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The FSU Honors Program
What is the highest quality
educational experience we can offer?
The Honors
Program at FSU is intended to help the university’s most talented students
develop into excellent scholars, leaders in their communities and innovators
in their professions. To do this, the program encourages students to
take advantage of the special opportunities available at FSU because
of its dual status as a major research university and an important contributor
to the local, state, national and global communities.
Special Opportunities
in the Classroom
The FSU Honors Program begins with intellectually
stimulating courses with the university’s leading faculty. Nearly all
Honors classes have fewer than 25 students so that professors and students
can interact frequently. More than eighty honors courses are offered
each academic year. Among these eighty courses are fifteen “Honors seminars”,
courses developed especially for Honors students and limited to 15 students
each. Honors course offerings for the present semester can be viewed
by clicking here.
See the Honors Courses FAQ for more information.
The Important Role of Research, Creative Activity and
Community Service
FSU’s faculty believes that performing frontier research,
creative activity and cutting-edge community service projects is an
integral part of a world-class education. Up to half of the 18 credit
hours required to earn the FSU Honors Medallion—emblematic of completing
the Honors Program—may be earned in such project work. We anticipate
that students and faculty who find common interests in Honors courses
will embark on such projects, with the faculty member providing sponsorship
and mentoring. The Program has been built to provide maximum flexibility
to students and their faculty sponsors in designing these project experiences.
Some of the exemplary project work recently completed by FSU Honors students
is described in the Honors
All-Stars section of this site.
Bess Ward Travel Scholarships
Honors students are eligible to compete
for Bess Ward Travel Scholarships, which provide partial support for
a semester of
study at one of FSU’s international centers. Approximately 30 scholarships
are awarded to Honors Program students each year. The university’s international
centers are located in Cape Town, South Africa; Tokyo, Japan; San Jose,
Costa Rica; Panama City, Panama; Dubrovnik, Croatia; Prague, Czech Republic;
London, England; Oxford, England; Paris, France; Munich, Germany; Chalkidiki,
Greece; Dublin, Ireland; Florence, Italy; Moscow, Russia; Valencia, Spain;
and Leysin, Switzerland.
Retention
To remain in the Honors Program, students
must take and pass the Honors Colloquium during their first fall semester
at FSU and maintain
a 3.20 GPA. The Honors Colloquium meets Monday evenings during the
fall semester and provides students with an opportunity to learn about
research,
service and other opportunities available to them at FSU.
Honors in the Major
The Honors in the Major program
provides advanced undergraduates a way to pursue cutting-edge research
or creative activity in a framework
that prepares students for the discipline of graduate study. Completion
of an Honors Thesis as part of the Honors in the Major Program leads
to the distinction of graduation “with Honors” being designated
on the official transcript and the student's thesis being digitally
archived in Strozier Library's D-Scholarship
Repository. While
Honors in the Major can be an excellent experience for an Honors Program
student, it also provides an opportunity for outstanding students
transferring to FSU from two-year colleges. For further information,
see the FSU Honors in the
Major web site
or ask advisors or faculty in your major department.
Honor Societies at FSU
Many national honor societies
have chapters at FSU, and several local honor societies have been formed
as well. For information
on these societies, see the FSU
Honor Societies web site.
Financial Aid
Outstanding students have many excellent
financial aid opportunities at FSU. Descriptions of some of these opportunities
can be found here.
Please see our Financial
Aid FAQ for additional information.
Office of National Fellowships
The Office of National Fellowships provides current information for over 50 national
fellowships that offer outstanding academic and intellectual opportunities for
undergraduate students. The office also provides counseling throughout the application
process and mentors students who are interested in maximizing their undergraduate
experience at Florida State. For more information, click here.
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