By Application

Transfer students to UCI may apply to join Campuswide Honors if they have completed one quarter or more as a full-time student (12 graded units), with a 3.5 GPA or higher. (Please note that students who are admitted to Honors often have GPAs higher than the minimum required for consideration.) Transfer students may submit applications until the Monday (08:00AM PST) of Week 3 of winter quarter of their first year at UCI using their UCI transcript. Transfer students beginning their first quarter at UCI may also apply after they have submitted their Statement of Intent to Register to UCI and before starting classes at UCI using their community college transcript, if their community college cumulative GPA is 3.5 or higher. To be considered for fall quarter admission, you must apply no later than August 1 at 11:59 p.m. (PST). Students may submit one application to the CHC. Additional applications will not be considered.

Honors Curriculum Requirements for Transfer Students

Students are encouraged to apply to the CHC as soon as they are ready. For continuing UCI students, applications are accepted until week 2 of winter quarter of sophomore year. Transfer students are eligible to apply until week 2 of winter quarter of the first year at UCI.

Campuswide Honors GPA and Unit Requirements

Honors students must achieve an overall grade point average of 3.2 or above 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.