Components and Requirements

Admission Requirements for New and Transfer Students

Requirements for placement and continuation in Honors for entering freshmen:

  1. Minimum 1100 SAT or 24 ACT
  2. Minimum 3.2 high school GPA (not required for home-schooled students, who will be admitted with a probationary period of one semester)
  3. Application with short essay

* Higher than the minimum is expected in at least one element: the SAT/ACT or the GPA.

For later admission of full-time, transfer, or part-time students:

  1. Minimum 3.5 GPA in 12 or more hours of college-level courses
  2. Letter of recommendation from a Gordon full-time instructor (or other appropriate full-time instructor if a transfer student)
  3. Application with short essay

To Continue in The Honors Program and to Graduate with Honors

To continue in the Honors Program:

  1. Semester-by-semester evaluation is required
  2. Maintain 3.5 cumulative GPA; probation if semester GPA falls below 3.0 for one semester; student has one additional semester to raise cumulative GPA. If GPA is still below 3.5, student may appeal for re-entry into Honors.

To graduate with recognition of achievement as a student in the Honors Program:

  1. Minimum cumulative GPA 3.5.
  2. There is minimum required GPA of 3.0 in four Honors courses including an Honors Colloquium (for which a brief Honors Project will be required).

The Honors Curriculum

Academic courses:

Honors courses will be designated with an H and be limited to 15 students. Honors classes will be open to students (recommended by faculty and at the coordinator's discretion) not in Honors Program if space allows after Honors students register.

Courses intended to be offered at least once each year with Honors sections include:

ENGL 1102-H (Honors English Composition II)
HIST 1122-H (Honors Western Civilization II)
COLQ 2994-H (Honors Colloquium) [required course]
PSYC 1101-H (Honors Introduction to Psychology)

* Honors students are required to successfully complete a minimum of four Honors Courses to complete the program, including an Honors Colloquium. The Honors Colloquium is a required course for students in the honors program and will require an honors project.

Honors sections of other courses will be offered on a rotating basis as demand or interest indicates.

Content of sections/courses:

  • Honors sections are, in general, intended to be more challenging, in-depth courses than the standard version.
  • Honors sections will place more emphasis on discussion, individual research, and critical thinking and will be expected to nurture a high level of achievement in writing, critical reading, and other college skills.

Extra-Curricular Honors Opportunities

Other opportunities for Honors Students:

  1. Opportunities to attend cultural events at Gordon State College as a group as well as invitations to participate in off-campus cultural events.
  2. Participation in off-campus Honors conferences and academic symposia.
  3. Opportunities to participate in service learning events on campus and develop service learning experiences off campus and in the surrounding community.
  4. Meetings of the Honors community to engage and discuss issues salient to its members.