Program Overview

From Engineering Honors

Our main goal in crafting an Engineering Honors Program was to create an educational experience for our very best students that not only included the classroom, but significantly transcended the classroom. To do this, we are building an educational culture whose core values are excellence, community and opportunity.

Excellence: excellence is not an abstract value or virtue, but someting very concrete. It is what happens when talented individuals choose to do excellent things. It requires both expecting the best from yourself and others, and being ambitious without being competitive

Community: belonging to a group that comes together to encourage, support, inspire and enjoy one another in the pursuit of excellence. On a very practical level, it means entering a group of advanced peers already succeeding and expanding the possibilities for you

Opportunity: creating an overall educational experience (special classes, research positions, internships, study abroad, service projects, mentors, leadership training) that matches your individual abilities and ambitions.

We are looking for students who

• want to belong and contribute to a culture that cares more about learning than grades
• care more about maximizing their opportunities than meeting minimum requirements
• care more about being thoughtful, critical, engaged and intentional than passive, safe and ultimately defined by the vague expectations of others.

Being part of the Honors Program will mean all of the following:

• being part of a residential community of diversely talented students from all four years (required first year, optional after that)--living with students who are about something and are intentional in its pursuit
• participating in special Honors courses
• having the opportunity to do advanced research
• having a faculty mentor
• having exposure to industry leaders
• having the opportunity to participate in various service projects
• having the opportunity for practical leadership, and
• completing a senior Honors thesis.

There will be a combination of college-wide and department-specific Honors experiences beginning your very first semester.

In all of this it is important to note that we are committed to making the Honors experience a qualitative and not a quantitative addition to the normal curriculum. We work hard to integrate our requirements with the existing requirements.