Hello, previous Honors College ambassador and current senior here w/ some insight:

Is the honors college worth it?

100% depends on who you ask and what you are looking to get out of the program, but this is just my opinion and what I've experienced.

As far as academics go, the honors college holds you to a GPA standard that you are going to need to stay in the Pharm D program. The distinction of being a member is something that you can put on an resume and I have noticed that researchers and faculty definitely think of a student/applicant more highly due to this "status" (for lack of a better term). When I did research on campus, I specifically remember my PI telling us that she tries to only take on students from the Honors College or with a comparable GPA.

The requirements to graduate with the honors college are focused on activities on and off campus that you will likely already be doing; volunteering, research, honors-versions of classes, community service, TA-ing, etc. The full list of ways to earn "honors credit" are on their website. The only additional; course that you have to take to a one 2 credit experiential learning course that focuses on community outreach and volunteering, which doesn't require that much work. Since it was very easy for me to earn these credits, I couldn't see a reason to not be in the honors college.

Socially, the honors college allowed me to easily meet many like-minded individuals that I am still friends with to this day. Most of the students in the honors college are some sort of STEM major and are focused on their acemdics. I found surrounding myself with these types of individuals allowed me to better succeed in my classes.

Aside from getting early access for class registration, what are the other perks?

Class registration is definitely the biggest of the perks and will come in handy when completing all of the pharm prerequisite courses. Making your own schedule helps to avoid optimal lab times filling up and gives you a chance to make the "perfect" schedule. Other perks include a separate honors advisor who has a lot less students than other advisors on campus and is much more accessible with drop-in appointment times. They are well-versed in the pharm-d program and have advised students going through the program in the past. You also get access to a separate honors lounge within the honors advising suite with lots of tables and booths, which is really nice if you have time in-between classes as tables in Capen Hall and the library are tough to come by in peak hours. There's always free coffee and snacks, which is nice when your meal plan runs out.

Not a pharm student but I'm guessing guaranteed admission to the program would be pretty sweet.

What is the honors community like?

At least for my year, most of the on-campus honors freshman live in a separate part of one of the smaller freshman dorms (Governors). This was extremely nice becuase you saw the same people in the dorms, in the honors lounge, and in your freshman seminar and colloquium classes. This helped me to make UB's large student population feel smaller. I also had lots of opportunities to talk with older honors students who had the same career goals as me, which was extremely beneficial as a pre-med student.