George F. Whitworth Honors Program

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FAQs

No. Being admitted with Honors when you apply to Whitworth does not mean that you are automatically enrolled in the program. Rather, it means that you have met the required bar of GPA and involvement to be considered for the Honors program, and therefore are eligible to enroll if you choose. 

 

 

If you were not admitted with Honors, you may still be eligible to enroll in the Honors program if you have demonstrated your ability to perform well in classes. If this is something you are interested in, contact us to set up a time to meet with an Honors advisor. 

Once approved for the Honors program (either through being admitted with Honors or talking to the Honors Program Director) students can enroll in the Honors program in the following ways: 

  • Incoming students can enroll during summer registration meetings. 
  • All students, incoming or returning, can fill out the Major/Minor form once on campus and turn it into the registrar’s office. 
 
Important note: Honors courses and opportunities are open to all students, so whether someone is formally enrolled or not, they can participate in Honors Program opportunities.

To graduate with Whitworth Honors, students must complete all University requirements and one of two tracks with a 3.5 GPA or higher. Students entering as “first-years” will enroll in the PIRATES Track and complete 17 credits. Students entering as “Transfers” will enroll in the BUCS Track and complete 11 credits. See the Curriculum page for a more in-depth explanation of what these courses entail. 

Each semester, the Honors Director sends out a list of Honors courses to students a couple weeks before registration. New students will also receive a registration guide before their summer registration appointments. 

  • Many of the courses are clearly marked as Honors by having an “H” included after the number (CS 378H, or EL 350H). Additionally, courses offered directly by the Honors program have the “HN” designation at the beginning (HN-300H, or HN-400H). 
  • Some courses aren’t listed with an “H,” but students can still get Honors credit. Talk to your instructor and an Honors program advisor if you would like to take this option. 

Students can ideally plan schedules that do not have them completing Honors credits in course requirements already satisfied. In some cases, to complete Honors, students might have to take a course that a transferred course is satisfying. We are confident that, in this rare instance of asking students to do additional work, that the benefits far outweigh the cost.

The Honors Program is designed for talented and motivated students to get even more out of their academic experience. We want them to be part of a culture that dreams big and does the hard work to get there. I like to ask students if they could imagine winning a Nobel Prize in Economics or a Pulitzer Prize in journalism, becoming the Secretary of Education or an entrepreneurial physician who starts something like Doctors Without Borders. We have great students, and we want to offer a program built on both aspiration and perspiration. The value comes in the process by which we pursue world-changing achievements. 

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