Honors Diplomas
In addition to maintaining a 3.50 grade point average, students must fulfill the appropriate requirements for the amount of Honors credit necessary to fulfill the particular Honors degree that they have chosen. While Honors is a complex structure for all students, it is simplicity itself for each individual student. A student may choose from six distinct degree options in University Honors: Commonwealth Scholar, Scholar in Health Studies, Honors Scholar, in Honors, Honors Baccalaureate, and the Combined Bachelor’s/Master’s Program.
Why, you may ask, are there six options to Honors study at Virginia Tech? The answer is that, as a comprehensive university, Virginia Tech offers a number of majors, minors, concentrations, and other opportunities—each with its own particular structure. Some majors require extraordinary credit hours and others are more flexible. Tech admits students both as beginning students and as transfer students. Thus, six options provide increased opportunity for students to select a program tailored to their needs. Additionally, the Honors advisors will provide additional flexibility for the student to meet Honors requirements so long as the student is seeking more rigor rather than less.
The Honors staff is not responsible for your completion of an Honors degree—you are. Our responsibilities are to advise when asked and, as representatives of the University, to ensure that students awarded Honors degrees have earned the right to do so.
Honors diplomas are usually declared by the beginning of sophomore year, unless the student is a transfer student.
All diplomas require the student to have a GPA of 3.50 or above, with no exceptions.
Honors Courses
Most diplomas call for twelve hours of Honors courses or more. There are many ways to receive Honors credit, yet a few things should be kept in mind:
- the courses must be taken A-F, and a "B" or better must be earned in each course, and
- only three hours of 1000/2000-level courses will count toward the diploma.
Additionally, any course that you take may be turned into an Honors course with the proper paperwork filled out before the course begins.
No exceptions may be made to these rules.
Undergraduate Research
Two degrees, in Honors and Honors Baccalaureate, specifically require Honors Undergraduate Research that culminates in a thesis. Students work with faculty to explore their area of expertise and ask the question of why.