List of Honors College Core and Graduation Requirements

The following information is subject to change. Check with the Office of the Dean in the Honors College and the FAU catalog to confirm College and University graduation requirements and policies.

Transfer students with an A.A. degree need only satisfy the non-core graduation requirements. For all other transfer students, transfer credits can satisfy the Core if approved by the petitions committee.

For students who entered in the 2002-2004 academic years, all requirements are the same as for students entering in 2004-2005 and later with one exception: for students who do a study abroad, the Critical Inquiry Seminar requirement is reduced from three courses to two.

Core Requirements

Core Checklist

Social and Behavioral Analysis (1 course, 3 credits)
Culture, Ideas and Values (1 course, 3 credits)
Natural Sciences (2 courses, 6-8 credits): At least one of these courses must include a laboratory section. The two courses must be in two distinct disciplines within the natural sciences.
Literature (1 course, 3 credits)
Arts (1 course, 3 credits)
Math (2 courses, 6-8 credits): Courses must be at or above the level of Pre-calculus.
Writing (4 WAC courses, 12 credits). Students entering prior to Fall 2011 may alternatively satisfy the writing requirement through 3 writing courses, at least one of which must be a Writing in the Disciplines (WID) course (3-7 credits). Students required to take ENC 1123 will count it as one of the three core writing courses.
Writing Portfolio (Click on "Core Requirements" tab)

Other Graduation Requirements

Foreign Language (2 courses, 8 credits): 1120/1121 or equivalent.

Interdisciplinary Critical Inquiry (3 courses, 5-9 credits): Each course that satisfies the Critical Inquiry requirement must be team taught by faculty from different disciplines. Courses may be 1 or 3 credits but at least one of the courses must be 3 credits. Courses may be at any level, 1000-4000. Team-taught courses used to satisfy the critical inquiry seminar may not be used to satisfy other Core requirements but may satisfy the International and Environmental Study requirement or be used towards concentration requirements.

Internship (minimum 3 credits) or Study Abroad (minimum 5 weeks and 3 credits).

International and Environmental Studies (2 courses, 1 in each area; 2-6 credits): Courses used to satisfy this requirement may also be used to satisfy Core requirements.

Distribution Electives (2 courses, 6 credits): Students must take two additional courses in two distinct disciplines, one within the humanities and one within the social sciences. Students are encouraged to take courses designed to satisfy the SBA, CIV, Literature, or Arts requirements in fulfilling this requirement, but any Honors College course within the humanities or social sciences may be used so long as it is not used to satisfy other Core requirements. Distribution electives may not be counted towards a primary concentration.

Additional University graduation requirements must be fulfilled. These are available online. Honors College students do not need to fulfill the 'Intellectual Foundations Program' requirement as they fulfill the Honors College Core requirement instead.

SLS requirement: For students entering prior to Fall 2009, a 1 credit SLS course.

Honors Forum: 2 courses, 2 credits.

120-credits to graduate.

Concentration: Minimum "C" grade in a course to count that course for a concentration (effective starting with students entering Fall 2005).

Minimum G.P.A. requirement: Presently 2.0 for FAU. Freshmen who have a g.p.a. below 2.0 are on freshmen warning; a consecutive semester below 2.0 places them on probation; a third consecutive semester below 2.0 requires suspension. For all other students, a semester below 2.0 places them on probation, and a second consecutive semester below 2.0 requires suspension.

Non-Honors College courses: No more than 15% of the credits taken to satisfy the 120-credit requirement, less AP, IB, and transfer credits, may be taken outside the Honors College without permission of the Dean. These courses can count toward the 120-credit requirement for graduation only upon petition. Students must show that the course they are taking elsewhere is not offered at the Honors College or if offered, that they were unable to take it due to scheduling conflicts. Click here for further information.

COURSE LOAD: Full-time undergraduate students are those who are registered for 12 or more credits in the Fall or Spring terms. In the Summer term full-time is 6 credits or more in each of A, B, or C term. Students who drop courses during a semester and fall below these levels will be considered part-time and they may be risking scholarships, housing, and athletic eligibility.

Add/Drop and Withdrawl

The end of the first week of classes is the last day for adding courses and changing sections. For dropping the following will apply:

The student will receive no grade and the course will not appear on the academic record if the appropriate form is filed during the first four weeks of the semester. However, a withdrawal comment will be posted on the electronic record.
The student will receive a grade of "W" in the course if the appropriate form is filed during the fifth through eight weeks of the semester. The course is fee-liable and is counted toward the limit beyond which the excess credits surcharge applies.
After the eighth week of the semester, dropping courses or withdrawing from the University is not permitted without receiving a grade of "F" (approved petitions and approved medical withdrawals are exempt from this on a case-by-case basis).

Forgiveness Policy

The University Forgiveness Policy permits an undergraduate student to repeat an undergraduate FAU course and allow only the last grade to count in the grade point average. Students will be permitted to apply the forgiveness policy at any time prior to graduation to a grade earned in a course taken during the completion of their degree program at FAU. Students will be permitted to apply the forgiveness policy to any grade earned in a course taken at FAU and repeated at FAU. This policy may be applied only twice during a student's study at the University, and must be requested by the student for each course repeated. Repeated Course Cards are available at the Registrar's Office. The policy does not remove the previous grade, but eliminates the effect of that grade on the FAU cumulative GPA by removing it from the computation.