Honors Curriculum
The focus of the Honors College curriculum is on engagement; students are expected to be more critically engaged in an Honors class in order to come to a greater understanding of a given subject than might be achieved in a traditional class. Honors College classes are not necessarily intended to be more difficult or to simply demand a greater amount of work than non-Honors classes. In many cases, Honors courses help students complete their TCU Core Curriculum and/or major/minor requirements.
An Honors College course should enable students to demonstrate at least one of the following competencies:
- Critical thinking, problem solving, or creative inquiry skills
- Ability to synthesize ideas across disciplines or within a discipline
- An understanding of world cultures and cross-cultural perspectives
The Honors curriculum is made up of two parts:
To complete Lower-Division Honors, students need to fulfill five requirements; these five requirements include two Honors Cultural Visions courses (or an approved study abroad program) and three Honors Electives.
Students who complete Lower-Division requirements earn the Kathryne McDorman Honors Scholar distinction.
Students may pursue University Honors and/or Departmental Honors. To complete University Honors, students take three Honors Colloquia (9 hours). To complete Departmental Honors, students engage in a research or creative project in their major discipline and write a Senior Honors Thesis under the guidance of a faculty committee.
Students who complete Upper-Division requirements earn the Paul and Judy Andrews Honors Scholar distinction.
Honors Laureate Distinction
Students who complete the entire Honors curriculum, i.e., both Lower- and Upper-Division Honors, earn the Honors Laureate distinction. To graduate as an Honors Laureate, students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.500 or higher.
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