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 curriculum 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.
Advantages of the Honors College
The Honors College offers a small intellectual community within the University of Oklahoma. Honors classes are limited in size, lending to a more discussion-based curriculum. Our facilities offer students a private computer lab, study areas, classrooms and libraries, as well as one-on-one advising, reading groups, research opportunities, and scholarships.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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 students may apply for access to the graduate study space in Bizzell Library by filling out this form: https://libanswers.ou.edu/widget_standalone.php?la_widget_id=7151
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.
