So I am confused. In the movie “Legally Blonde”, it said that Elle Woods graduated with “Honors”. Then I heard that in some colleges like CSULB, you have to be in the honors program to live in a specific dorm. So what exactly is Honors? Is it that you take honors courses in college? You have a certain GPA? A certain program for students who feel like they can handle a heavier workload? ALL of the above? I am confused. Help me, please.
Honors at graduation means you have maintained a specific GPA throughout your college career. The most common Honors at Graduation are Latin Honors: Graduating With Honors Requirements: Graduation with honors cum laude requirements vary. Cum laude grade point average estimates: gpa for cum laude - 3.5 to 3.7; gpa for magna cum laude - 3.8 to 3.9; gpa for summa cum laude - 4.0+. Magna cum laude gpa and summa cum laude gpa can tie, broken by additional factors.
Honors colleges:
Publicly supported state schools often create honors colleges to attract talented students who might otherwise select a liberal arts college or private research university. Therefore, honors students can expect to get the equivalent of an education at a smaller school for significantly lower tuition costs. Honors colleges offer students the chance to attend smaller classes, interact with full-time faculty, live in the honors housing community, and sometimes receive priority registration. Attending an honors program paints a positive picture on a student’s academic reputation, so it gives an excellent background if applying for graduate, medical, veterinary, or law school post Undergrad but necessarily a requirement.
Honors colleges typically focus on academics, which cuts down on time for extra-curricular activities and even hands-on internship experiences. Also, the application process for an honors program will be highly selective with additional essays and interviews required. Not all Honors colleges are created equal so it is important to research the advantages and disadvantages the Honors college at each school of interest.
Since you have been focusing your college search on the Cal States, here is a link to SDSU’s Weber Honors college which is one of the best Honors Colleges in the CSU system. Top applicants will be invited to apply in December for their priority deadline in January, but all applicants can apply for their March deadline.