The Honors College at the University of Oklahoma is dedicated to providing academically gifted students with the opportunity to develop their intellectual potential to the fullest. The Honors College offers challenging and enlightening courses taught by its own faculty members as well as faculty from other colleges of the university.

Students in the program can enjoy the opportunity to enroll in the small sections (22 students or fewer) of honors courses and also may enjoy intersession courses, summer study at Oxford University, and research internships with faculty in science laboratories or on humanities projects. The Honors College also encourages students to participate in the Oklahoma Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program (OSLEP) seminars and in study abroad programs.

Students completing the Honors College curricular requirements will have a degree designation of cum laude (3.4-3.59), magna cum laude (3.6-3.79), or summa cum laude (3.8-4.0). These are the most prestigious undergraduate degree designations attainable at the university.

Eligibility for the Honors Curriculum

Transfer students who come to the University of Oklahoma with fifteen or more college credit hours and a transfer grade point average of 3.40 or higher are eligible to apply.

OU students who have earned fifteen or more hours of OU credit and maintained a cumulative GPA of 3.40 or higher are eligible to apply.

Freshmen entering the University of Oklahoma are eligible to apply to the Honors
Curriculum if:

They have a ACT of 30 or higher OR they have a SAT Total of 1330 or higher.

AND

They rank in the top 10% of graduates in their high school class OR they have a high school GPA of 3.75.

Final admission into the Honors curriculum is determined by the evaluation of the Honors curriculum application form, which includes a written essay of 400-500 words.

Click here for a flyer that describes the Honors College and the requirements for applying and graduating.

Advantages of the Honors Curriculum

Cost
There is no extra cost for participating in the Honors Curriculum. The University is proud to offer this program for its academically talented students.

Honors Students
The University of Oklahoma is committed to recruiting excellent and motivated undergraduate students.

Most are funded with talent-based scholarships through either the National Scholars Program or the OU Scholars Program. A peer group of such academically talented students creates a supportive yet challenging environment in which individuals can flourish.

Relationship with Faculty
Honors Students at OU have the advantage of a small college in that they receive close, personal attention from faculty. In addition, they have all of the advantages of a large state university, with over 19,000 students enrolled at OU on the Norman campus. At a research university like OU, there are many excellent science faculty with state-of-the-art laboratories whose research could not be sustained at small colleges. The OU Library, the largest in the state of Oklahoma, has research-level collections of books and journals and the facilities and staff to accommodate scholarly bibliographic work.

Each department has a designated faculty honors coordinator who assists the honors students majoring in that department and ensures that they receive the attention of appropriate faculty members. Thus, the Honors Curriculum works to ensure that no honors students get lost in the large university community.

Library Privileges
Honors students are granted graduate student library privileges, which both extend the amount of time for which an item can be checked out and expand the types of items which are accessible for check-out.

Honors Student Association
All honors students are automatically registered as members of the Honors Student Association (HSA). The HSA is an official student organization at OU and regularly receives funds from the University of Oklahoma Student Association (UOSA) to sponsor projects of interest to honors students and the University community at large.

National Fellowships and Scholarships
The Honors Curriculum diligently grooms Honors students to compete for such prestigious awards as the British Marshall Scholarship, the Goldwater Scholarship, the Mellon Fellowship, the NEH Younger Scholar Award, the NSF Graduate Fellowship Program, the Rhodes Scholarship, the Truman Scholarship and the national-level Washington Center Internship Program. Information and applications for these scholarships and internships are kept in the Honors College Office, and our staff is available to guide interested honors students through the often complicated application processes.

Career Opportunities
An undergraduate degree earned cum laude from the University of Oklahoma is recognized as a prestigious degree. Both the honors curriculum and the increased level of interaction with faculty are excellent preparation for admission to graduate and professional schools. Employers are impressed with the credentials of cum laude graduates from the University of Oklahoma.

Apply to the Honors College

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Graduating with Honors from OU

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The University of Oklahoma Honors College has established unique requirements for graduating cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude. Both the final transcript and the diploma carry the designation. Degree candidates graduating cum laude wear a crimson satin hood with their cap and gown during the commencement ceremony.

The Honors College Office communicates directly with the Registrar's Office to determine which students earn the degree designation. The designation cum laude requires:

  at least 9 hours of Honors credit which can include Honors designated courses, study abroad programs sponsored by OU, and OSLEP, Feaver-MacMinn, Puterbaugh or Neustadt seminars
  Hon 2973, Perspectives on the American experience, 3 hours
  Hon 3993, Colloquium, 3 hours
  Honors Reading & Research.  All students MUST take 3980 (Research).  Honors Reading (3960) may be waived if the senior capstone seminar is research oriented.  Some departments require more and research hours (e.g., Zoology).  Call Honors College for details.
  a C or higher in all HON classes

> filing an honors thesis (the end result of the honors reading and research project) with the Honors Office.

> both an OU Retention GPA and a Combined Retention GPA of

  3.40-3.59 for cum laude
  3.60-3.79 for magna cum laude
  3.80-4.00 for summa cum laude

No student subject to disciplinary sanctions for academic misconduct at the University will be graduated cum laude.