<p>The amount of work honors adds depends on which honors degree you go for, all of which can be found here: <a href=“http://www.univhonors.vt.edu/html/diploma_types.html”>http://www.univhonors.vt.edu/html/diploma_types.html</a></p>
<p>I could probably make two extremely long posts about why I say don’t do honors, but to keep it short, the main reason why I say,“Don’t do honors if you’re trying to enter the workplace as a CS major” is because, speaking from experience, top companies care very little about your GPA. It’s a factor - but it isn’t the deciding factor. Your own personal side projects carry a heck of a lot more weight than being able to do some impractical CS project. </p>
<p>I have a friend with a 2.3 GPA and has a job offer from Google. Google asked to see his transcript and they didn’t care. I have another friend with a 2.7 GPA and he doesn’t put it on his resume, but he still got an internship offer from Facebook. Both of these people have tons of side projects and one is an OpenBSD contributor. </p>
<p>I personally have a 3.82 and I’ve interned at Microsoft. When I was offered an internship from Microsoft, they didn’t ask to see my transcript. When I interviewed with Facebook and Google, I didn’t get an offer, regardless of my grades. </p>
<p>I know Amazon doesn’t check grades either. </p>
<p>Top tech companies don’t care about how prestigious your school is and they care very little about your grades. Being able to show that you’re able to learn quickly, are passionate about software development, and that you build stuff in your free time will take you much further in your career than doing honors will. </p>
<p>On the flip side: a lot of smaller companies do care about your grades. My two friends probably wouldn’t of had a shot with them. My advice is this: do well in school and keep your GPA above a 3.0. Don’t worry so much about how much higher it is than a 3.0, just be able to check the “GPA above a 3.0” box and spend your free time learning outside the classroom. </p>