General Requirements

To complete the Honors College requirements and graduate as a Commonwealth Honors Scholar, honors students must¹:

• Maintain a 3.250 cumulative GPA
• Complete the Honors curriculum requirements
• Complete at least one approved Enrichment requirement (E1) during each semester the student is a member of the Honors College
• Complete and defend an honors project or honors thesis

Curriculum Requirements^2/3/4

• H1: HONR.1100 First-Year Seminar in Honors: Text in the City (FYSH)^5/6
• H2: ENGL.1020 College Writing II (honors section)^7/8
• H3: Either:
  • Any dedicated honors course
  • An Honors-by-Contract on a non-honors 3000/4000 level course⁹ 
  • An Honors Impactful Experience¹⁰
• H4: Either:
  • A dedicated honors core curriculum course
  • An upper-level honors seminar
  • An Honors Impactful Experience
• H5: Either:
  • A dedicated honors course at the 2000/3000/4000 level
  • An Honors-by-Contract on a non-honors 3000/4000 level course
  • Any graduate course
  • An Honors Impactful Experience¹¹
• H6: An upper-level honors seminar
• H7: Either:
  • A course that supports the first half of a two-semester honors project or thesis¹²
  • A dedicated honors course at the 3000/4000 level
  • A graduate course
• H8: A course that supports the second half of a two-semester honors project or thesis or a course that supports a one-semester honors project¹²

¹Any deviation from these requirements as presented here requires an Honors Petition for Exception to be filed with the Honors College Dean.

²Students must earn a B or better in their honors courses for it to satisfy any particular requirement.

³All dedicated honors courses have a 3xx section number.

⁴Students must earn a minimum of 18 honors credits (Impactful Experiences do not count as credit-bearing).

⁵FYSH satisfies the College Writing I Core Curriculum Breadth of Knowledge requirement. Those students who have already satisfied their College Writing I requirement will receive Arts & Humanities (AH) Core Curriculum Breadth of Knowledge credit for FYSH.

⁶Students who enter the Honors College with 30 or more credits already earned may waive the H1.

⁷Students who enter the Honors College with 60 or more credits already earned may waive the H1 and H2.

⁸Students who have already earned credit for a non-honors section of College Writing II may replace the H2 with an Arts & Humanities (AH) or Social Science (SS) Core Curriculum Breadth of Knowledge dedicated honors course.

⁹An Honors-By-Contract is an agreement between an honors student, an instructor, and the Honors College whereby the student agrees to take on additional honors level work as it pertains to the class. Honors students will only receive honors credit for an honors-by-contract at the 3000 or 4000 level.

¹⁰Impactful Experiences must be approved prior to the student beginning the experience. Students can learn more about what opportunities qualify as Impactful Experiences by inquiring with the Honors Office. A student may use no more than two (2) Impactful Experiences to satisfy their H1-H8 requirements.

¹¹The courses used to satisfy the H3 and H4 cannot come from the same academic department.

¹²The course(s) used to satisfy the Honors Project or Honors Thesis vary depending on the nature of the work a student will be doing. Students should consult with their honors advisor for information on how to complete the Honors Project/Thesis requirement.