<p>What classes do honor students have to take?</p>
<p>That depends on if you’re talking about Honors in the Liberal Arts of Honors in the Major. For Honors in the Liberal Arts, you need 24 honors credits (all with grades of B or higher) with a minimum of 6 in each of the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Fifteen or more of these 24 credits have to be designated with either an “H” or “!” in the timetable. An “H”, and/or a course number whose tens digit is “8” means a course open only to honors students (except in case of special permission). An “!” means a course that will award honors credit to all registered students, but is not restricted to honors students. A “%” means that honors credit is available through an optional course component–this doesn’t count toward the 15 “automatic honors” credits that I mentioned. You also need to maintain at least a 3.3 cumulative GPA.</p>
<p>Requirements for Honors in the Major vary by major department, but usually entail a 3.5 GPA in the major coursework and completion of a Senior Honors Thesis (look for courses numbered “681” and “682” for the thesis). There might be other requirements based on the department, so I’m just quoting some of the most common requirements.</p>
<p>If you earn both honors designations (Liberal Arts and Major), you get “Comprehensive Honors”, which is really cool–only about 60 students earn it every year.</p>
<p>So just take courses that fulfill those requirements–there are no specific courses stipulated.</p>
<p>(I’m an incoming sophomore transfer student pursuing Comprehensive Honors, by the way, so I’ve read a lot about the honors program!)</p>
<p>How many number of classes would that be per semester?</p>
<p>There’s really no way to precisely peg that from semester to semester because of the variation in course offerings. In addition, you can’t be certain that a selection of classes that you plan to take in the future will actually work - think of time conflicts, etc. However, most honors classes are 3-4 credits, thus you can probably bank on 7 or 8 classes to complete your honors requirements.</p>
<p>Take the courses you want to take and try for honors ones, honors sections and the extra H credit work in the ones that meet your goals. Don’t be worried as a new freshman- students can start Honors later in their college career and still meet the reqs. Do pay attention and do the honors wherever you feel comfortable doing the work- this will make it easier later. You will have plenty of time to figure out the system once you reach campus so no need to worry now. Just pay attention to honors possibilities in your fall semester to maximize the honors benefits to you (ie look for ways to take the courses you want to take for honors credit). The idea is to get the most out of your courses, honors would be a way to do that. However, if there is a course you want that doesn’t offer any honors possibilities take it anyhow. You can email the L&S Honors Program, or your honors advisor, with questions this summer- never hesitate to ask for advice.</p>
<p>If you have a prospective major the online catalog will give you suggested courses to take each semester and which ones for honors. Spend some time with the honors website as well. It will make more sense as you get familiar with how things work.</p>
<p>There’s an intro to honrors seminar that’s available to anyone during the start of school year. Go to it.</p>