The Rutgers Honors College was created three years ago and will have its first graduating class in May, 2019. The Honors College was formed to integrate knowledge across colleges. In the past, the honors programs were separated by school only, but now the Honors College houses all students together for the first year into one living and learning community. (Each individual school still has an honors program, but it is not as robust as the Honors College and does not include an interdisciplinary living and learning component.) The Honors College is a modern, state-of-the-art living and learning community including beautiful shared study spaces, classrooms, dorms, and meeting halls for weekly cabaret style concerts. All freshman must live together the first year and subsequent years, students may live in the honors cohort within the dorms.
Honors college benefits
Classes are usually smaller than average (although your student will still probably have to take some “lecture hall” classes). Normally there is a full-time honors faculty to support your student, and the academics are more rigorous — but that’s a good thing. After all, “honors college” looks great on a resume. Honors college students often have exclusive access to special internships, research projects, study abroad experiences, networking opportunities and more. And at many universities, honors students get first dibs on class registration.
What Is an Honors College?
These days, many higher education institutions offer honors colleges — intensified programs designed to challenge top students. Honors college students may choose any available major or minor and must take a rigorous curriculum that includes accelerated and enriched general education courses, as well as an honors thesis requirement.
Honors colleges offer high-achieving students at large public universities the same intensive learning environment fostered at small liberal arts colleges. While an honors college can tack on up to $1,000 per term in tuition, the total cost is still far below that of elite liberal arts schools.
What GPA do you need for Rutgers Honors College?
3.25-3.5
Honors College-New Brunswick School Requirements
| Honors College Requirements | School of Arts & Sciences | Rutgers Business School |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign Language Proficiency | Yes | Yes |
| GPA | 3.25-3.5 | 3.25-3.5 |
| Capstone | Yes | Yes |
| Service Requirement | Yes | Yes |
How to Get Into an Honors College
Many students never hear of honors college until they arrive on campus. During the college application process, it’s easy to ignore the small box that needs to be checked for consideration for the honors college, or avoid the extra essay-writing that’s often required.
Fortunately, most institutions allow students to apply for honors college admission at just about any point in their college career. Students may be invited to apply for the honors college during the normal application process or at the end of their first year. Typically, colleges maintain different application requirements for new and existing students.
For all students, honors college admission is highly selective. Students must possess high grades (usually a 3.75 GPA or above), impressive SAT/ACT scores, and a developed sense of why they would benefit from an honors program.
Student Panel
We met a varied group of honors college students ranging from Emily a theater and education major from Minnesota to Steven, a Women and Genders Studies major who designed an app to improve literacy skills through play to Jillian, a freshman Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science major from Edison who was doing research on textile interaction.
The students all chose Rutgers because of the Honors College, some over highly select colleges including Cornell and Columbia.
- Byrne Seminar: take in first year only. Non pressure class. 15-20 students. Can pick preference based on interest or something different.
- Honors College Forum: Focus on Social Innovation how to impact community.
- Interdisciplinary honors seminar. Examples include: Music for Revolution. Spectacle as much as art form. Some have a travel component.
Research
- Summer positions
- Aresty Assistantship Research
- Major research
- Capstone
Co-curricular Programs
- Academic advisors in honors college
- Service learning, internships, global ed (30 hour requirement of service learning)
- Goldman Sachs came to HC
- Have honors college alternative spring breaks
Housing
- Honors. College, Campus Honors Cohort
- Need to live in honors housing first year. then have honors cohorts at all other campuses.
Honors College Admissions and Financial Aid/Scholarships
Students need to apply by December 1, but earlier is better. Rutgers Admissions automatically considers students for honors college. Admissions pre-reviews applicants and sends the honors college academically eligible applicants. Admissions is competitive.
The average SATs are 1520 and the average ACTs are 32-33. Most students have all A’s and took at least 5 AP classes. The Honors Colleges admits the top 7% of the applicant pool for all students. (Except for Nursing, which may be higher and Mason Gross who also looks at talent.) Once students have met the bar academically, they look at jobs, leadership, extracurricular activities and family obligations. Every student gets a merit scholarship between $10K to $26,700.
The Honors Difference
Smaller classes.
- Regular engineering class 500 students vs. 100-150 in an honors class
- Regular Intro to Microeconomics has 200 students vs. 15-20 for honors
Degree Designation
- Honors College noted on degree and transcript
Pace and depth of learning
- Honors classes are more accelerated.
- Students perform more in-depth analysis
- Papers vs. tests.
Live and Learn with Professors and Students
- Three faculty fellows live in honors housing
- Helps students connect with faculty more easily
- Honors college students required to live together first year and have honors cohorts subsequent years
Overall
Rutgers Honors College is a great option for students who want to challenge themselves intellectually, enjoy interdisciplinary learning, and want the resources of a large college with the intimacy of a small college.
How hard is it to get into Rutgers honors college?
Is an honors college worth it?
Where do honors students go to Rutgers University?
Honors College students are invited from among the highest achieving students admitted into the School of Arts and Sciences, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, School of Engineering, Rutgers Business School, Mason Gross School of the Arts, and Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.
When to apply for housing at Rutgers University?
We also encourage you to complete your housing application through your Enrollment Pathway as soon as possible, by June 1 at the latest. Please note, if you do not see the Honors College as a choice on your housing application in the enrollment pathway, do not worry. You will automatically be placed in the Honors College community.
How are students selected for the Honors College?
Not necessarily. The Honors College selects top students from each school, based on that school’s pool of admitted students. It is possible you could be invited to be part of the Honors College through one school, and not through another.
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