Mar 28, 2024  
2008-2010 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2008-2010 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Liberal Arts Honors Program


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The Liberal Arts Honors Program offers students of high academic ability and initiative a more in-depth and rigorous version of the Providence College Core Curriculum. Students are required to take a minimum of six Honors courses: normally the four-course sequence of Honors Development of Western Civilization during the freshmen and sophomore years, one or two Honors electives in the junior year, and a capstone colloquium in the senior year. Most Honors students opt to take an additional two or three courses beyond the minimum of six. Since most Honors courses fulfill basic requirements for the Core Curriculum, Honors students are free to pursue any major or minor (or combination of majors and minors) at the College.

Honors courses are offered in virtually all areas of the Core Curriculum, including theology, philosophy, social sciences, natural sciences, and fine arts. Honors courses require substantially more reading, more writing, and more seminar discussion—and thus provide students with greater breadth of knowledge, intellectual perception, and aptitude for creative thinking. Small, seminar style classes of 12-15 students allow for extensive one-on-one contact among students and professors.

All Honors courses are weighted, so that students earn an additional .17 grade points for each course. (Thus a regular B+ earns 3.33 grade points while an Honors B+ earns 3.50, though an Honors A is the exception and does not earn more than 4.0.). In order to graduate with an Honors Certificate, a student must earn a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.25.

How to Qualify

Invitations to the Honors Program are extended from the Office of Admission based on the student’s overall application to Providence College. Qualifying students are invited into the program on the basis of the rigor of their high school courses, class standing, SAT scores, recommendations, and sample essays. Students who are not in invited as freshmen, however, can apply for admission into the Honors Program after one or two semesters of outstanding academic performance at the College.

Course Requirements for an Honors Certificate


Notes


Students who enter the Honors Program in the sophomore year can substitute any two Honors courses for HON 101-102.

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