Graduation from Honors

Non-Thesis: Graduating with an Honors Notation

Graduation with an Honors notation requires the completion of an Honors experience each semester, completion of 24 credit hours of Honors work, and a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0.  Students who fulfill this requirement will receive the following notation on their final transcript:

"Honors College Scholar"

Thesis: Graduation with Honors

Graduation with Honors requires the completion and oral defense of a Senior Honors Thesis. Three levels of Graduation with Honors are available.

UNIVERSITY HONORS

• Six* Honors courses/experiences, plus
• Ten hours of independent study, at least six of which MUST be thesis but all of which can be
• Cumulative grade point average of 3.8 or higher
• Thesis of outstanding quality

GENERAL HONORS

• Six* Honors courses/experiences, plus
• Ten hours of independent study, at least six of which MUST be thesis but all ten of which can be
• Cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher, major grade point average of 3.4 or higher, Honors grade point average of 3.4 or higher
• Thesis of "A" or "B" quality

DEPARTMENTAL HONORS

• Minimum of 10 upper-division Honors hours in the major, six of which MUST be the thesis but all ten of which can be (Note: This minimum set of requirements is available only to those who come into Honors late in their college career just to do a senior thesis. Those who come in earlier must complete some coursework as well, since students cannot go more than one semester without engaging in some kind of Honors work.)
• Cumulative grade point average of 3.2 or higher, major grade point average of 3.4 or higher, Honors grade point average of 3.4 or
• Thesis of  "A" or "B" quality

NOTES:

*The thesis counts as two Honors experiences, so students graduating with University or General Honors will have completed the required eight Honors experiences. Please note that these are minimum requirements. Students may well take more courses, and g.p.a.'s may be higher. A thesis student with 12 Honors courses, for example, and a cumulative g.p.a. of 3.7 will receive General Honors. Likewise, a thesis student who completes five Honors courses with a g.p.a. of 3.8 will receive Departmental Honors. General and University Honors were designed to recognize breadth in Honors work; Departmental Honors was designed to indicate less broad participation in the Honors program. "Breadth" was defined as having completed at least six Honors courses.

Please note: The criteria for receiving Institutional Honors will change beginning in Spring 2016.  Please see the University Catalog for more information.