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The University of Oklahoma
  T h e   U n i v e r s i t y  o f   O k l a h o m a
 H o n o r s   C o l l e g e
  N o r m a n   C a m p u s

   Purpose     Eligibility     Advantages    Apply Online    Graduating with Honors     Freshman Statistics     Current Curriculum Course Listings
Robert Con Davis-Undiano
 

The Purpose of the Honors Curriculum

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

arrow 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.
arrow 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 29 or higher OR they have a SAT Total of 1280 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 determinded by the evaluation of the Honors curriculum application form, which includes a written essay of 400-500 words.


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. The Fall 1999 Honors Freshmen had:

bullet point an average ACT composite of 30,
bullet point an average SAT total of 1340, and
bullet point an average high school GPA of 3.7.

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


Bullet arrow Apply Online Now


Graduating with Honors from OU

Bullet arrow Log in to the Online Graduation System

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:

Bullet ball  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
Bullet ball  Hon 2973, Perspectives on the American experience, 3 hours
Bullet ball  Hon 3993, Colloquium, 3 hours
Bullet ball  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.
Bullet arrow filing an honors thesis (the end result of the honors reading and research project) with the Honors Office.
Bullet arrow both an OU Retention GPA and a Combined Retention GPA of
Bullet ball  3.40-3.59 for cum laude
Bullet ball  3.60-3.79 for magna cum laude
Bullet ball  3.80-4.00 for summa cum laude
Bullet arrow No student subject to disciplinary sanctions for academic misconduct at the University will be graduated cum laude.



 

Honors Freshmen

Although we do our best at the Honors College to prevent students from feeling like a number in the system, we do like to spread the word about what impressive students we have entering the Honors Curriculum each year.

2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996
Total 425 441 411 448 366 390 400
Residents 316 346 320 335 153 276 286
Non-Residents 105 95 91 113 113 114 114
Average SAT 1332 1335 1350 1341 1357.4 1353.7 1362.5
Average ACT 30 30 31 30.5 30.78 30.65 30.6
Average HS GPA 3.74 3.74 3.72 3.85 3.84 3.90 3.88
Number with 4.0 HS GPA 124 124 118 101 88 154 139
Minority students 80 94 102 117 56 63 63
Males 212 207 209 228 205 200 240
Females 213 234 202 220 161 190 160
Also OU Scholar 313 306 299 172 168 152 132
Also National Merit 122 122 96 134 123 115 122
Major
College of Architecture 3 3 3 1 4 2 3
College of Arts & Sciences 178 184 123 67 124 108 92
College of Business 52 52 46 28 30 25 11
College of Education 12 14 7 2 1 1 1
College of Engineering 81 84 114 100 79 76 94
College of Geosciences 12 12 13 16 13 0 7
College of Fine Arts 27 29 26 17 17 20 17
University College (undecided) 37 39 90 106 122 168 123
 
Pre-Med 66 66 79 59 64 70 80

 
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