The Honors Program was established at Northwest University to provide an interdisciplinary space for the development of students specifically gifted in the academic arena. The Honors Program will empower these students as scholars, servants, and citizens, holding them to exceptionally high standards both within the classroom and the community. 

Admissions

While the Honors Program does have basic GPA and test score requirements listed below, an even more crucial factor in a student’s admission is his or her entire intellectual orientation. The Honors Program seeks students with a voracious appetite for learning—an innate curiosity that crosses disciplinary boundaries and that finds in all academic fields signposts pointing toward God’s goodness, beauty, and truth. The other requirements are included below.

• GPA: High School GPA of 3.75 or higher
• Test Scores: At least one of the following:
• SAT (new, beginning March 2016) – 1300 or higher
• SAT (old, before March 2016) – 1840 or higher
• ACT – 28 or higher
• Completion of an Honors Admissions Essay
• To remain in the Honors Program, students must be enrolled for full-time study, maintaining a 3.30 GPA (renewable with a 3.00 for the first semester only).

Activities 

Students accepted into the Honors Program will have opportunities as:

• Scholars, to achieve academic excellence through participation in research, production of an Honors Thesis, and publication in Harvest, NU’s journal of original student research.
• Servants, to embody spiritual vitality through student leadership, participation in service projects on campus, and local mission projects coordinated with Campus Ministries.
• Citizens, to engage with human need through Multicultural Life events, global and local mission trips, and culminating in a study trip to Washington D.C. 

Outcomes

Upon completion of the Honors Program, students will be able to: 

• Demonstrate a healthy understanding of their identity as regenerated people created in the image of God.
• Collaborate effectively with others to create high-quality products.
• Create intellectually robust Christian responses to significant, interdisciplinary problems in the world.
• Produce graduate-level work or presentations suitable for publication in a student’s respective field.

Honors Program Requirements

Students in the Honors Program must take the following Honors courses, which have trip fees associated with them:

• ENGL 1023H Honors Composition II: Rhetoric & Research Writing
• COMM 1213H Honors Fundamentals of Speech
• HIST 1543H Honors Western Civilization
• PSCI 2843H Honors Topics in Political Science

Students in the Honors Program must pass the following courses to graduate “with Honors”:

• ENGL 3792H Honors Thesis   
• ENGL 3801H Honors Thesis Independent Study

Students in the Honors Program must pass seven of the following Honors courses to graduate “with Honors”:

• COMM 1213H Honors Fundamentals of Speech
• ENGL 1023H Honors Composition II: Rhetoric & Research Writing
• ENGL 2843H Honors Topics in Literature
• HIST 1543H Honors Western Civilization
• PSCI 2843H Honors Topics in Political Science
• PSYC 1013H Honors General Psychology
• SCIE 1843/1H Honors Topics in Science with Lab
• THEO 1213H Honors Christian Thought

To remain in the Honors Program, students must be enrolled for full-time study, maintain a 3.30 GPA (renewable with a 3.00 GPA for the first semester only), and participate in service projects and community events under the direction of the Honors Program director.