Out of the 120-credit minimum required to graduate, some classes will be designated as Honors. Honors classes will be noted on your transcript when you graduate.They are typically smaller in size and taught by carefully selected full-time faculty.

Beginning with the Spring/Summer 2019 semester, to graduate with University Honors you must maintain a cumulative 3.3 GPA and complete at least 28 credits, which on average is one to two Honors classes per term. Most students take three or four classes each semester. Honors students are encouraged to take advantage of Honors sections of general education courses as part of their 28 credits. 

There are three main ways to earn Honors credit:

• Honors sections of regular courses. These special sections offered by the various departments and are reserved for Honors students. They may either be offered as in conjunction with a larger, non-Honors class or as a class with only Honors students
• Courses offered by the Honors College, such as HON 1000 or the HON 42xx-level seminars
• Honors option, where the student and a faculty member agree on an additional assignment to earn Honors credit in a non-Honors class.

Honors students will need to complete the following HON courses as part of their 28 credits, including the foundational sequence of HON 1000 and Foundational Seminar:

• HON 1000 - The City: Changing Detroit
• Foundational Seminar
• HON 3000 - Field Learning requirement
• HON 42XX - Junior/Senior level seminar
• HON 4998 - Honors senior thesis

These credits make up roughly 16 of the 28 credits needed to complete University Honors. The remaining 12 credits is completely up to you on how you wish to complete them.

Please view the links in the left-hand menu for a breakdown of each requirement.