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Innovative Thinking

Honors College students push the boundaries of the known. We advance beyond learning facts to understanding, evaluating, and discovering them.

Our Honors College will immerse you in a vibrant and innovative learning environment that engages and challenges academically talented students across all majors. We offer our honors students transformative learning experiences in the classroom and through independent research and extracurricular activities.

As part of the Honors College, you will benefit by getting more out of your major and preparing for the future, whether you are interested in graduate school or a career in the rapidly changing job market.

First-year seminars, small group discussions, collaborative projects, and enrichment opportunities prepare honors students to thrive in their careers. Our curriculum encourages thought-provoking conversations among professors and classmates and helps you develop new ideas, a deeper understanding of material, and skills including critical thinking and the ability to apply knowledge broadly.

1:1 student-to-faculty research ratio

59 Honors College course sections

4.2 average incoming high school GPA

25% of honors students are first-generation college students

Enjoy special opportunities

• early registration for classes

• funding for research and conference travel

• mentoring, networking assistance & preparation for internships and career placement

• eligibility for Honors scholarships

• designated Honors College housing in Balsam & Spruce residence halls for first-years and junior & senior housing available for sophomores

• leadership roles on the Honors College Student Council

• free student-run movie nights, paint nights, Six Flags trip, apple picking, game nights, and more

• free admission to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Institute of Contemporary Art & admission to regional theater performances

Take unique courses

• Friends with Benefits: Interpersonal Relationships and Health

• The U.S. Civil Rights Movement with a spring break trip to Alabama

• The Promise of Democratic Equality

• Making Sense of Transnational Terrorism

Tracie

- Associate Professor of Bioengineering

Honors students visited the Dexter Avenue Church in Montgomery, Alabama, where Martin Luther King lived and worked during the 1955 bus boycott. They are pictured with Wanda Battle (center), director of tour ministry.

Discipline-specific opportunities

Many of our programs offer distinct benefits for Honors students.

Pre-Law

• Honors-only course sequence in the Political Science Department

• UMass Law partnership including access to talks and events, and senior research projects with faculty

• trips to Washington DC and Massachusetts government sites

Pre-Med/Health

• housing & meal funding for the Chan Medical School Baccalaureate MD Program Pathway

• physician shadowing experience and mentoring

Psychology

• Honors pathway through foundation courses

• guaranteed summer research funding in 4+1 Research MA program in first year

• enrichment opportunities such as visiting MIT accessibility engineering lab

Biology

• Honors pathway through freshman-sophomore sequence

• lab research placement and funding

You’ll make an impact

Some of the research projects completed by Honors College students include:

• the impact of celebrity endorsements

• the effect of microplastics on zebrafish and possible risks for human development

• the relationship between resilience and positive outcomes in young adult friendships

• diagnostic methods in non-industrialized countries

• the production of materials to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and waste streams

Our Honors College students successfully compete for top jobs and admission to prestigious graduate schools.

• Quality Control Analyst at Thermo Fischer Scientific

• Member of the Boston Bruins marketing team

• PhD candidate at UMass Medical in the laboratory of Dr. Craig Mello, a Nobel prize winner

• Physican’s Assistant at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston

• Quantitative Research Associate at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute

• Associate Director, Regulatory Affairs at CRISPR Therapeutics in Boston

• Research technician at the U.S. Department of Agriculture

• Enrolled in graduate schools at Bentley MBA program, Cornell, Duke, Harvard, Northeastern, JD program at Roger WIlliams University, West Virginia University, and more

• Awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Marshall Scholarship, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, and the Michael S. Dukakis Internship in Public Service

Admission to the Honors College

You will automatically be evaluated for admission to the Honors College based on your application to UMass Dartmouth. Criteria includes:

• minimum GPA of 3.5

• SAT 1200/ACT 25*

• evidence of engaged learning, ambition, and resilience

• CVPA portfolio for art majors

*Scores are optional, not required.

Graduation requirements for the UMass Dartmouth Honors College

• Complete at least 24 honors credits (built into your program of study, requiring no extra credits or time to your degree).

• Maintain an overall GPA of 3.2.

• Earn a B or better in honors courses.

• Complete the final Academic Project or Experience (APEX).

My honors courses were unlike any of my other classes. I loved the discussions and the smaller class setting. I got to know the students sitting beside me. We had fun and interesting conversations.”

Trinity Faith Esposito ‘23

- Nursing

APEX Project: “Stories from a Nursing Student,“ a booklet of stories about her clinical experiences with patients umassd.edu/honors

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