How to apply to the Honors College
Why Honors?
The Honors College opens the door to the best of the Northern Arizona University experience. You’ll be surrounded by a community of like-minded, ambitious, and curious students; welcomed into conversations with groundbreaking scholars and innovative artists; and encouraged to pursue projects that genuinely excite you.
We know you’re ready to climb higher. Seize your opportunity today.
Spring and Fall 2019 admission to Honors
All student applicants to the Honors College for Spring 2019 and beyond must:
- be admitted to NAU
- have an NAU user ID and password
- submit the following:
- online Honors Application (link at bottom of page)
- two Honors admissions essays
- resume or list of activities and accomplishments
Please have your essay and resume ready to submit before clicking the application link below. Documents are accepted in .doc, .docx, and .pdf formats only.
A confirmation email will be sent to the NAU email included in the online application, and all future correspondence from Honors is directed to that email.
Application policies
How we evaluate applications Accordion Closed
Admission to Honors is based on an evaluation of the student from a multitude of perspectives. We do take test scores and HS GPA into consideration for new freshmen (minimum transfer college or current NAU GPA required), but that criteria is not exclusively used to admit to Honors. Honors applicants for Fall 2018 average 27 on the ACT and 1234 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.
Important dates Accordion Closed
There is no deadline to apply to Honors, but we strongly encourage you be admitted to Honors prior to February 1 if you would like to live 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.
Honors Residential College admission policies Accordion Closed
The new 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. For Fall 2018, the Honors RC filled in June. 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. Please plan your on-campus housing application submission accordingly.
Scholarship consideration Accordion Closed
Submitting an application for Honors on or before November 12, 2018 will consider you for one of our limited Honors Merit Scholarships for Fall 2019. Notification of this award is made in late December 2018.
Essays
The length of your formal essays (1000 words minimum combined) should be no fewer than 500 words each. Your essays should be structured like an essay for an academic class. It will be evaluated both on your content and ideas as well as on writing conventions such as thesis, supporting evidence, organization, grammar, spelling, parallel construction, style, and mechanics. That said, think outside the box as you consider your response. Don’t follow the expected path; don’t tell us what you think we want to hear. Express yourself.
Prompts Accordion Closed
Please respond to essays #1 AND #2 for consideration of admission into Northern Arizona University’s Honors College. PLEASE NOTE these prompts are ONLY for FALL and Spring 2019 Admission.
- Briefly describe a current local, national or international event that has affected your education and its personal and academic significance. In addition, how has your understanding of, or relationship to, that event prepared you for a University Honors education? Be sure to address what you expect to contribute to your Honors education and how you see yourself growing (maturing?) from an Honors education.
- For Fall 2018, Honors College students read the novel Station Eleven by Emily St. John-Mandel. The text deals with civilization after a mysterious virus wipes out 90% of humanity. For your essay, imagine such a collapsed world and society. What would you miss most in a collapsed world? The novel mentions cars, air conditioning, can openers, the safety of one’s home, the light in a refrigerator, etc. Can you even imagine a time in the future when items such as these may actually have disappeared or become obsolete? What such items would you find essential to have in such a world? What items would not serve a purpose? Be sure to think beyond cell phones, computers, and other such technology when developing your arguments. Describe and defend your response.
Prompt #2 is a “stand-alone” prompt in that you are not expected nor required to read the text Station Eleven in order to craft your argument and support. If you feel you need more info on the story, you can find numerous study guides online. We are not expecting nor requiring essays to include in depth analysis or summaries of the text. Do not over think the prompt or your response to it—we want to see your ideas, not how well you relate them to specific ideas in the text. We provided you with enough of a summary that you should be able to articulate your response.
Please have your Honors College Essay of Admission (prompt above) and resume ready to submit before clicking the “Apply to Honors on-line” link below. This link is only accessible to prospective Honors students who have first been admitted to NAU who have a 3.0 HS Core GPA or higher. Essays should be submitted in .doc, .docx, or .pdf formats ONLY. Not submitting in one of these three formats will delay your admission decision. You are also asked to copy and paste your resume and essays into text boxes. Formatting will not be preserved in the text box, which is why we ask for an uploaded document. The evaluation of the essays and resume will not be affected by the appearance of the text box submission.
Your resume
Please consider this an opportunity for you to describe yourself to us in ways beyond a record of your employment. This document should help us find answers to questions like:
- What things are you interested in? What makes you tick?
- What student or community groups or organizations are you a member of?
- What do you do with your spare time? Did you play club/school sports? Do you volunteer? Where? How often?
- What leadership positions do you have?
Please note that we do deny student admission to Honors. Should you wish to have your application re-opened for a second review, please contact our office to re-open your application. We also ask that you submit a new essay and a new resume along with a completed teacher evaluation (send teacher evaluation to honorsadmissions@nau.edu).
Other admissions policies
Transfer student requirements Accordion Closed
Incoming students to the Honors College are considered “transfer students” when they are transferring 30 or more semester credit hours (earned post-HS graduation) into NAU and have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or above. Transfer students must submit an application, resume, and essay for consideration. Transfer transcripts must be on file at NAU for consideration.
Current student requirements Accordion Closed
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, you must have a cumulative Northern Arizona University grade point average of 3.30 or above.