What is the Honors Program?

The Honors Program is not a major, but an enriched feature of the College’s core curriculum. Like other students, honors students are required to fulfill the demands of the core curriculum in addition to their majors, but they do so in special honors sections which, to put it simply, require more reading, more writing, and more seminar participation. Honors students enjoy plenty of flexibility to pursue any major or minor at the College.

How much of the core curriculum do the honors courses cover?

Honors courses may be taken in almost every discipline of the core curriculum: in the four-semester Development of Western Civilization (a.k.a. DWC or Civ) sequence, philosophy, theology, natural sciences, social sciences, and fine arts.

Are honors students required to take all their core-curriculum courses in honors sections?

No, except for the Development of Western Civilization sequence, they are not so required, although most students choose as many honors core courses as their individual majors will allow. Ordinarily, they will take the four semesters of the Civ sequence in their first two years and spread the rest of their honors courses over the four undergraduate years. These choices are always made after one-on-one consultation with the director or associate director of the Honors Program during the registration period.

What is the minimum number of honors courses required for the honors certificate?

The minimum number of honors courses required is six: four in the Development of Western Civilization sequence plus two additional honors courses. Most students take more than the minimum depending on their major and areas of interest. Students who enter the program their sophomore year take two semesters of Honors Civ and a minimum of four other honors courses.

Is there any grade “compensation” for the extra work involved in the Honors Program?

Yes, honors courses are rewarded with an additional 0.17 at each grade level, except for the ‘A’ which cannot earn more than the maximum 4.0.

Is the Honors Program open to all majors in the College?

Yes, honors students are enrolled in virtually every major at the College.

What about those first-year students who arrive undeclared?

About half of the members of the current first-year honors class decided to matriculate undeclared. Our strong advisory system will guide all of them to majors appropriate to their interests by no later than the end of their sophomore year.

Are honors students separated from the rest of their classmates in residence life or in classrooms?

There is no separate honors housing. Honors classes, by definition, are separate, but most students only take one or two honors courses per semester. The rest of their courses are taken in the regular program. Participation in the Honors Program will never isolate honors students from the excitement of campus life.

How much extra work does an honors course entail?

Perhaps a specific example would best serve here. In Honors Development of Western Civilization courses, one major text is assigned per week – accompanied by other interdisciplinary readings on the relevant historical and cultural contexts. First-year students might be assigned Gilgamesh one week, Homer’s Odyssey the next week, Aeschylus’ Oresteia the next, the biblical books of Exodus and Job next, and so forth. Most of these works are read in their entirety, and each of them serves as the topic of a two-hour weekly seminar.

How large are honors classes?

Most honors classes are seminar size: limited to 15 students. The only exceptions are Honors Development of Western Civilization sections which are taught by three-professor teams and, therefore, designed for a mix of lectures (three hours per week with 40-45 students) and seminars (two hours per week with 12-15 students).

How are students chosen for the Honors Program?

All admitted students are considered for the program at the time of application to the College. The Office of Admission selects students on the basis of rigorous high school courses, high class standing, recommendations, and student essays. Students not invited into the program upon acceptance to the College can apply at the end of their first year by meeting with the director or associate director and submitting a letter or application, a copy of grades, and two letters of recommendation from faculty at the College (at least one from a DWC professor).

How are faculty chosen for the Honors Program?

The director is responsible for choosing the honors faculty, almost all of whom have been invited because of stellar reputations in the classroom. Almost every faculty member who teaches in the program belongs to the professorial ranks (full professor, associate professor, assistant professor). There are no graduate assistants teaching in the Honors Program or at Providence College.

Other than the obvious intellectual nourishment that the honors experience affords, is there anything more practical at the end of the road?

One might argue that intellectual nourishment is the most practical of all possible benefits in the long run. But, more proximately, each graduating honors student has his or her transcript inscribed with an honors designation; each student is awarded an honors certificate; and each honors graduate is so identified in the commencement program. With respect to the practical connection between honors study on the one hand and graduate work and employment on the other, it is perhaps our proudest boast that our graduates have been accepted by the very best graduate, law, and medical schools worldwide. Our students have routinely matriculated in graduate programs at universities like Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Brown, Penn, Oxford, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Chicago, Toronto, Michigan, Indiana, Georgetown, Notre Dame, and too many more to name.