The following information applies to students who enter the Honors College starting Fall 2015 or later. Requirements in place for students who entered the Honors College prior to Fall 2015 are available here.
All students must successfully complete 120 credits to graduate. Of these, at least 36 credits are in the Honors Core. The Honors Core is devoted to obtaining a broad-based education in the liberal arts and sciences through courses that emphasize critical thinking and communication skills. These courses introduce students to ways of thinking about science, politics, history, ethics, culture, visual images, the environment, and literature. Some of these courses serve as introductions to a specific discipline. Others approach problems and themes in ways that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries. In addition, students fulfill other graduation requirements: they write an honors thesis, take a study abroad or internship, and complete coursework in their concentration.
Check with the Office of the Dean in the Honors College and the FAU catalog to confirm College and University graduation requirements and policies.
Transfer students with an A.A. degree need only satisfy the non-core graduation requirements. For all other transfer students, transfer credits can satisfy core requirements where the course number is identical to a core course number, or if approved by the petitions committee.
One of the most important skills students acquire is the ability to communicate effectively. Clear writing is inseparable from clear and coherent thinking. Honors College courses are writing-intensive and provide guidance in researching, composing, editing, and revising papers. Students do substantial writing in different disciplines and in formats as diverse as essays, research papers, lab reports, and debate briefs. A senior Honors thesis or the written component of a senior Honors project will interweave the research, analytical, and writing skills acquired in the first three years.
As part of the Honors College's writing-intensive curriculum, students must take 4 Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) courses. WAC courses are discipline-based courses students may use to satisfy other core or concentration requirements but they are designated as WAC because they provide special attention to the writing and revision process. In most cases the Honors Thesis will count as 2 WAC courses. WAC courses satisfy the Gordon Rule requirement. ENC 1101 is taken as one of the four WAC courses.
Honors College students will have a mid-career assessment of their writing at the end of their sophomore year. This involves assessment by a committee of faculty of a writing portfolio. The writing portfolio consists of the student's Forum paper (which the Dean's office keeps on file), and at least ONE ESSAY THAT YOU SUBMIT TO THE DEAN'S OFFICE.
This essay must meet the following four requirements:
If you do not turn in your writing portfolio by the deadline, your advisor will not lift your advising hold for the next registration period until you submit your portfolio.
The point of the writing portfolio is to ensure that you are prepared to write the Honors Thesis in your senior year. You will receive feedback indicating whether you are progressing at a level that indicates you will be ready to successfully complete an Honors Thesis in your senior year or whether you should do additional coursework in writing in your junior year in order to strengthen your writing before embarking on the thesis project.
One goal of the honors core is to help foster mathematical literacy. Mathematics is the languages of science and technology and increasingly of the social sciences. By virtue of its precision, mathematics allows a clear understanding of the world and our place within it. Indeed, important health and environmental issues (acid rain, water management, greenhouse effect) cannot be understood without mathematical literacy. By taking two courses in mathematics students will sharpen their critical thinking skills, learning to distinguish evidence from anecdote, and causality from correlation. At least one course must be from the list of core courses designated 'Group A' in the list of core courses and the 2nd course may be from Group A or Group B. Math courses also satisfy the state Gordon Rule computational requirement: at least one of the GR computational courses must have a prefix of MGF or MAC.
By taking two courses in two distinct disciplines within the natural sciences, students will gain an appreciation and understanding of the natural world as well as our place in it. At least one of these courses will include a laboratory section to give students hands-on experience and allow them to understand the meaning of science in both theory and practice. At least one course must be from the list of courses designated 'Group A' in the list of core courses.
The courses in social and behavioral analysis familiarize students with different approaches to the study of individual behavior and social institutions, and introduce them to some of the concepts and methods of the social sciences. The courses aim at an understanding of the reciprocal relations among people, societies and institutions, and encourage students to think critically and systematically about how these societies and institutions can best be arranged. At least one course must be from the list of courses designated 'Group A' and at least one must be from 'Group B' in the list of core courses.
