Honors Program Requirements
Students in the Meredith Honors program take 28 hours of Honors courses (about 1/4 of their total course load) while maintaining an overall grade point average of 3.25. Any course may be taken for Honors credit with permission from the course's instructor.
Following the established policy, the Honors program
--rejects grades below B for Honors credit in contracted courses, including the Honors thesis; and
--rejects grades lower than C for Honors credit in non-contracted Honors courses, including colloquia, writing, labs, and Honors sections of elective courses, e.g. MAT-290, PSY-100.
Honors students receive academic credit for any course they pass.
| The Honors program consists of five parts: | Useful forms |
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General Education (7 hours)
Two of the College's general education requirements—in writing and lab science—must be completed as Honors courses. A special section of the required English composition course is offered in the freshman year just for Honors students. If you place out of this section, you may take advanced composition as your Honors writing course. To satisfy the lab science requirement, Honors students enroll in Honors lab sections of biology, chemistry or earth science, or arrange to do Honors work in physics.
Electives (6 hours)
Each semester, several Honors courses are offered in popular fields of study, just for Honors students. Recent opportunities have included calculus, economics, psychology, and Western civilization. These electives typically count towards the College's general education requirements. Alternatively, you can take any course for Honors credit by making arrangements with the course instructor. Two of your elective classes will be for Honors credit.
Colloquia (6 hours)
At least three colloquia are offered each year for Honors students. Typically team-taught and usually inter-disciplinary, these Honors colloquia offer excellent opportunities for broadening your interests. Recent offerings have included courses in the Holocaust, astronomy (with evening observations), contemporary issues in religion and science, creativity in the arts and sciences, the science behind CSI, romantic comedy, memory and memoir, ethnobotany, Don Juan-ologues, and Native American history. As an Honors student, you will take two colloquia. Visit the Honors Colloquia page to view current and future colloquia offerings.
The Major (6 hours)
At Meredith, an Honors student may choose any major in the College catalog. Two of your Honors courses will be in your major area. While working with the professors in your major department, you will devise and carry out assignments that will add depth to your knowledge in that field. Typically students revise class assignments to focus on their interests and abilities—extending a writing assignment, offering a class presentation, making a video or attending and reviewing a performance. The collaborative nature of Honors assignments make these experiences enriching for both the student and the faculty member.
Thesis (3 hours)
As a culminating project at the end of your college career, you will engage in an Honors research project on a topic of your choice, usually in your major. Working one-on-one with a professor, you may engage in library research or field work, conduct a laboratory experiment, prepare a recital or show -- whatever best demonstrates your mastery of a body of knowledge.
