Earn honors credit within your major or minor, ensuring you stay on track to graduating with honors.
As a Franke Honors Wildcat, you have many options when it comes to designing your personal academic journey. Most academic departments provide opportunities for students to earn honors credit within the major or minor.
These opportunities can take the form of pre-approved honors-designated courses, honors individual studies (including research, internships, and preceptorship), and honors contracts. Students with junior or senior class standing may also earn honors credit by enrolling in 500-level graduate courses.
General Education Honors Courses
General education requirements ensure that all students, regardless of major, are exposed to the arts, social sciences, humanities, and sciences. General Education courses offered through the W. A. Franke Honors College (HNRS prefix) present interdisciplinary approaches to these topics. In addition to courses offered directly through the Franke Honors College, many departments across campus also offer honors sections of their discipline-specific general education course
Honors Contracts
Honors Contracts enable you to make individualized arrangements with instructors in order to earn honors credit in non-honors courses. Contracts are intended to provide a more engaging experience that allows you to work more closely with the instructor and explore course material in a more personally meaningful way. The development of an honors contract should be a collaborative effort between you and your instructor, but all contract proposals must be submitted to the Honors College for review and approval and should adhere to the W. A. Franke Honors College Course Policies. Students can find the honors contract form on our honors contract webpage.
Individual Studies/Research/Internships
Students who are completing an independent study, research project or internship may pursue honors credit for that experience, as allowed by departmental individual studies policies. A departmental faculty member must agree to mentor the student during the experience and to award credit.
Registration for departmental independent study, research, internship, and preceptorship credit is managed through the academic department. Talk your faculty member or advisor for additional guidance.
Graduate Courses
Franke Honors juniors and seniors are eligible to enroll in 500-level (graduate) courses, and to apply those courses toward the honors credit requirement. Graduate course enrollment is completed via the Undergraduate Enrollment in Graduate Courses form, which must be signed by both the course instructor and academic advisor.
Students who would like to use a graduate course toward their honors credit requirement must select the “Honors Credit” option on the enrollment form. Courses taken for honors credit cannot later be used toward a graduate program. An exception is made for students who are actively enrolled in an Accelerated Master’s Program (AMP). Courses taken for an AMP will apply toward both undergraduate honors requirements and graduate requirements.