto its students.
Myth: Honors doesn’t add any value to my degree.
Reality: Many people just see honors as another thing to slap on a resume or to have a title. It is so much more than that. If anything, honors is about showing the value of your degree, and showing you the various ways in which it intertwines with so many other fields and aspects of the world.
Myth: Honors means I can’t participate in other opportunities on campus.
Reality: Members of the honors community participate and lead in all sorts of activities, from the recreational to the professional. Among our number are current and previous leaders in Student Government, Army ROTC, Fraternity and Sorority Life, professional associations from pharmacy to construction management to robotics, the Juggling Club, and many more. Furthermore, participating in honors facilitates unique experiences like the Alternative Spring Break, which is an opportunity to serve American communities, or international conferences like the National Collegiate Honors Council, which is an opportunity to learn from and network with leaders from around the world.
Myth: An honors liberal education is inherently political.
Reality: The “liberal” in liberal education comes from the Latin liber, the same root word that gives us “liberty.” In this sense, a liberal education focuses on freedom of thought, expression and action. The honors program actively avoids graduating students who all think and behave in the same way.
Myth: I’ll have to pay more to be in the honors program.
Reality: There are no additional costs or fees associated with membership within the honors program, nor is it more expensive to live within the honors Focused Interest Community (FIC).
Myth: I cannot join the honors program if I am not an incoming first-year student.
Reality: Students transferring from other institutions, and even SIUE students who began in the general education track are encouraged to apply and join the honors program.
