About UW Honors
General Information
Thank you for your interest in the University of Washington Honors Program. Here are links to pages where you can find out more about our program. If you can't find out everything you want to know about us here, send us an email at uwhonors@u.washington.edu.
Download the Honors Program general information brochure (PDF) »
Overview
The University Honors Program provides a special learning context for high-achieving students looking for a rigorous and enhanced educational experience. Two components of the Honors Program, College Honors and Departmental Honors, annually enroll approximately 1200 undergraduates, with about two-thirds of the students in College Honors and the remaining one-third in Departmental Honors.
Most Honors students enter the Full College Honors Program as incoming freshmen. This Honors option is a four-year track through our program consisting of an Honors Core followed by Departmental Honors and results in a degree earned "With College Honors." The rest of our students participate only in Departmental Honors (which students enter once they enter their department). Completion of Departmental Honors alone results in a degree earned "With Distinction."
Bringing selected faculty into close contact with dedicated students in the atmosphere of small, challenging classes allows the Honors Program to combine the intimacy and a sense of community of a small, liberal arts college with the strengths of an excellent public research university. The Honors Program offers intellectual and cultural diversity, and world-class faculty and facilities. In short, we offer affordable excellence located within Seattle's cosmopolitan setting.
Honors does not attempt to replace the University experience; rather it aims to enhance it. Through seminar-style classes and close interaction with faculty, Honors students acquire excellent analytical reading and writing skills. These will be invaluable assets as they continue in their academic and professional pursuits. Immediate and continuing contact with Honors faculty, support staff and students, and the growth of an Honors learning community are among the more obvious benefits of such a structure.
The Honors core curriculum is interdisciplinary in design and incorporates an international perspective. Members of the Full College Honors Program normally enroll in one honors course each quarter (roughly one-third of their academic experience) and complete their degrees at the same pace as other undergraduates. Indeed, many find that the flexibility of Honors allows them to gain experience in interests outside their majors, including study abroad, community activities, and internships.
As part of this learning community, Honors students begin to establish connections with Honors faculty from their first term on campus, enjoy the stimulation of like-minded peers, and accept the challenge to read critically, to confront and discuss new ideas, and to write effectively. Honors offers a distinctive general education core curriculum where students learn together in classes of about 30 students and where the emphasis is on demanding reading, energetic discussion, and serious writing.