Illinois Honors is an interconnected array of special opportunities for undergraduate students of loftier ambition and bookish accomplishment.

What is Illinois Honors?

At Illinois, we offer honors options of several kinds: support for students applying for nationally competitive scholarships; honors piece of work in bookish departments; the college-wide James Scholar honors programs; and the community of "Chancellor'southward Scholars" in the Campus Honors Program.

Because graduation requirements for these programs often overlap, it'south possible to complete more than ane without a great deal of additional course work. Every year, many Illinois students graduate with several kinds of academic distinction.

What's Special About Illinois Honors?

Higher students can excel in different means. Sometimes their special strengths and enthusiasms are brought to life when they discover a major. Other students thrive in interdisciplinary seminars and co-curricular activities; in interactions and friendships with distinguished scholars and scientists; in audacious and intellectually challenging experience abroad; or in independent enquiry, leadership, and service.

It'southward not unusual for Illinois students to reach their own academic "loftier gear" later than their start semester. Immature people on our campus modify, and as a cooperating confederation of programs, Illinois Honors can be there for y'all when you're ready for honors-level work.

Your Freshman Honors Experience

When yous are admitted as a James Scholar or Chancellor's Scholar, your first yr volition include special opportunities and events with the post-obit objectives:

To assist build friendships with other students who share a special interest in intellectual adventure and professional growth;

To introduce the vast variety of resources and events at Illinois, the worlds of learning and culture but beyond the classroom door.

Beyond the Freshman Year

The academy promotes and supports students applying for nationally competitive awards. The National and International Scholarships Programme challenges aspiring scholars to make the well-nigh of their time at Illinois and assists applicants for awards such equally the Fulbright, Rhodes, and Truman Scholarships in sharing their profiles with pick committees.

For further information about these opportunities, delight visit the National and International Scholarships Program website.

When you continue every bit a James Scholar or Chancellor's Scholar, you can expect to participate in honors seminars or inquiry experiences offered by your chosen major department or your college. Some of these programs offer study abroad options and numerous co-curricular activities, or internships and field experiences for professional development.

Honor Societies

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recognizes more than 50 independent honor societies.

Among the prestigious national honor societies with campus chapters at Illinois are Tau Beta Pi (Engineering), Beta Gamma Sigma (Business), Kappa Delta Pi (Teaching), Phi Beta Kappa (LAS), Phi Kappa Phi (campus-wide), and the freshman accolade societies Blastoff Lambda Delta, Gamma Sigma Delta (ACES), and Phi Eta Sigma.

Membership in these societies is usually decided in your junior or senior year. For more data, confer with the local representative of the lodge that offers membership to yous, or consult with a dean or bookish advisor in your departmental or college office.

Dean's List

For each fall and spring semester, a Dean's List is compiled and published by each college, recognizing students who have completed on campus a full course-load of traditionally-graded semester-hours, achieving at least a "B" average for that term, and ranking in the meridian 20% of the grade. Additional criteria are established by each higher.

Honors Upon Graduation

Qualifying seniors are eligible for recognition based upon scholastic merit. Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, and Summa Cum Laude are citations conferred by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences for high grade-point averages and completion of an intellectually-challenging curriculum. Honors, High Honors, and Highest Honors are distinctions conferred past the following University of Illinois colleges: Agronomical, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, Applied Life Studies, Business organization, Media, Engineering, Educational activity, and Fine and Applied Arts.

Qualifications for Cum Laude, Honors and higher designations are determined by each college. Also conferred in jump semester, Statuary Tablet honors the tiptop 3% of graduates from each college. These students receive special recognition and regalia at graduation ceremonies, and their names are inscribed on the tablets in the outset-floor corridors of the University Library. In addition, many Illinois academic departments award Distinction, High Distinction, or Highest Distinction for the completion of honors-quality piece of work every bit specified in these curricula.