As a writer, it is my responsibility to ensure you, the reader, know what you’re getting yourself into and what the point of my paper is going to be. That being said, I’d like to start out by saying that I’m not here to write another essay that explains what should be instead of what is; that has been done too many times before. So if you are looking for a fallacious image of an honors student, read no further.


Whether we wish to admit it or not, we “honors students” aren’t the picture perfect organized students that people think we must be. The sole characteristic that separates us and makes us “honorable” is that we posses a driving force behind our education. Honors students are committed to their futures and enjoy learning. This is what I will expose and this is what will allow you to gain a clear view of a true honors student. From that you can decide whether the perfectionist view of an “honors student” really holds true (it doesn’t) and whether you wish to advocate for the imperfect ways of these students.


Before I begin this third paragraph where I will tell you all about how much we honors students value school, let’s all take a quick Facebook break and maybe grab some coffee while we’re at it. I apologize if my short attention span and addiction to caffeine have caused you alarm. You must understand that with the amount of work assigned to honors students, breaks and stimulants often become necessities. They become necessities because we view the task of getting all our work done as a necessity. This habit does not disqualify me or the numerous other honors students who follow this trend from being an honors student. Poor concentration does not translate to a lower level of commitment to getting work done and to obtaining an education. When other students may give up or deem the workload too heavy, we push ourselves towards our limits to finish the seemingly overwhelming work put on our plates.


You may ask, ‘Why are we the ones that don’t give up and throw in the towel?’ The answer lies in the fact that we are continuously and consciously thinking about what lies ahead; we know that that towel can be used to wipe away our sweat from our hard work and then twisted up and used as a whip to fend off what comes our way in our futures. This drive will help lead us to our prospective successes.


In order to accomplish all the work, we, honors students, use what I like to call ‘organized procrastination’; it is a key aspect of almost every one of our schedules. Contrary to the belief that all honors students are organized and easily finish their work and then go to bed, most of us like to put things off and to become borderline nocturnal beings. While we, honors students, are organized in the way that we write down everything we need to do and plan to get it done, the process of actually getting it done doesn’t always run as smoothly and the ink we use in our planners. The process usually consists of Facebook and a bedtime of anywhere between midnight and 4:00AM.

But regardless of this flawed scheduling, honors students still gain fuel that will power them in the future. Sleep deprivation and stress are the sacrifices made now in order to provide a route to a stable, comfortable, and successful life later. Honors students see college as a gateway to this future success; a top tier college education is the immediate goal and a top tier job resulting from that education is a future goal. Through dedication to schoolwork and the completion of all assignments, honors students expand their minds and earn the grades that reflect their commitment in order to favorably present themselves to colleges that look for this devotion to academics. This ability to set goals and delay gratification distinguishes us as honor students but does not imply that we are organized, personable, or examples for others; our drive for success compensates for our deviance from the ideal student role.

So are you willing to make the sacrifices? How much caffeine consumption can you tolerate? Will you determine your bedtime by the time of day or the time you finish your work? Do you believe in creating a future even if it means years of hard work along the way? Can you realize the importance and value of an education?

Are you going to be an honors student?