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Degree Options

Option 1: Departmental Honors with Honors in University Studies

Designed for students who will complete some of their University Studies requirements for Honors credit, and who will pursue an approved upper-division Departmental Honors Plan Requires 27 total Honors credits fulfilling parts (a) and (b):

(a) Honors in University Studies requirements: 9 credits of Honors courses (e.g., Honors breadth, Honors English 2010, Honors math, etc) and 3 credits in Honors Seminars (HONR 2100, 2200, 3900 or Honors Connections), for a total of at least 12 credits

(b) Departmental Honors requirements: at least 15 credits in an approved upper-division Departmental Honors Plan. See the Departmental Honors link to the right for a full description of how Departmental Honors works.

Students following Option I will receive a diploma that reads, for example,

Bachelor of Arts in History with Honors in History and University Studies

Please note that students may not earn the "Honors in University Studies" portion of the degree alone; that lower-division work must be accompanied by upper-division work.

Option 2: Departmental Honors

Designed for students who have completed all or most of their University Studies requirements prior to beginning Honors. Students completing Departmental Honors may still take dedicated Honors courses if they choose.

Requires at least 15 credits in an approved upper-division Departmental Honors Plan (same as the Departmental Honors requirements for Option 1). See the Departmental Honors link to the right for a full description of how Departmental Honors works.

Students following Option 2 will receive a diploma that reads, for example:

Bachelor of Science in Chemistry with Honors in Chemistry

Please note that there are official Honors plans of study in place for most majors. If yours is one of the few majors which lack an official Honors plan of study, come to the Honors office for more information about how you can complete your Honors degree.

Option 3: University Honors

Designed for students whose research interests are interdisciplinary, and who wish to complete a project that does not fit into a single program of study

Requires 27 total Honors credits, fulfilling both (a) and (b):

(b) Upper-division requirements: at least 15 credits in an individually designed upper-division plan of study

To begin work meet with the Honors Director to discuss the specific requirements of the degree. The meeting should be scheduled when most or all of the University Studies Honors course work has been completed and before upper-division Honors course work is begun.
Proposed course work must include at least 9 Honors credits (excluding those applying to the University Studies requirement) that relate to a question, topic, or issue from the perspectives of more than one discipline and that support the topic of the thesis/project. The student should have in mind a general topic area for research/project.

Specific requirements:

27 Honors credits: at least 9 credits of Honors courses and at least 15 upper-division Honors credits including 3-6 credits of HONR 4900, senior thesis/project
Honors thesis/project: must represent original work supervised by a faculty member competent in the discipline(s)
Public presentation of Honors thesis/project
3.5 cumulative USU GPA at graduation (cum laude)

Students following Option 3 will receive a diploma that reads, for example,
Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering with University Honors