How to apply to the Honors College

Admission to Honors is based on an evaluation of the student from a multitude of perspectives. We do take test scores and HS Core GPA into consideration for new freshmen (minimum transfer college or current NAU GPA required) if submitted, but that criteria is not exclusively used to admit to Honors. Honors applicants for Fall 2021 average 27 on the ACT and 1220 on the Math and Reading portions of the SAT, and a 3.76 HS Core GPA. Honors College applicants must have a 3.0 Core HS GPA.

We accept applications to the Honors College all year (Sept 1 ->August 15), but we strongly encourage you be admitted to Honors prior to February 1 if you would like to live on campus and in the Honors Residential College (RC) (this date allows you to ensure room placement in the Honors College); and April 1 is our priority date to ensure enrollment in our first year Honors seminar. Admission to Honors will continue through the Summer on a space available basis. Our application closes each year on Aug 15.

The Honors RC is available on a space-available basis. If you wish to live in Honors RC, please secure Honors College Admission in advance of these dates above.  Also note that application to Honors does not guarantee admission to Honors, nor is application to Honors considered for hall placement in the Honors Residential College. Admission to Honors does not guarantee placement in Honors Housing, as that is done on a space-available basis, so please plan your on-campus housing application submission accordingly. Any questions about Housing in Honors should be directed to Housing and Residential Life.

Learn how to apply for honors housing

Submitting an application for Honors on or before November 15, will consider you for one of our limited Honors Merit Scholarships for the following Spring or Fall enrollment term. Notification of this award will be made in late December. We will consider applications after this date on a “funds available” basis.

Spring and Fall 2023 Admission prompts are NOW available through the links below. We anticipate posting prompts for the upcoming academic year 2024 on or around July 1, 2023.

1. Essay 1 instructions: The purpose of this essay is to give us a chance to see you think through a problem in writing, and like many problems you will encounter in college classes, this one has no single or simple right answer. A strong essay will have a main point—a thesis or argument—and will support that point through a discussion and analysis of examples and other kinds of evidence. A successful essay will also be concerned with exploring the complexity of an issue, and with recognizing and acknowledging the value of different perspectives. Finally, and in addition to seeing how you think through a problem, we will also be looking at your command of basic academic writing conventions, including organization and paragraph structure, spelling, usage, style, and mechanics. Your response should be, at minimum, 500 words in length. Essay 1 Prompt:
   In the now-classic book Bowling Alone (2000), political scientist Robert Putnam uses the phrase “social capital” to denote the value of regular casual interactions to the smooth functioning of society. In that book, and more recently in The Upswing (2020), Putnam traces a noticeable decline in social capital in the United States over the past 60 years, a trend he sees as being dangerous to social and political life. This specific argument raises several larger and long-standing questions: What is the nature of the good society, and more specifically what is the relation, or proper balance, between individual and communal values and impulses in creating and maintaining a good society? How much individualism or even isolation is important? How much is too much? Why? In developing your answer, you may want to discuss examples of highly or poorly functioning social groups with which you are familiar. But please note that this is not a personal essay, so please do not compose your paper in the first person. In other words, please limit your use of “I” statements. Look at social groups as if you were viewing them from the outside.
2. “Essay” 2:This “essay” asks for you to provide only a list, without any explanation or justification, of five activities, experiences, or traits that you feel either best describe you or have most influenced who you are and/or your ambitions. You will be evaluated on how you follow these directions and on what you include–and don’t include. Remember: we only want a list, so any explanations of items on that list will not work in your favor. There is no minimum word/page count for this response.

Incoming students to the Honors College are considered “transfer students” when they are transferring 24 or more semester credit hours (earned post-HS graduation) into NAU and have a cumulative grade point average of 3.3 or above. Transfer students must submit an application, resume, and essay for consideration. Transfer transcripts must be on file at NAU for consideration.

If you are not admitted for new or transfer admission, you may apply for the Honors College after completing 12 credit hours of letter-graded coursework at Northern Arizona University. Current NAU students must submit an application, resume, and essay for consideration. The coursework to be considered for admission must count toward liberal studies and/or toward major or minor requirements.

Reminder: to be eligible for admission as a current NAU student, you must have a cumulative Northern Arizona University grade point average of 3.30 or above.