The Campuswide Honors Curriculum for Transfer Students

Honors to Honors

If you are admitted to Campuswide Honors Collegium (CHC) as an Honors to Honors student, you have already completed your community college’s honors program with a 3.7 GPA or better. Students entering Campuswide Honors as Honors to Honors transfer students will be required to take one Campuswide Honors course during their first year at UCI. All Campuswide Honors students also engage in a minimum of two quarters of research that culminates in an honors thesis or creative project.

All other Transfer Students (Entering by Application)

If you have completed an approved community college honors program with a 3.5 GPA or better, and your completion is verified by your community college, your curriculum requirement for Campuswide Honors is one Campuswide Honors course during your first year at UCI and a minimum of two quarters of research that culminates in an approved honors thesis or creative project.

If you have not completed an approved community college honors program with a 3.5 GPA or better, your curriculum requirement for Campuswide Honors is at least three honors core courses, two quarters of research, and an approved honors thesis or creative project. The exact Campuswide Honors course requirement will be determined by the admissions committee as part of the review of your application.

Campuswide Honors GPA and Unit Requirements

Honors students must achieve an overall GPA of 3.2 by graduation and enroll in at least 12 units per quarter. All CHC courses must be taken for a letter grade.

Campuswide Honors Core Courses

Honors core course sequences are interdisciplinary in nature and often team-taught. They are designed to challenge students by exposing them to some of UCI’s best and most exciting faculty, while introducing important topics, issues and methods of inquiry across disciplines.

The honors course sequences available to transfer and upper division students are:

• • Honors Social Science Core (Critical Issues in the Social Sciences).
    Offered as Social Sciences H1G-H1F-H1E. This year-long sequence is team-taught by professors from the Schools of Social Science and Social Ecology. The topics presented in this sequence are studied from the perspectives of various social science disciplines, including anthropology, cognitive sciences, economics, international studies, linguistics, political science, psychology, social ecology, and sociology. Sample topics have included authority, (dis)obedience and human society; decisions, compromises, and their rewards and penalties; human vision/perception, learning and memory; human language – how do we learn it and what is its effect on our acquisition of knowledge; and exotic societies (including our own). This core course is offered for 6 units each quarter.
  • Honors Science Core (The Idiom and Practice of Science).
    Offered as Biology, Chemistry, Earth System Sciences, or Physics H90. (Students must complete three of the four courses.) This year-long sequence for non-science majors gives students an understanding of the role science plays in addressing socially significant problems. Students develop the ability to understand scientific models and to judge the content, merit, and limitations of many issues of science in the modern world. Emphasis is placed upon the development of analytical and writing skills. Topics have included ozone depletion/global warming, earthquakes, biodiversity/conservation, genetic plant engineering, calculus and partial differential equations, evolution/aging, radiation/diseases, the mathematics of power, and the physics of music. This core course is offered for 4 units each quarter.
  • Honors Seminars.
    Campuswide Honors offers specially designed seminars on a variety of topics each quarter taught by top UCI faculty. These courses are open to all rising sophomores, juniors, seniors, and Honors to Honors transfer students in Campuswide Honors on a first come, first served basis. The seminars are worth 4 units each. Honors students may take as many of these seminars as they wish.
  • Sustainable Societies.
    Open to all majors and consists of six sequential courses (one per quarter, 4 units per quarter) to be taken in the sophomore and junior years. Sustainable Societies is an honors curricular track where students will explore the features that impact the success and longevity of societies.

Campuswide Honors Research/Thesis Requirement

All Honors students participate in a minimum of two quarters of research. This experience culminates in the production of an honors thesis, creative project, or publication-quality paper. Most students actually end up spending 3 or more quarters on their research/thesis experience. How much will depend upon the discipline in which a student elects to do their research, the arrangements they make with their faculty mentors, and often, the nature of the project itself. Click here to view the Campuswide Honors Research/Thesis and Senior Year Handbook.