Membership Requirements
To enter the Honors Program directly from high school, you must have a minimum ACT composite of 26 (or 1730 on the 2400-point SAT)--but talented, highly motivated high school students without the minimum ACT score should contact the Honors Office to find out about pending membership. Students transferring from another university or those already enrolled at TTU are eligible to join the Honors Program after they have taken 12 credit hours at TTU and have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher.
The requirements for graduation in cursu honorum ("through the course of Honors"), the distinction conferred upon those who successfully complete all Honors Program requirements, are listed below.
You must take an Honors class every semester until all requirements are fulfilled, including the two colloquia.
1. Honors 1010: Introduction to Honors, a mandatory, highly interactive one-credit-hour course that meets two hours once a week for the first ten weeks of your first fall semester at TTU. This first class focuses on analytical and critical thinking skills, civic engagement, civil discussion, active listening and questioning, team-building, and planning your path as an Honors Scholar.
2. 15 credit hours (typically 3-5 courses) of Honors courses in at least three different departments. These classes are not additional coursework, but are Honors sections of courses that fulfill General Education requirements or electives in your major. For example, you might choose to take Honors American history instead of the regular American history course. (NOTE: Courses with the HON 2000-level prefix are enrichment courses, and do not fulfill these requirements.)
If you anticipate problems fitting Honors sections into your schedule of courses, plan ahead to arrange an Honors Contract. This is a written agreement with a professor in a non-Honors section, outlining what you will do to make the course Honors-level work. An Honors contract in an upper-division course in your major can provide an opportunity to study an area of special interest in more depth. Visit Honors Contracts for more information.
3. Two Honors Colloquia, special seminars designed for Honors on a range of interdisciplinary and in-depth topics not available in the regular University curriculum. These three-credit-hour courses allow professors to share their areas of academic specialization, creating opportunitites for both students and faculty. We usually offer two colloquia each semester. They are unique; colloquia cannot duplicate courses already offered in the TTU curriculum. Past topics have included recombinant DNA, race relations, brain chemistry, society and the environment, censorhip, and J.R.R. Tolkien.
One Colloquium may be substituted with an Honors Directed Study or an Honors Interdisciplinary Thesis, in which you work with professors to design and execute a personal research project. If you plan to go to graduate school, such an independent study project will make you more competitive. Visit Honors Directed Studies for more information.
4. To remain a full member of Honors (eligible for early registration and graduation in cursu honorum), you must have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above (3.1 during your first semester in Honors). As a full member, you may have early registration, run for Honors Council, and win Honors-specific awards. However, if your GPA drops below a 3.5, you are not kicked out. If you continue to take at least one Honors course every semester, you can continue being eligible for Honors Housing, and will be able to regain full-member privileges when your cumulative GPA returns to 3.5 or above.
