16. Honors Program
(Revised: 2024)
The university confers graduation honors upon a candidate for a baccalaureate degree who has completed a substantial body of course work through the University Honors Program or any one of the several college or departmental Honors programs; see listing at http://honorsprograms.tamu.edu.
16.1 Honors Eligibility. Students are Honors-eligible as entering freshmen or transfer students if they are accepted to the University Honors Program through a competitive application, or to another college or departmental Honors program.
16.1.1 Incoming freshmen who are not in an Honors program will be considered Honors-eligible if they graduated in the top 10% of their high school class; OR have been identified as National Merit Semifinalists, National Merit Scholars, or National Recognition Scholars; OR have a minimum SAT composite score of 1300 (minimum score of 620 for Math and 660 for Reading/Writing) or a minimum composite 28 on the ACT (minimum score of 27 each on verbal and math).
16.1.2 Incoming transfer students will be considered Honors-eligible if they have at least a cumulative 3.5 GPA from their sending institution and have submitted a request to be marked Honors-eligible to LAUNCH.
16.1.3 Second semester freshman, sophomores, juniors, and seniors (collectively, “Continuing Students”) may enroll in honors courses if they earned a cumulative grade point average (GPA) at Texas A&M of 3.50 or above. First semester transfer students are considered for participation on an individual basis. To maintain eligibility to register for Honors sections each semester, a student must maintain a minimum 3.50 cumulative GPA.
16.2. Honors Fellows. The distinction for the University Honors Program is called “Honors Fellows.” To earn Honors Fellows, a student must meet program requirements, listed below.
- Maintain a minimum 3.5 cumulative GPA*
- Meet minimum co-curricular participation requirements.
- First-year students meet requirements are met by participating in the Learning Community Seminar.
- Continuing University Honors students need to attend two Honors Student Council events per semester, at least one of which must be designated as academic in nature.**
- Demonstrate progress toward Honors Fellows distinction requirements by taking at least six Honors credits per year.
- Make an annual update to their Honors ePortfolio.
*First year students are not held to the GPR requirement in their first semester so long as they meet participation requirements. Those not meeting co-curricular participation requirements will be subject to probation for GPR in the spring semester of their first year. First-year students who do not have a minimum 3.5 cumulative GPR at the end of their first academic year will be placed on probation during the fall semester of their second year.
**Continuing students who will be away from campus for a semester of study abroad or internship should arrange an alternative with an Honors Advisor ahead of time.
16.2.1 To complete distinction requirements and receive the Honors Fellows distinction at graduation, Honors Students must:
- Earn a total of 30 honors points:
- Each credit hour of Honors course work equals 1 point. At least 21 points must come from Honors course work distributed as follows
- Breadth: 9 hours must meet Core Curriculum or graduation requirements as specified in the student’s catalog.
- Depth: 12 hours must be in upper-division (300/400-level) courses or graduate courses taken for undergraduate credit.
- Practical Application: Complete an Honors Capstone experience. The Capstone will be worth 6 points, whether taken for credit or not.
- Up to 3 points may be earned through Honors Experiences either designated by the University Honors Program or contracted for points.
- Maintain co-curricular requirements.
- Meet minimum 3.25 GPA in Honors course work.
- Be in good standing with the university at the time of graduation distinction audit and through graduation.
- Not have an F* on the transcript and not have been found responsible for an Honor Code violation as an Upper Division student. Upper Division status is defined as having earned 60 or more credit hours (including transfer hours and advanced placement credits) on the date of the violation. This sanction is automatic upon a finding of responsibility, and is imposed without regard to the severity of other sanctions imposed by the Aggie Honor System Office.
16.3 Probation. Honors Students who fail to meet requirements for their Honors program will be given a semester of probation to correct any deficiencies. While in probationary semester, a priority registration time will not be assigned. Honors Students who fail to meet requirements after a semester of probation will be dismissed from their program.