Honors Scholar

The Honors Scholar designation recognizes students for outstanding academic achievement and engagement in the academic field. As an Honors Scholar you will complete challenging, in-depth work in your major. By participating more broadly in Honors Program, you may be eligible to earn the University Honors Laureate designation in addition to the Honors Scholar designation.

To help you map out your Honors in the Major coursework, please use the Honors Scholar Planning Worksheet.  This worksheet is not the Honors Plan or Honors Final Plan form.

If you are completing both Honors Scholar and University Honors Laureate refer to the UHL requirements page for the planning worksheet which incorporates both sets of requirements.

The minimum requirements to graduate as an Honors Scholar are as follows:

Honors Credits in the Major or Related

Earn at least 15 Honors credits in or related to the major as approved by the departmental Honors advisor as follows:

Twelve (12) Honors credits in the major or related:

Three (3) additional Honors credits in the major or related earned at any level.

If you are thinking of completing Honors a second major, please visit our More than One Major page.

Engagement in the Major

  • Talk to your Honors advisor about the opportunities for professional development within your major field. This may include your participation in a conference, an on-campus event where you present your work, a professional organization, a student organization, or other opportunities that are related to your field of study.
  • Engagement in the major field may be connected to the Honors thesis/project or a course, but the activity must go beyond what would have been required regardless. The research and writing of your thesis is not sufficient to satisfy this requirement.
  • You will include the description, rationale, criteria, timeline, and communication plan for your engagement in the major field in your Honors preliminary plan of study.
  • The completion of this requirement must be approved by the Honors advisor in the major.
  • If your engagement activity was not completed when you submitted your Honors Final Plan, you need to submit a request for approval through the Kuali Build system after you complete the activity, https://uconn.kualibuild.com/app/6606e301e5ddd1013a21b004/run.

    GPA and Grade Requirements

    • Courses must be graded (no P/F and no S/U) with a B- or above to be eligible for Honors credits
    • Earn a cumulative degree GPA of at least a 3.40
    • Meet the departmental Honors GPA requirement (in the major or overall), if applicable.

      Thesis Submission and Approval