The Honors Program

The Honors Program is an exciting and innovative academic program for highly motivated, academically successful students with broad academic interests.  Students who apply and are accepted into this selective program engage with a challenging, engaging curriculum, and are part of a close-knit, active Honors community.

Curriculum

The Honors curriculum consists of 21-23 credits, and is comprised of an Honors core (9-11 credits) and a Field Curriculum (12 credits).  The Honors core includes Honors English Composition II, at least one Honors Colloquium, the Honors Thesis Seminar, and the Honors Thesis.  There are 9 different Field Curriculum to choose from, depending on a student's major, interests, and career plans.  Each Field Curriculum contains a combination of General Studies and Major-specific courses designed for students majoring in related fields.  Examples of Field Curricula include Arts, Communication, Business, Natural Sciences, and Engineering and Aviation Technology. Metro's approach to crafting an Honors curriculum allows students from throughout the College to benefit from an Honors education, and promotes an interdisciplinary approach to learning and thinking.  Honors courses are distinguished by the following criteria:

  • Small size - usually between 5-18 students
  • Discussion-based learning
  • Critical thinking
  • Experiential learning - connecting theory to real-world problems and situations
  • Creative problem-solving
  • Engaging instructors 

Community

Students in the Honors Program are part of a community of engaged learners who challenge each other to excel.  The Honors Program will be moving to a house in the Ninth Street Historic District on Auraria's campus this May, where Honors students will have access to kitchen facilities, a study lounge, computer and printer access, and a place to leave their books and supplies.  The Honors house will serve as a "home base" for the Honors community and will serve as a center for extracurricular activities.  Furthermore, the Director of the Honors Program and the Honors faculty provide academic advising and serve as mentors to students as they consider their post-graduate goals.  To encourage involvement in community activities and begin connecting what's learned in the classroom to the rest of the world, students must accumulate 15 points worth of extracurricular activities each year.  For more information about the extracurricular requirement, see our Extracurricular Point Menu (Acrobat Icon 130 KB) .

Benefits

In addition to the engaging curriculum and opportunity to be part of a community of intellectually curious learners, students in the Honors Program also receive the following benefits:

  • Eligibility for competitive Book Awards
  • Eligibility for Honors-only Study Abroad scholarships
  • Funding for conference travel
  • A wide variety of sponsored extracurricular activities
  • Transcript notation upon completion of the Honors Program
  • One-on-one research opportunities with faculty through the Honors Thesis
  • Post-graduate scholarship advising

For more information about the Honors Program, feel free to Contact Us.  Click on Admissions for application procedures, or visit Academics for more information about our curriculum.

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