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"The Honors Program is not an assembly of 'the smart kids,' a line on your transcript, or a compilation of easily forgotten lectures your parents will be pleased you attended. Honors students do not measure success purely by grades and accolades, but by days well-lived." --From Welcome to Honors (HRA Brochure)
Welcome to the LSA Honors Program prospective student process. We have everything here you need to succeed in completing your Honors Application, as well as many Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), information on how to transfer, and academic information. Take some time to navigate around. If you find you have additional questions, contact Honors Admissions. We generally respond within 24 business hours.
On this page, you will find answers to the questions:
- What is the Honors Program?
- How Do I Apply to the Honors Program?
- What are the Deadlines for Applying?
You will find additional information by using the links in the right margin.
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What is the Honors Program?
The LSA Honors Program is a four-year program that provides an especially rich and challenging set of academic offerings to talented and highly motivated students in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts. Through special courses, intensive faculty contact, and thoughtful advising, the Honors Program enables students to identify their intellectual interests and to pursue them as deeply and as far as they can. Approximately 500 students will form the class entering Honors this year, arriving from a wide variety of backgrounds and interested in every field of study of LSA, sharing a love of learning and a desire to pursue the life of the mind.
As an Honors student, you have the opportunity to take Honors courses from across LSA’s varied curriculum. Just what makes a course “Honors” depends on the content and the faculty member’s approach to a topic, but all Honors courses promise extensive student-faculty contact and intensive interaction with the best students at the University of Michigan. To find out more about Honors courses, Honors requirements and more, go to Academic Information.
Finally, as an Honors student, you can apply to live in Honors Housing with other students who are just as passionate as you are about learning. As part of the Honors community, you'll share in a wide array of programs and opportunities enriching your Michigan experience.
How Do I Apply to the Honors Program?
Admissions for Fall 2013 are currently closed. Please use this general information for Fall 2014; Essay Questions will be posted later this fall for this application process.
Any student who has been admitted to the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts may apply to the Honors Program. Honors does search for students whose UM applications strongly indicate that they are well suited for our especially challenging and stimulating academic environment and invites these students to apply to the Program. Our initial screening of admissions data, however, can only tell us so much about a student's focus and engagement. If you are the kind of student who seeks out academic challenges and has a strong desire to be part of a vigorous intellectual community, you should apply to Honors whether we send you an invitation or not, so that we can fully consider how well the Honors Program would match your interests and goals.
We will closely evaluate your UM application along with a supplemental essay to help us determine whether you are the kind of student who might thrive in the Honors Program's rigorous academic environment. While the Honors Program reserves the right to invite select students solely on the merits of their UM applications, we give first consideration to students who do write essays.
Honors evaluates the Honors essays and UM applications of students interested in the Program throughout the Admissions season, December-May. While we do have deadlines, a student interested in Honors should send her/his essay to us as soon as possible. The sooner we receive your essay, the sooner we may be able to let you know that you have been accepted in the Program. Once we receive your essay, we will try to evaluate it and your UM application within three weeks. We will admit the strongest applicants early in the process while also determining early on that some students will not fit well in Honors, and we promptly inform these candidates about our decisions. In many cases, however, we need to defer our decision until we know what shape our incoming class will take.
What are the Deadlines for Applying?
We are no longer accepting applications for Fall 2013, due to space considerations for our incoming class.
For incoming freshman in the Class of 2014, please check back later this fall.
