Apricot Tree

In a nutshell, here are the benefits to joining the UHP:

Priority registration. This is a highly coveted bonus at any large university. Being an UHP participant means you will register for classes on the first two days courses open up to enrollment. As long as you maintain a 3.2 GPA or above, or complete lower-division honors, you'll retain priority registration perks throughout your stay at UCR.

Interaction with faculty. You'll be responsible for taking four honors classes for lower division honors. They may ether be a sections (large lecture classes where the professor leads the honors discussion section rather than a graduate student teaching assistant), or 4-unit seminars. These honors classes are designed to fit into your course-track no matter which major you have chosen to be. These courses aren't really all that more difficult compared to the regular courses, unless you're doing honors Chem (I'm a business major). For the most part, you gain a lot by having the professor lead your discussion, or by taking a quarter-long seminar with a professor. Of course, there's one particular ethnic studies professor that everyone avoids, but that's what ratemyprofessors.com is for. In the majority of the cases, you'll find it enriching to have weekly interaction with well-respected faculty members.

Honors housing is a highly recommended option. You'll learn quickly that the majority of students at UCR aren't particularly bright... and socializing with them can be somewhat of a pain because of how slow their minds are. The honor halls are designed to submerse you in a community where you can be amongst the better students on campus. I know this may sound bad to UCR in general, but being in the honors hall significantly reduces one's chances of having hallmates that do poorly in classes and, in some ways, are culturally deficient (you'll see what I mean once you start meeting people at UCR).

You are assigned a peer mentor. Your peer mentor will likely be the same major you are. Throughout your freshman year, your peer mentor will meet with you many many times to check up on how you're doing, point you in the direction of resources/opportunities on campus, and advise you on what classes to take and what professors to ignore.

As for the downsides of being in Honors, well, I'll leave it to you to find out...

If you're truly set on going to UCR, then by all means, join the honors program. If you don't like the experience, you could always drop out. Since it requires only 4 honors classes for completion, it's actually possible to finish your obligations to the UHP by the end of freshman year. Once you finish, you're granted the perks without any additional work involved until you graduate or transfer.

One last thing: being in honors will help you transfer to another UC. On the flip side, being in honors may also get you to like UCR......just marginally, but enough to the point you're willing to stick it out for early graduation rather than transferring.... Regarding intercampus transfers: how likely you'll have success depends highly on the campus/major you apply to. However, it's a very safe bet that you can transfer to any UC except LA or Berkeley if you do your first two years at UCR. Why? The majority of students on this campus are so dimwitted that even if you did just OK in high school, you'll probably get straight As at UC Riverside due to extremely generous curves in lower division classes. (Unless you're a science major. In which case, if your objective is to transfer, then by all means, go to a CCC).