How to Apply

We welcome qualified students to apply for sophomore entry into the Honors Program. Exemption from the freshman honors seminar for students admitted to the Honors Program in their sophomore year or acceptance of honors course work at another institution in place of the freshman honors seminars is possible with the written approval of the honors director.

Application for Sophomore Entry

All students intending to pursue the an honors degree must complete the following requirements:

Requirements
  • Foundations
  • Honors Seminars (2)
  • Honors Courses (5)
  • Multicultural/Diversity and Social Justice
  • Theology
  • Practicum: Research or Internship or Study Abroad
  • Portfolio
  • Major/Minor Requirements

Faculty may petition to have any 300-level course count as an Honors Seminar. There are two categories of Honors Seminars:

The Big Questions Courses (3 required)

These courses focus intensely on those methodologies and skill building that honors students would need to reach mastery level in reading, discussing, and writing about complex texts.

Explorations and Investigations Courses (2 required)

These courses place students on the ladder to mastery level when addressing methodologies for research and acquiring new forms of knowledge.

For more information students should consult the current list of honors seminars.

Exemption from two honors courses (one BQ and one EI) for students admitted to the honors program after first-year year is possible with the written approval of the honors director. Honors students who follow a full-year study abroad or other academic off-campus program may petition the director to have abroad coursework approved as honors-level work.

Maintain a Designated GPA

A cumulative grade-point average of 3.30

Students who complete the coursework in Honors will receive a degree of Bachelor of Arts or Science with University Honors and Distinction

Bachelor of Arts with Distinction and Bachelor of Science with Distinction

Students not in the honors program may elect to pursue a degree of Bachelor of Arts with Distinction or Bachelor of Science with Distinction by completing a distinction project. This project is designed to give such students in their junior and senior years the opportunity to complete a distinctive and substantial scholarly or creative work in their major field.

Students who accept this challenge are awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Distinction or Bachelor of Science with Distinction on the recommendation of the Honors Directors and upon completion of the distinction project.

All students intending to pursue an honors project or a distinction project will need to complete the following requirements:

Declaring Intent and Finding Readers

Generally, students attempting degrees with distinction begin working on their distinction projects in the first semester of their junior year. The faculty reader in the discipline approves the project, and then the student’s first and second readers recommend the project to the Honors Director. A project in an interdisciplinary major or one which is interdisciplinary in emphasis is submitted with prior approval from faculty from the most relevant disciplines. A student majoring in a discipline in which Dominican has only one full-time faculty member should seek approval of both project and proposal from a second faculty member who is a member of the major department or from a related discipline in another department, whichever is more appropriate for the project.

Grade-point Average

Students must meet the following requirements to be eligible: junior status; a cumulative grade-point average of 3.30 or higher in the field of the distinction project; an overall grade-point average of 3.30 or higher.

Public Presentation and Archiving the Project

After the final draft is approved, the student will be required to give a public presentation on his or her project at the SI (Scholarship and Ideas) Expo Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Investigation Exposition (URSCI). Depositing the final version of the project with the Honors must be completed by the last week of the spring semester.

Additional Information

Deadlines and guides for writing a distinction proposal and project guides for both students and faculty mentors are available from the honors director and van be found on the Honors SharePoint.

Students who decide not to complete their projects must send a statement of their reasons to the Honors Director. Students who do not make satisfactory progress may be required by the Honors Director to withdraw their projects.

Honors degrees are awarded on the basis of the cumulative grade-point average of all baccalaureate coursework taken at Dominican.