at my UG school, we have something called the Honors School. (i think most if not all schools do). You get admitted to the school when you are a freshman or u can apply into it in any other year (need 3.5 gpa or above). We are required to take some classes that are 'honors'. These classes are english, western civ, gender studies, math, psychology, anthro, etc. They are usually much smaller (20 students max) and are much more discussion based rather than lecture based. You are also graded in comparison to your peers. and we have something new this year, cluster classes: english and western civ. both classes have similar themes and each is reiterated in the other. for example, if the western civ class discusses the epic of gilgamesh, you read it in english. its pretty cool...