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Any academic major or minor that is available to undergraduates at the Rutgers-Newark campus also is available to members of the Honors College. Because Honors College students aim to graduate with Honors College distinction on their transcripts, however, we offer a supplementary course of study that is truly distinctive - an opportunity for intellectual growth, the exercise of curiosity, and the development of special talent and interest - a challenge to "put to work" the best of your abilities. A typical Honors College academic program is as follows:

A two-semester long writing course that instructs students in writing analytic, text-based essays and that culminates in research-based papers. Honors English Composition insists on computer and information literacy. The course also provides opportunities for collaborative projects as well as oral presentation. This course may be used to satisfy the English Composition degree requirement for students in the College of Arts and Sciences and other undergraduate programs.

This special seminar for Honors College freshman is theme-based, and its theme changes each year. Honors College students in this colloquium have the opportunity to get to know each other and to "ease into" college-level classroom experience. The small course size permits special emphasis to be given to the honing of critical thinking and group discussion skills. Depending upon the precise topic, colloquium courses often may be used to satisfy the Natural Science (non-laboratory), fine arts, or interdisciplinary degree requirement for students in the College of Arts and Sciences. Recent colloquium topics have included "Science and Religion," "Theatre, Performance, and Culture," "The Role of the Media in Transforming Behavior," and "Justice and Equality."

This requirement is designed to be satisfied during a student's sophomore year, but may be taken anytime thereafter. These two sets of "linked" courses enable students to gain a comprehensive overview of the historical reality and symbolic representation of particular nations, cultures, or facets of life in the modern world. Members of the History Department work together with members of the English or Modern Languages Departments to define common themes, complementary texts, and contrasting perspectives on topics such as "The History and Literature of Race in America," "The History and Literature of Portugal," "The History and Literature of Class in America," "The History and Literature of Spain," and "The History and Literature of American Immigrations." The courses may be used to fulfill the History and Literature degree requirement for students in the College of Arts and Sciences.

This requirement is designed to be satisfied during a student's junior year, but may be taken anytime after the sophomore year. The Special Topics Requirement provides Honors College students with opportunities for intellectual exploration, as well as an introduction to advanced techniques in critical analysis, research, or fieldwork. The Special Topics Requirement provides Honors College students with opportunities for intellectual exploration, as well as an introduction to advanced techniques in critical analysis, research, or fieldwork. This requirement may be satisfied by taking any combination of two of the following kinds of courses:

Please contact the Honors College Director or Program Coordinator for further information. Note that the Honors College may not give permission that enables Honors College students to enroll in graduate-level courses. This permission must be secured through the Department Chair or Graduate Director of the department in which one wishes to take a graduate-level course. Students who study abroad may be eligible to have part of this requirement waived.

Note that the Honors College may not give permission that enables Honors College students to enroll in graduate-level courses. This permission must be secured through the Department Chair or Graduate Director of the department in which one wishes to take a graduate-level course.

This requirement is designed to be satisfied during a student's senior year but may be taken as early as the junior year. Honors College seniors culminate their undergraduate experience with a yearlong effort that may take one of two forms: (1) Students may take the capstone course, a theme-based course in which students may work collaboratively on a common project or complete an individual research project on a subject related to the course theme. Recent themes for the capstone course have included �Democracy and the Public Sphere,� �Contemporary Constitutional Issues,� �Contemporary Global Issues,� and �Culture and Biology;� OR (2) Students may elect to complete an individual thesis, not part of an organized course, supervised by a faculty member. The project may be focused on a student�s major area of study or may reflect a special interest or talent of the student outside his or her major. These projects often are either of publishable or of exhibition quality, and thus give Honors College graduates credentials that ordinarily are characteristic only of advanced graduate students. Click HERE to see what kind of projects our students have done in the past.

In addition to the academic opportunities outlined above, Honors College students also have available to them any honors sections that departments offer for their regular courses (such as calculus and introduction to economics � microeconomics) and for-credit internships offered through the Honors College itself.

Note: courses that are used to fulfill these Honors College requirements may also be used to satisfy General Education or Major requirements.

►In addition to completion of this curriculum, there are three additional standards that students are expected to meet in order to receive the Honors College Distinction:

A cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher
An evaluation of B+ or better on the capstone course*
No violations of academic integrity

* This expectation may be waived upon the advice of the capstone advisor