LSA Honors
Honors Courses
The Honors Program offers challenging work, including research opportunities, to talented and highly-motivated students from the beginning of their college education. Several types of Honors courses are offered for first and second year students:
- courses offered by various departments intended for Honors students
- designated sections of regular courses for Honors students
- courses sponsored by the Honors Program.
The Honors Core forms the foundation for an Honors education at U-M. Designed specifically for Honors students by innovative faculty, the Honors Core Curriculum provides rigorous, wide-reaching introductory courses across the three academic divisions in LSA: the Natural Sciences (NS), the Social Sciences (SS), and the Humanities (HU). The Honors Core includes the Great Books course, which has been a longstanding feature of the Honors curriculum. The Core offers students opportunities to explore foundational content, engage in critical analysis, and receive excellent instruction in writing. The Core is integrative, providing opportunities for interaction between students and faculty in its various courses through electronic media, virtual meetings, and occasional symposia. Because Honors students take Core courses in both first and second years, they have opportunities to form study groups and friendships across the Program. Honors students are required to elect two Core courses in their first two years, one of which fulfills the First-Year Writing Requirement (FYWR).
Small seminars enable students to discuss matters of intellectual substance with a faculty member on a variety of topics. These seminars enroll a maximum of 15 students.
Some upper level courses also count as Honors courses for first- and second-year students and many courses may be converted to Honors courses with the agreement of the professor and the Honors Program.
Exemplary engagement in the first two years of the Honors Program is recognized by the Sophomore Honors Award. The Sophomore Honors Award recognizes students who have earned at least 30 Engagement Points (by taking advanced or Honors coursework, doing research, and participating in Honors activities); averaged 14 credit hours each full (Fall/Winter) term; completed an Honors Core class which meets the first-year writing requirement (FYWR); completed of a total of three Honors Core courses in at least two different distribution areas (HU, NS, or SS); and achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.400. No course elected Pass/Fail will receive the Honors notation on the transcript or be counted as an "Honors" course for the Sophomore Honors Award.
Independent Study and Research. The Honors Program strongly encourages qualified and able students to do independent study or research. These options allow students to concentrate a considerable amount of time and effort in an area of particular interest, to develop intellectual relationships with members of the faculty and research staff, and to make more informed decisions about the Honors thesis and perhaps even long-range goals. Honors academic advisors will be happy to talk with students about strategies for finding a project and a mentor.
Honors research tutorials are available in any term by permission of the Honors Office. First-year students and sophomores elect HONORS 291 and 292 and may serve as research assistants for faculty researchers, receive instruction in research methods, or participate in some phase of University or individual research. Comparable courses are available for juniors (HONORS 390) and seniors (HONORS 490).
The Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) is another avenue to a research placement. Some departments (for example, chemistry and psychology) maintain lists of available research projects. Many of our students find research work by directly contacting faculty whose areas of specialization interest them.
Honors Waitlist Policy
Waitlist priority is typically given to LSA Honors students in order of class year (seniors, juniors, sophomores, and then first-year students).