Once Honors students enter upper-division coursework in their majors, they begin Departmental Honors. Unlike Honors in University Studies, in which students take classes reserved for Honors students only, Departmental Honors students take the regular upper-division courses required for their majors. These students then earn Honors credit by doing extra projects, or contracts, outside the regular coursework for their majors. Departmental Honors is a total of 15 credits; each major divides those 15 credits into major-appropriate Plans of Study, which you can view below by clicking on one of the College links:

• College of Agriculture
• College of Engineering
• College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
• College of Natural Resources
• College of Science
• Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services
• Jon M. Huntsman School of Business

Before beginning Departmental Honors, students pick up a Departmental Honors Plan of Study form from the Honors office and complete it with their Departmental Honors Advisor. Once the Honors office has a student's Departmental Honors Plan of Study signed and on file, a student may begin Departmental Honors.

In order to graduate with Departmental Honors, students must earn at least 15 Honors credits.

• 9-12 of those 15 credits will be earned by taking upper-division courses under the Honors contract system.
• 3-6 of those 15 credits will be for the Honors Senior Thesis/Project. The culmination of your work and research as an Honors student and a key element in your graduation portfolio is the senior thesis. Several majors, including all those in engineering, already require a senior project, which can expand into a Honors thesis. For those who undertake research in their major or an internship, these projects can also be easily converted into an Honors thesis. Students will either register for thesis credit within their own departments or through Honors, depending on the major. In order to graduate with Honors, students must also give a public presentation of their thesis/project. Visit the Thesis link to the right for more information.

The most significant benefit of Departmental Honors is that it fosters one-on-one interaction with between students and professors, which leads to strong letters of recommendation for Honors students who choose to pursue graduate school or professional employment upon graduation. Students will also be eligible for Honors priority registration as long as they remain current in the Honors (by updating personal contact information each semester) and if they are in an Honors course (regular or contract) at the time of registration.