Programs and Courses

The Honors Program at Bethel University offers selected students the opportunity to work with other highly motivated scholars during their college careers at Bethel.

It is a broad-based, liberal arts program combining four all-honors classes; individual work with professors of your choice in two additional courses; and an ongoing program of social events, cultural activities, speakers, and forum presentations.

During your senior year, the Honors Program flows into advanced work in your major through a department-sponsored Senior Honors Project, which may be a scientific experiment, an original artistic work, a senior research thesis, or a similar project.

Honors Program students are exempt from several standard curriculum requirements, so the honors degree requires no more credits than a regular degree and can be completed within a normal workload.
Course Descriptions

The program is structured as follows:
Freshman Year	Sophomore Year
HON100 (fall) Humanities Colloquium HON102B (spring) Meaning and Persons	HON201G (fall) Concepts of Community One honors course (fall or spring). It may be any 200-level or higher course. The honors student contracts with the professor to further explore course material or projects. The purpose is not to assign more work, but to achieve a higher level of student-professor interaction within the established syllabus.
Junior Year	Senior Year
HON301K (fall) Science and the Pursuit of Truth One honors course (fall or spring) at the 300 level or above	Senior Honors Project (fall and/or spring). The nature and scope of the project will be established within the student's department of major, with the final product evaluated by a reader or juror outside the department.

Students who complete the Bethel University Honors Program will have the "Honors Program Graduate" designation added to their transcripts along with whatever general academic honors they earn. Such recognition can enhance graduate school options and employment prospects.

Our goal is to accept about 25 new students into the Honors Program each year, with nearly an equal number of men and women. Students usually enter the program at the start of their freshman year. Transfer students should contact the Honors Program director.

You must commit to two honors courses your first year and maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.3, rising to 3.4 by the end of your sophomore year.

If you have further questions, please contact Marion Larson, director of the Honors Program, at 651-638-6299 or m-larson@bethel.edu. You may also contact the Office of Admissions via e-mail (bcoll-admit@bethel.edu) or by calling 651-638-6242 or 800-255-8706, ext. 6242.

The Honors Program application may be completed and submitted on Bethel's website. The online application can be accessed at http://cas.bethel.edu/admissions