The Honors Program offers a stimulating intellectual atmosphere and an enriched academic experience.
What Do I Need to Enter the Honors Program?
To enter the Honors Program, you must have a 3.3 grade point average (GPA). If you are a first-year student beginning you college career at UMA, you must have a high school GPA of 3.3. If you don’t have this GPA upon applying to the Program, you may petition the Intercollegiate Council—the group of faculty, staff, and students that oversee the Honors Program—by providing evidence of your academic excellence.
How Do I Apply to Enter the Honors Program?
Students who begin the Honors Program as first-year students will be recruited by the Admissions Office, so if you’re a first-year student, congratulations and welcome! The Honors Directors will send a letter of invitation in the term before first-year students’ entrance that explains what students should submit for admission to the Honors Program.
UMA faculty and staff can also identify students with demonstrated academic excellence to join the program. Faculty and staff should identify students as early in their academic careers as possible. The coursework of the program is sequenced and scaffolded, and students should properly enter the program no later than the third year—the same time at which they would enter their major.
Finally, students may apply for the Honors Program, provided that they have the required GPA and have demonstrated a commitment to academic excellence. You should apply no later than third-year status because if you apply later than that, you will have difficulty completing the requirements of the Program.
To apply, you need to submit:
- an Honors Program application form (DOC).
- a letter of intent that includes a personal and academic history and the reasons why you want to join the Honors Program. In this letter, you should demonstrate that you have a clear idea of what the Program seeks to do and explain why you’re a good fit for the academic rigor that will be expected of you.
- three letters of reference. They may come from teachers, professors, employers, or anybody else who has a clear sense of your academic achievement.
Materials will be reviewed by the members of the Intercollegiate Council, who will determine entrance to the program.
How Do I Stay in the Honors Program?
You will also need to maintain a 3.3 GPA to remain in the Honors Program. The Program directors will check your GPA of each student at the end of each term to assure that you have maintained a 3.3 GPA. If you drop below a 3.3 GPA, you will be put on academic probation and will have two terms (a full academic year or the equivalent) to raise the GPA to 3.3 or higher. If you don’t do so in that time frame, you will be dismissed from the program, but you may reapply by following the usual entrance procedures.
The HP director and members of the Intercollegiate Council will monitor membership in the Program each term. If you leave UMA temporarily, you will receive a notification asking for an update of your student status. It is your responsibility to keep the Honors Program informed of your student status.