I’m not sure where you were given the information that the UIC Honors College is the equivalent of going to MIT. I also don’t think I would agree that “UIC as a college isn’t that great”.
My son has been accepted at UIC and into the Honors College (as well as several other schools), but I don’t think he views any of those as the equivalent of MIT.
Having said that, I do feel that being in the UIC Honors College will come with benefits that you don’t get otherwise.
http://www.uic.edu/honors/about/benefits.shtml
Not sure if this answers your question or not.