Many new students blanch at the thought of a college-level Honors program because of their high school experience. For many, high school Honors courses just meant more work. Their peers were writing a ten-page paper, while they were writing a twenty-page paper. Honors seemed to be a punitive “boot-camp.” Students who had that kind of experience do not want to repeat it at the college level for fear of jeopardizing their GPA.

The University Honors Program at SIUC is NOT your high school honors program! The UHPcourses are different than any you will take at SIUC—small, limited to UHP students, and taught by our best faculty. The learning experience is much like that of a private college. While the courses are rigorous, they are qualitatively rather than quantitatively different from non-honors courses. See what Students are saying.