Honors Scholars

Honors Scholars is compatible with all majors offered at Calvin. We are eager to build a learning community made up of students with diverse academic interests. The Honors Scholars community includes students majoring in engineering, history, computer science, education, Spanish, economics, art, biology, business, and more!

Completing a double major, participating in varsity athletics, and studying abroad are all possible for Honors Scholars. However, this will require careful planning. Depending upon the size of your major(s), you may need to take summer courses and/or an additional semester of coursework. We currently have several double-majors, athletes, and students planning to study abroad in our program.

We have optional housing options available for Honors Scholars

• Honors Floor – a vibrant living-learning community for 40 first-year and sophomore Honors Scholars
• Honors and Collegiate Scholars Cluster – a mini-community composed of Honors Scholars and Collegiate Scholars located within a larger dorm community
• Living-learning communities – Other residence hall Living-Learning Communities center around sustainability and recreation or racial justice and equity.

Are you planning a visit to Calvin? Ask your admissions counselor to schedule a meeting with an Honors and Collegiate Scholars Program representative during your visit.

In your first two years in the Honors Scholars program, you will explore connections between subject areas in interdisciplinary team-taught courses and honors-designated courses that fulfill nearly half of Calvin's core (general education) requirements. In these classes you and your classmates may be asked to think about:

• How the study of Literature or Art might enhance our understanding of Calvin's commitments to global regions and cultures, diversity and difference, and sustainability.
• How the study of Rhetoric and the Social Sciences might help us consider challenging issues from a variety of perspectives and communicate effectively across difference.
• How the study of Theology might prompt us to interrogate what it means to be human and what it means to be loved and called by God.
• How the study of the Natural Sciences and Philosophy might lead us to think more carefully about evidence, ethics, and our role in promoting the flourishing of God's world.

Year 1 curriculum:

• Learning to Look, Learning in Place (interdisciplinary, 4 credits)
• Foundations in Biblical Literature and Theology (4 credits)

Year 2 curriculum:

• Intermediate Studies in Biblical Literature and Theology (2 credits)
• Honors CORE + CORE (interdisciplinary, fulfills 2 credits in each of 2 core categories)
   

In your third and fourth years, you will take theme-based upper-level Honors Colloquium (elective) courses and develop the skills of a scholar in your specific discipline while completing an Honors thesis or creative project alongside a faculty mentor.

Year 3 curriculum:

• Preparation for the Honors Thesis (1 credit)
• Honors CORE + CORE (interdisciplinary, fulfills 2 credits in each of 2 core categories)
• Honors Colloquium (2 credits)

Upon completion of Year 3, most students in the program will have satisfied about half of their Core requirements with Honors credits.

Year 4 curriculum:

• Prompte: Honors Capstone (1 credit)
• Honors Thesis or Project (2+ credits)
• Honors Colloquium (2 credits)

In order to be eligible for graduation “with Honors,” Honors Scholars must fulfill the following requirements:

• Final cumulative GPA: 3.5 or higher
• Completion of Honors Scholars Curriculum (see above)