Honors is a 4 year program that gives you access to “H” level courses and honors seminars. You need to take 5 of these total to receive the honors citation (with at least 3 seminars). I haven’t taken any seminars yet but everyone I’ve talked to says they’re generally an annoying amount of writing and busywork but very easy As. I believe that being in the honors college also gives you automatic admission for at least some if not all departmental honors programs if you meet the minimum requirements. Most of the honors students are housed together in Hagerstown, which has the worst accommodations but the lowest incident rates. I’m not in scholars so I can’t say as much about it, but it’s a 2 year program that has its own series of required courses. Admission to scholars is more based on community involvement while the honors college is based more on academics. Though neither program is “better,” the honors college does get the first pick from the incoming class. Getting into either also means you have a decent chance at receiving merit scholarships.