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.