Courses in the humanities serve several purposes. Some courses explore questions such as "what is the life worth living?", or "what is the basis for distinguishing knowledge from belief?" Some courses emphasize how these questions have been approached throughout history, others focus on how different cultures have addressed these questions, and some grapple with these questions without regard to their historical or cultural context. Courses in literature are intended to develop students' ability to appreciate and understand literature, looking at texts in their historical and cultural contexts or examining themes, approaches, and generic conventions across time. Courses in arts are intended to develop students' ability to create and appreciate the arts in all of their forms, to enhance sensitivity to artistic expression and to increase familiarity with theories central to these forms. Courses may be structured historically, culturally, or thematically. At least one course must be from the list of courses designated 'Group A' and at least one must be from 'Group B' in the list of core courses.
Societies are increasingly diverse and interconnected with other societies around the world, and impacted by technological advances. To be responsible and effective citizens in this world, we must understand the forces that shape our society and our environment and be equipped to think critically about the consequences of these forces to our lives. To this end, students take two courses from two distinct groups from among the three groups of "Environmental Studies," "International Studies," and "Ethics and Global Values." These courses may not be double-counted with other core or graduation requirements. Approved courses in the three categories are identified in the list of core courses.
Students take an additional course in the humanities or social sciences in a different discipline than the discipline of courses used to satisfy the Core Humanities and Social and Behavior Analysis Requirements. A list of distinct disciplinary prefixes is available at the end of the list of core courses.
Learning foreign languages provides access to other cultures and worlds, to other ways of thinking. As this is an important objective of the Honors College, students are expected to take two courses in a language, and are encouraged to incorporate the study of language into a study abroad experience.
Students take three Critical Inquiry Seminars. These seminars are specially designated one or three-credit team-taught courses that engage in interdisciplinary inquiry. At least one of the three courses must be a 3-credit course. The aim of these courses is to explore problems from a variety of perspectives and to reflect on the connections and shared concerns of scholars from distinct disciplines. For example, a psychology professor and a philosophy professor may team-teach a course on free will; or a political science professor and an anthropology professor may team-teach a course on indigenous religion and trans-nationalism in the Americas.Team-taught courses used to satisfy the critical inquiry seminar may not be used to satisfy other Core requirements but may satisfy concentration requirements.
Students meet faculty and other leading scholars and artists who present their work and introduce the leading ideas and controversies in their areas of expertise. Students take this weekly one-credit seminar their first semester.
Further information is available online for study abroad, and for internships.
Consult the FAU catalog for graduation requirements here (Note: Honors College students do not need to fulfill the 'Intellectual Foundations Program' requirement as they fulfill the Honors College Core requirement instead.)
Key requirements are:
Summer Credit Requirement (9 credits): Earn a minimum of 9 credits by attending one or more summer terms at either FAU or another university in the Florida State University System. This requirement applies only to students admitted to FAU as freshmen or as transfer students with fewer than 60 credits (Florida Board of Governors Regulation 6.016). For those students enrolled before fall 2011, credits earned and transferred through the Advanced International Certificate in Education (AICE) Program, Advanced Placement (AP) Program, College Level Examination Program (CLEP), Dual Enrollment (DE) Program or International Baccalaureate (IB) Program may be applied toward the 9-credit summer requirement, thereby reducing students' summer credit requirement total.
120-credits to graduate. A minimum of 45 of these credits must be at the upper division (3000 or 4000-level). Earn the last 30 upper-division credits in residence at FAU.
Minimum G.P.A. requirement: Presently 2.0 for FAU. Freshmen who have a g.p.a. below 2.0 are on freshmen warning; a consecutive semester below 2.0 places them on probation; a third consecutive semester below 2.0 requires suspension. For all other students, a semester below 2.0 places them on probation, and a second consecutive semester below 2.0 requires suspension.
Non-Honors College courses: No more than 15% of the credits taken to satisfy the 120-credit requirement, less AP, IB, and transfer credits, may be taken outside the Honors College without permission of the Dean. Students must, prior to the start of the course, get the approval of their advisor: a course will be approved only if it is not offered at the Honors College or if offered, it could not be taken because of a scheduling conflict. Click here for further information.
Course Load: Full-time undergraduate students are those who are registered for 12 or more credits in the Fall or Spring terms. In the Summer term full-time is 6 credits or more in each of A, B, or C term. Students who drop courses during a semester and fall below these levels will be considered part-time and they may be risking scholarship, housing, and athletic eligibility.
