Many students might ask: “Why take honors classes?” On the surface, the reason for their question is quite easy to see. Many students believe that an honors class would fulfill the same requirement as a non-honors one and just be harder, so why do the extra work for nothing? As a student who has taken both honors and non-honors courses, I declare that this belief is a myth. Honors classes have been some of the most rewarding ones I have had the opportunity to take at Purdue, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything in the world.

An important benefit of honors classes is that they are small. If crowds of people just aren’t your thing, taking honors classes may definitely be the way to go. Also, your fellow students will be those who want to be in class and those who want to learn, and not students who are just in the course to fulfill a requirement. For this reason, honors classes are often easier than other courses in terms of workload. This may be surprising at first, but if a professor doesn’t have to assign homework or quizzes every lecture in order to get people to show up, it is easier on both him and you. I guarantee that you will be able to learn more if you can spend your time focusing on learning and not worrying about daily homework.

Finally, honors classes teach understanding. They definitely aren’t the sort where you can memorize formulas or facts to pass an exam and then forget about everything afterwards. Instead, you must learn to understand what is presented in the course in order to do well. However, it is not as if this burden is just thrown upon you. Professors take the time to explain things in more depth, and because the classes are smaller, it is often easy to ask a question to clarify something that you don’t yet understand, whether it be in class or outside of it. Did I mention that the professors who teach these courses are very approachable? Even if you haven’t taken an honors course before in your life, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t the perfect thing for you. Take it from me; try one and see.

Dan Bryant, USP student