Honors and Non-Honors Students

In the realm of higher education, the question persists: Does the distinction of being an honors student inherently pave the way for academic excellence? The present study aims to examine differences between honors and non-honors students across multiple factors that may relate to success in college. Participants were students from community colleges throughout the United States as part of a national Psi Beta project. Data from this study were collected via an online survey through SONA Systems to maintain participants’ anonymity. A total of 2,074 participants read and signed an informed consent page, and then completed eight self-report measures (honors society engagement, school engagement, belongingness, academic self efficacy, sense of purpose and meaning, grit, happiness, and loneliness). Results showed that honors society students (compared to non-honors students) had more school engagement, purpose and meaning, grit, and academic self-efficacy. In logistic stepwise regression, academic self-efficacy was the strongest predictor of honors society membership, and school engagement was the best predictor of honors program membership. Also, students in both honors societies and honors programs were more likely to obtain a mentor and report greater engagement in high school.