Registrar

Honors Classes and Honors Degrees

HONORS DEGREE PROGRAM

The Honors Degree Program includes a lower-level Honors Core and three upper-level Honors tracks.  Students can choose to participate in either the lower‐level or upper‐level honors component or both, and they will receive an appropriate recognition for those components they have completed.

HONORS CORE

Students must apply for admission to the Honors Core.

• Incoming freshman who graduate in the top quarter or who score 1100 or higher on the SAT (math and verbal) or 24 or higher on the ACT will be admitted.
• Returning students and transfer students with a 3.0 or higher GPA are eligible to apply for admission.

The Honors Core consists of 15 hours of lower-level honors classes.

Students either complete:

• 15 hours of honors core courses OR
• 12 hours of honors core courses AND a sophomore three-hour honors seminar

Students who complete the 15 hours with a 3.0 or higher GPA, in their honors classes and overall, will receive credit and recognition for the Honors Core.  Students who complete less than 15 hours of honors core courses will receive credit and recognition for the courses they have completed.

Honors Classes Offered

Tarleton State University offers honors classes in most core curriculum subjects including:

• English
• History
• Political Science
• Chemistry
• Geology
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Philosophy
• Physics
• Mathematics
• Speech
• Fine Arts
• Health

Honors classes offered in a particular semester are announced in the published course schedule and publicized in flyers and other campus publications.

Honors classes offer students intellectually challenging material, innovative approaches to the subject, increased opportunities for honing critical thinking and writing skills, and the opportunity to interact closely with similarly motivated students and with outstanding faculty. Honors courses are limited to a class size of 25 students.

UPPER-LEVEL HONORS

Students must apply to the Honors Programs for admission to upper-level honors.

Eligible students include:

• students who have completed Tarleton’s Honors Core
• students who have completed a lower-division honors component comparable to Tarleton’s Honors Core at a community college or another four-year institution
• students with a 3.2 or higher overall GPA (transfer students or continuing Tarleton students).

*Individual departments may institute additional requirements for admission to Departmental Honors.

Upper-Level Honors involves three options that eligible students may choose from: 

• Upper-Level Departmental Honors will be developed by individual departments to fit the individual disciplines.
• Upper-level Departmental Honors will include a junior-level component and a senior-level component.
• Upper-Level Seminar Honors consists of two upper-level Honors Seminars, Honors 385 taken under two different topics. Generally, one seminar would be taken during the junior year and one during the senior year.
• Upper-Level Seminar and Independent Research Honors consists of a junior-level three-hour Honors Seminar and a three-hour senior honors research project.

Questions?

Questions regarding the Honors Program please contact Betti Cryer, Program Coordinator for the Honors Program at cryer@tarleton.edu or 254-968-1926.