Honors Program FAQs

What Does It Mean to Be Invited to Be in Honors?

It’s an honor to be invited to be a part of our Alvernia Honors community! It rewards you for your impressive academic performance in high school. We know you thrive in a challenging academic environment. Joining Alvernia’s Honors Program says you are an excellent student who is committed to getting the best education available. Honors students are dedicated to academic success and desire to make the most of their college experience. If you have a passion for learning and enjoy an intellectual challenge, Alvernia’s Honors Program is for you!

What Does Being an Honors Student Say to Future Employers?

Honors students are eagerly sought by employers and preferred for admissions by graduate and professional schools. People who graduate from Alvernia’s Honors Program have demonstrated that they know how to work and that their goal is excellence. Honors students are identified as possessing not only superior academic abilities but as having the commitment and motivation to take on challenges. Your Honors course work and thesis will help you develop in-demand skills including communication, critical thinking, organization, and problem-solving, while also demonstrating desirable traits including a passion for learning, the ability to set and achieve goals, persistence, resilience and a strong work ethic.

What if I Dream of Going to Grad School, Law School, or Med School?

Honors credentials, including excellent grades and a strong thesis project, are an excellent springboard into graduate work of all kinds! Admissions committees look most favorably upon the applicants with the strongest academic credentials, those who took the most rigorous course of study, and those who have research experience. You can do your thesis on something you feel passionately about that is related to your future goals, both establishing a firm basis of knowledge in that area and further demonstrating to admissions committees your sincere interest in the field. Completion of the Honors Program shows that you are a go-getter and are motivated when it comes to your education and future.

What Do I Get By Being a Part of Honors?

In addition to a variety of perks such as priority registration, overload fee waivers when taking an Honors course, and designated study/lounge space on campus, students who participate in Alvernia’s Honors Program become personally invested in their academic success and planning for their futures. They develop close connections with their professors and fellow students—people who will be there to cheer you on throughout your time at Alvernia. These close bonds could one day prove instrumental as you seek promising leads for jobs and other opportunities.

How Do I Make the Most Out of This Opportunity?

To get the most out of Honors, be active! Seek out Honors courses and opportunities. Participate in extracurricular events. Make friends with your classmates—and your professors! Serve as peer mentors for new students, guiding them through the process of assimilating to college life. Be focused on your end goal and recognize how what you are learning in Honors will help you achieve your dreams!

What Can I Expect from Honors?

• Discussion-based classes: Honors courses encourage interaction with classmates and professors and foster critical thinking and communication skills. You will be asked a lot of questions; you will learn how to think and respond. This ability to bring ideas forward and defend a viewpoint is a critical employment skill. In Honors classes, memorization of material is less important than spending time deconstructing, digesting, debating, and critically evaluating ideas. Students learn to work in as a group, respecting the opinions of others and building trust and a sense of solidarity with one another.
• Challenging and Interesting Courses: Honors is the most exciting way to fulfill your Search General Education requirements—no boring survey courses here! Honors Courses are developed specifically for the Honors students, featuring interdisciplinary and interesting topics to broaden students’ horizons and allow them to hear different perspectives. You will learn that all subjects have something important to offer. You will develop interests in subjects that you never thought you would care about at all, grow personally and intellectually, and develop critical thinking skills that will help you immensely in your career.
• Support: Professors and advisors who are there to challenge and support a student throughout their time at Alvernia. Honors advisors and mentors help students develop and polish a thesis, and provide guidance when applying to graduate programs or jobs.
• Network: from professors to fellow students and alumni, there are many bright and ambitious people in the Honors network who can give you advice and help you make valuable connections.

I’m An Athlete, Will I Have Time for Honors?

YES! Honors students participate successfully in a wide range of extra-curricular activities and still maintain a balance with their academic work. Alvernia Honors Students are a diverse group! Some Honors students compete on varsity teams, others are dancers, artists and actors; many are heavily involved in student government, clubs, and other leadership roles on campus. Busy students are happy students!

Will I Be Isolated As an Honors Student?

NO! Alvernia Honors students are fully a part of college life. They take a mix of Honors and non-Honors courses, and find their friends and roommates both in and out of Honors.

I’m in a Credit-Heavy Major. Will I Have Room for Honors?

YES! While it can be more challenging to fit in the requirements for some majors and some of the abbreviated undergraduate/automatic graduate programs, our advice is always to start in Honors. There is no requirement that you finish the requirements if you decide to not pursue the Program. During your first year, Honors advisors will be able to help you chart your path and explain the requirements and how they can fit into your curriculum so you can make an informed decision. Honors courses typically fulfill Search General Education requirements, making it easier for all majors to finish the Program.

Will Being in the Honors Program Hurt My GPA?

NO! Honors Programs exist precisely because strong students do better in them! It provides you with a peer group that values academic excellence. Talented students can be bored in normal classes and coast through or put off simple assignments (just as they did in high school). Academically strong students who avoid challenges and try to take the easy way out often graduate with mediocre academic records, and have less to show from their college experience. Research shows that students who complete honors programs "have the highest academic performance and graduation rates, and shortest time to degree completion, compared to other high ability students, including partial honors students." Honors provides you with a cohort of smart, hard-working students who will reinforce your own desire to excel—and provide great study partners!

Should I Be Scared About Doing a Thesis?

Of course a major independent research project sounds scary to an incoming college student! But don’t let this be the reason not to join Honors. We understand that not everyone will decide to complete the Honors requirements—for some students, doing a thesis will not be something they decide to undertake, for a variety of reasons particular to their own college journey. That does not negate the other benefits of participation in the Honors Program during your first few years at Alvernia—if you have been accepted into Honors, it is the place where you belong!
 

For those who do want to finish the Program, don’t worry! A thesis will seem less daunting by the time you get there—your college classes will have prepared you to undertake such a project, and you’ll have lots of support and guidance!

The thesis project is real evidence that you can deal with depth and complexity on a sustained basis. It shows that you can succeed on a tough task, create something of your own to be proud of, and demonstrate so many of the skills employers and admissions committees covet.

A faculty member will serve as an advisor for your thesis project. The relationship you form with your thesis advisor could prove hugely influential in your academic experience and your future profession. When you finish, they have become a fierce advocate, a mentor, and will be in a great position to write you that glowing letter of reference for grad school or your first job!

Who Can I Contact for More Information?

Incoming students can contact their Alvernia admissions counselor and let them know you want to be a part of Honors. Students receiving certain scholarships are automatically entered into the Program; others will be directed to an online application form.

Current students or transfer students can contact Honors Program Director Dr. Victoria Williams at victoria.williams@alvernia.edu or their admissions counselor for more information.