The requirements for becoming an Honors Scholar in the Arts and Sciences are

1. complete and submit the Interest Form to begin the process of becoming an Honors Scholar candidate,
2. develop in conjunction with an Honors Scholar advisor, submit, and have accepted by the Honors Scholar committee no later than the semester before the student’s planned graduation a learning plan showing how a student will complete five approved Honors Scholar courses in the areas of Mathematics, Science, Humanities, and Social Science with at least one course from each area (see below for additional restrictions),
3. complete the learning plan with at least a 3.50 cumulative GPA overall and a 3.50 GPA in the five courses in the learning plan. Only grades of “A” and “B” may count toward the 3.50 minimum grade point average requirement in the five approved Honors Scholar courses, and
4. when the Graduation Application (a. k. a. the Intent to Graduate form) is submitted to the Registrar, download and complete the Graduation Worksheet. Forward the completed form after it has been signed by your advisor to the Honors Scholar Committee for final approval.

General Guidelines for Completion of the Learning Plan

This section contains the most up-to-date guidelines for completing the Learning Plan and reflect changes and clarifications made after the current catalog was published. If you have any questions, please contact the Honors Scholar Committee.

• The approved courses are listed in the Honors Scholar courses section of the catalog. Note that only courses with three or more credits may count toward becoming an Honors Scholar, unless linked with another course of three or more credit hours, and that some Honors Scholar courses have prerequisites or corequisites which must be completed. Refer to the individual course descriptions for specific details.
• Consistent with the ideals of the program, preference will be given for courses offered in a face-to-face modality in an Honors Scholar learning plan. However, when a student’s situation requires, the Honors Scholar Committee can approve a limited number of online courses to satisfy the Honors Scholar requirements if submitted with the Learning Plan.
• Courses in a student’s major field of study (i. e., with the same prefix) or that are required for a student’s major cannot be used toward the five-course requirement. However, if a student’s major has a required support course that has a more rigorous option, then a student may use the more rigorous course to count for both Honors Scholar and their major.
• Students who complete two or more majors may use any approved course to satisfy Honors Scholar requirements except for the course(s) required by both majors and subject to the required support restriction noted above. Students pursuing an Interdisciplinary Studies Major should consult with the Honors Scholar Committee as they develop their learning plan.
• Courses in a minor may be included in an Honors Scholar learning plan, if they are also not used to fulfill a major requirement.
• No credit toward becoming an Honors Scholar will be given for high school courses (including AP, CLEP, dual enrollment, etc.), although these courses may be used to satisfy a prerequisite for an Honors Scholar course.
• A course used to fulfill a Dialogues Curriculum requirement may be used to fulfill an Honors Scholar requirement if the course has been approved as an Honors Scholar course.
• Study Abroad programs may be counted toward fulfilling Honors Scholar requirements if approved by the Honors Scholar Committee beforehand through the learning plan. Study Abroad courses offered by Truman faculty and those offered in a student’s non-native language are preferred for inclusion in the learning plan. The Committee may request additional documentation before approving a substitution for a Study Abroad program. Generally, the maximum credit allowed is one Honors Scholar course (3 hours) and are usually in the areas of Humanities or Social Science.
• Transfer credit from other universities can be considered for inclusion in the Learning Plan, with appropriate documentation (as determined by the Honors Scholar Committee). Note that in the past transfer credit from other universities have only been very rarely accepted, because these courses do not typically offer the opportunities for interactions between students and faculty with the variety of liberal arts interests that we commonly see in Truman’s honors courses.  However, you may be able to use a transferred course for meeting a prerequisite for an Honors Scholar course.