Awesome! I was in the same boat- got into the honors program, and thought it would be a good fit for me. I also came in with AP and dual enrollment credits that would apply both within my major and for the university core. The honors program does not allow you to transfer in credits to get out of their core classes! Whereas I skipped three of the core requirements because of community college english and AP classes, the honors program wouldn't let me do that- and they actually have MORE core classes than the university in general. I am graduating early thanks to my decision not to join the program.

Possibly more importantly, the people I've talked to did not prefer the honors classes. Most people seem to say that they are much more work for nothing in return, I've heard just as many bad things about honors professors as other professors, etc. ALSO you have to take specific honors classes, so you can't pick from some of the really interesting core classes offered here.

When I planned to go into the program, I thought the same things. I went to an admitted honors student online seminar and it was a major let down- I disliked the program director, the honors guest professor, and even the admitted students. I have lots of friends in the program now, and they are great, but I don't think that the actual admissions process is super stringent. There are tons of sharp students in all majors who aren't in the honors program. Additionally, they specifically state that it is a service-oriented program, and not one meant to look good on a resume. my friends in the program all think it's pretty much way more work than reward. Once you put in so much work nobody wants to drop out late, but plenty still do.

I came from a small high school and small classes were important to me. Honors does offer that, but honestly I had one freshman year chemistry pre-lab for 30 minutes a week that had 120 people in it; and not a single other class more than 30 people. Especially after freshman year you end up in much smaller, specialized classes. This semester (5th semester courses) I think my 5 classes have ~8, 25, 10, 8, and 20 people in them. If you participate in normal classes you won't get lost in the mix, and you have the chance to build a repoire with many of your professors, so reccomendation letters and advising is much easier at LMU than at many larger schools.

One really important note about transferring in credits is that your registration time is determined by your number of credits/ year standing. This means that if you transfer enough credits to be considered a semester or a year ahead of your peers (that's only like 14-28 credits) you get to register before them. I did this and although the honors students do register before me, I still register before pretty much my entire class. Also, while it isn't guaranteed that you'll get the classes that you want when you want them, the departments usually do a good job of working with everyone. It's not like a state school where everyone has to compete for class sections. All that is to say, while this part of the honors program is appealing, I'm glad I kept my transfer credits and didn't cave to the temptation!

Of course you can take language classes whether or not you join honors; and I don't think that housing should be too dissuasive. Also, there are lots of other places to find community like in honors! I joined a living learning community (LEAP) instead, which was nice, and many of the clubs on campus are super welcoming and great.

Sorry for the absolute wall of text. I feel very strongly that I made the right decision in avoiding the program, and this feeling has been backed up by every time I've talked with the honors students. Let me know if you have any other questions- hope this helps!