For undergraduates, enrolling in an honors program is an opportunity to produce guided, yet independent research for the first time. In addition to research skills, however, participation in the honors program yields many identity and resource advantages to its students. This paper articulates how the honors program is a higher education form of educational sorting similar to “advanced” secondary school tracks: students who have historically been advantaged continue to gain advantages that support their expected post-graduation achievements. When those who join the honors program are those with confidence and ability predicated by their prior track, the honors program reproduces inequality. Through roughly 40 hours of observation and 15 interviews, I studied the implicit advantages honors students receive because of their participation.

The first day of the honors program, the professor projected a photo of three children with baby food smeared all over their faces and hands. The words “When do you stop spoon feeding? Answer: Today” were typed under the image. The professor then verbally compared other undergraduate courses to being “spoon-fed,” and the honors program to “learning how to feed yourself” for the first time. A few students in the classroom laughed, but the professor had a serious message to go with the humorous slide: honors students, and honors classes, are different. Through this image and her commentary, the professor contrasted the honors program with other college courses, and incidentally summarized my research question: how are honors students treated based on their status? And further, what role do honors programs play in the reproduction of inequality?