Academic Honors

Messiah University Honors Program 

The Honors Program exemplifies Messiah University’s commitment to promoting academic excellence and fostering an intellectually rigorous Christian worldview, with the goal of equipping young men and women for lives of leadership and service.

The Honors Program is designed for students who demonstrate high scholarly ability early in their academic career. The honors curriculum is composed of three general education honors courses and a culminating honors experience. In addition to the credit-bearing curriculum, students regularly meet outside of the classroom at Honors Program events. Throughout the academic year, students also have opportunities to participate in on- and off-campus academic and cultural activities. Upon graduating from the program, students receive special recognition at Commencement, on their diploma, and on their transcript.

Students from all of the University’s applied and liberal arts majors are eligible to participate. Moreover, in keeping with the University’s commitment to educating the whole person, students in the Honors Program are encouraged to participate in the University’s many cocurricular opportunities.

The Honors Program is open to first-year students. Minimum qualifications generally include a minimum score of 1360 on the SAT, 29 on the ACT, or 91 on the CLT, as well as a high school GPA of 3.9 or above. Current qualifications are available on the website. No special application is required. As part of the regular admission process, students who meet the eligibility requirements are evaluated for the program. From the eligible pool of candidates, students are selected to attend an Honors Scholarship Day where they learn about the Honors Program, interview with a faculty member, and write a short essay. Afterwards, the interview, short essay, and other applications materials are evaluated and offers extended to approximately 120 students to enter to enter the program in the fall. Most students selected for the Honors Program receive either full or partial tuition scholarships. See our website for more information.

Honors Program Curricular Requirements

First year:

  • Fall semester: IDFY 102H First Year Seminar, honors section
  • Spring semester: HONR 200: Pursuing the Good Life

Sophomore or Junior year:

  • One honors intercultural-US or Intercultural-Global course. Honors Intercultural credit requirements can only be met at the Grantham campus or through the Honors summer Rome program.

Junior or Senior year: Culminating Honors Experience, which can be met in one of the following two ways:

  • Senior Honors Project, which can be taken either within the student’s department or within the Honors Program for 4-6 credit hours. This is a two-semester project that can take a variety of forms. All projects must fulfill the parameters for the Senior Honors Project.
  • Senior Honors Seminar (HONR 497) for 3 credit hours. An interdisciplinary capstone seminar for students in the Honors Program. The thematic focus of each seminar will be defined by the professor and will include intensive reading, discussion, and a written research paper.

Honors Program Activities

Each semester, the Honors Program sponsors a number of enrichment events, including lectures, panel discussions, presentations, cultural events, and day trips. All students in the Honors Program will attend at least two of these events each semester they are enrolled as a full-time student at the main campus.

Eligibility Requirements for the Honors Program

In order for a student in the Honors Program to graduate as an Honors Scholar, the student must have a 3.3 cumulative GPA at the end of their penultimate semester (in addition to fulfilling all the other requirements of the Honors Program).

Honor Societies

The University is affiliated with several national honor societies in selected academic disciplines. Students who excel in their academic major may be invited to join the respective society. Nominations are made during the junior and senior years.

Honors Smith Scholar Interns

The Smith Scholar Intern Program allows highly qualified upper-class students to work in apprentice relationships with faculty members and to participate in a significant research project. Junior and senior students may participate. Additional information is available from the Office of Faculty Development.