About Lipscomb
What are the eligibility requirements for The Honors College?
Will honors courses hurt my GPA?
Am I required to finish the program once I start it?
What are the requirements for graduating from The Honors College?
What are the advantages of being in The Honors College?
How do I register for classes?
Will I be labeled a nerd if I take honors classes?
How do I apply for The Honors College?
Honors courses are not the college equivalent of AP courses. You will not be asked to do 2-3 times as much work as students in non-honors courses. Nor will the classes move at an accelerated pace, covering twice as much material. Instead, honors courses are designed to probe deeper into the topics in the course, to let you discover the material rather than have it all presented to you in lecture format, and to let you explore independently some of the topics which are of particular interest to you.
You should not have to work harder in an honors class than other students do in non-honors courses. If they are spending 4 hours a week reading, studying and writing for a course, you should expect to spend about the same amount of time in an honors course. You will in most cases be reading different textbooks and doing different assignments than students in non-honors courses. Our aim, though, is to make the work manageable, allowing you to have plenty of time to work on your other courses and have a life outside of the classroom.
Will honors courses hurt my GPA?
Studies in the journals of the National Collegiate Honors Council report that honors students have a better GPA in honors courses than in non-honors courses. The reason is that honors students tend to lose interest in non-honors courses and/or assume that the material is so easy for them that they become lackadaisical in studying and keeping up with the material. Consequently, they may not do as well on homework assignments or examinations as they would have had they been diligent. The intellectual stimulation of honors classes tends to keep honors students more consistently prepared throughout the semester.
Will I be labeled a nerd if I take Honors classes?
Honors students are not isolated from the student body. Honors students run for and get elected to student government. They participate in intercollegiate and intramural sports. They join and are active in social and service clubs. The honors program at Lipscomb avoids the notion of being an elitist group of students, while preserving a high level of academic integrity. Since you take only 25 honors hours of the 132 hours required for graduation, you spend most of your time integrated into student life.
New freshmen must have a 27 or higher on the ACT or a 1220 or higher on the SAT. Transfer students must have a 3.5 GPA or higher. If you choose to finish in the Honors Program, you must maintain a 3.5 GPA. If you drop below that mark, you will be place on probation for one semester. If your grades have not returned to 3.5, you will be dropped from the program. If in a later semester, you achieve a 3.5, you can be reinstated if you desire.
Am I required to finish the program once I start it?
No. You can opt to take your general education courses as honors courses and then drop out of the program permanently or temporarily.
What are the advantages of being in The Honors College?
- Honors courses are generally smaller and are taught by teachers who have a proven reputation for being able to stimulate thinking and creativity. Most of the teachers have won the “Outstanding Teacher of the Year” award at least one time.
- Students in honors courses report that they have much less busy work to do and have a higher level of intellectual stimulation than they have in non-honors courses.
- Taking honors courses will distinguish you from the large numbers of people who are going to law school, med school, engineering programs, graduate school, etc. Especially if you finish the Honors Program, you will be better prepared for study at the next level of your education. You might also find that, having completed the program, you will be more competitive for financial awards which many graduate programs offer.
- You have a better opportunity of developing a mentoring relationship with one or two faculty members in your major. You will find that as you do contracts in upper-division courses that you will better learn how to be a professional in your area of specialty.
- You will be encouraged to find creative ways to develop your skills and enrich your college experience. We try to make you aware of interesting opportunities to study abroad, to apply for internships outside of Nashville and to encourage the very best students to apply for post-graduate scholarships like the Rhodes, Fullbright, Truman and Wilson scholarships.
- We have fun! We have a reception each semester as well as an end-of-the-year picnic. We try to go to plays, concerts, movies together occasionally. Finally we try to plan a special outing each semester.
What are the requirements for graduating from The Honors College?
Students may opt to finish The Honors College either as an Honors College Graduate or as an Honors College Scholar. In either case, a student must complete the core curriculum and must have at least a cumulative 3.5 GPA in all courses at graduation. The core reflects the philosophy of The Honors College that all courses should adopt an interdisciplinary approach to learning. The following core curriculum for The Honors College does not add any additional hours to a student’s normal course load.
HN 1103 Honors Freshman Seminar
HN 1003 Communication, Technology, and Society
HN 2113 Honors Literature
HN 2213 Solving Complex Social Problems
BI 3213 Faith and Culture (Honors) OR
BI 421V Biblical Ethics (Honors)
HN 31n3 Honors Seminar (may be repeated one time)
The Honors College Graduate must complete an additional 6 hours, for 24 total hours, either by doing two honors contracts, described in Section III, or by doing one honors contract and repeating the Honors Seminar. The Honors College Graduate must have at least one scholarly presentation in class, at the on-campus undergraduate research celebration, or, when appropriate, at either a state or regional academic conference.
The Honors College Scholar will complete 31 hours of coursework, which will consist of the requirements for The Honors College Graduate plus 7 hours of work to plan, prepare, and defend an honors thesis or complete the SALT Scholar program. Students who plan to pursue a research-oriented graduate college should seriously consider the thesis option. Students who opt to become a Lipscomb University SALT Scholar must complete honors requirements in their SALT capstone to qualify as an Honors College Scholar. In addition, The Honors College Scholar must have at least two scholarly presentations either one of which may be in class or at the on-campus undergraduate research celebration and one at a state or regional or, where appropriate, national academic conference.
In addition to completing curricular requirements, Honors College students must attend at least one major extracurricular activity (play, musical, opera, film) each year and at least two minor extracurricular activities (teas, recitals, lectures, films) each semester. Students must also attend two workshops in the spring of the freshman year. These workshops will focus on global learning and internship opportunities for honors students and on national competitive scholarships (
How do I apply for The Honors College?