Courses designated "Honors" are parts of a special honors program in liberal education called the College Scholars program. They may be taken only by students who have been appointed College Scholars by the dean of the College of Arts and Science. Some College Scholars are appointed before they arrive for their first semester in residence; others may be appointed on the basis of their records in that first semester. All first-year students in the College of Arts and Science may apply to the associate dean for honors programs for admission to the College Scholars program; only first-year students are considered for admission.
Honors seminars offered in the College Scholars program provide an especially interesting and challenging way for College Scholars to complete certain parts of the program for Achieving Excellence in Liberal Education (AXLE).
They are designed to cover topics through the intensive analysis afforded by the seminar setting and format. An honors seminar will satisfy the requirement for a first-year writing seminar. Honors 1810W, 1820W, 1830W, 1840W, 1850W, and 1860W count toward the AXLE requirements identified by the seminars' titles. Honors 1810W are Humanities and the Creative Arts (HCA) courses; Honors 1820W are Perspectives (P) courses; Honors 1830W are Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS) courses; Honors 1840W are History and Culture of the United States (US) courses; Honors 1850W are Mathematics and Natural Sciences (MNS) courses; Honors 1860W are International Cultures (INT) courses.
In addition to regular credit hours and grade points, honors seminars carry honors points toward graduation with the designation "Honors in the College of Arts and Science." College Scholars must earn fifteen honors points to receive that designation (they are not required to earn this designation but may take as many honors seminars as they wish).
They may earn up to thirteen of the required fifteen points in honors seminars: three points each for the first time they take Honors 1810W, 1820W, 1830W, 1840W, 1850W, or 1860W; one point if they take a second seminar in the same area. Single honors points may be earned (a) in departmental honors sections of regular courses, (b) in independent project approved by the associate dean for honors programs, and (c) in a regular course in which an enriched curriculum approved by the Committee on the Honors Program is pursued. Honors points are only earned for courses in which the student earns the grade B or better.