Honors Experience
An experiential approach to honors education
The Ohio Honors Program (OHP) is an experience-based program with a commitment to broadening students’ scope of understanding through personal reflection and collaborative work. OHP students develop a range of knowledge, skills, and relationships through meaningful experiences in and out of the classroom. These experiences reflect a shared vision toward informed, positive change within local and global communities.
Designed to complement any undergraduate major, OHP students apply their learning through internships, community engagement, hands-on research, study away programs, and other experiential learning activities.
Why Honors
The OHIO Honors Program provides the opportunities, support, and guidance necessary for students to stretch themselves intellectually and apply their knowledge in ways that continue the learning process. Regular interaction across academic disciplines expands their understanding of the world and their capacity to craft creative responses to the challenges they face in the classroom and beyond.
OHIO Honors students receive:
- Honors designation on transcripts and diplomas
- Priority registration
- Access to honors housing
- Individualized honors advising
- Support for experiential learning outside the classroom
- Critical reflection to support academic learning, personal growth, and career readiness
- Professional Networking
- OHP social and cultural events
- Leadership opportunities within honors
Honors Experiences
OHIO Honors Program students engage in curriculars (honors coursework) and co-curriculars (experiential learning) over the course of four years. Working closely with a dedicated honors advisor, OHP students will map out a customized plan that is tailored to their academic, professional, and personal goals. Each OHP path is unique and students have the opportunity to explore new ideas and fulfill goals through a customized experience.
Co-Curricular Experiences
A co-curricular experience in the OHIO Honors Program (OHP) is a meaningful learning opportunity outside of the classroom that complements a student's academic coursework while supporting their personal, professional, and leadership development. Co-curricular experiences may include internships, research, study away, leadership roles, employment, creative activities, community engagement, mentoring, or other experiential opportunities that align with one or more of OHP's pathways: Leadership, Community Engagement, or Research and Creative Activity. Students engage in a structured reflection process before, during, and after the experience to connect their learning to their academic goals, evaluate their personal growth, and identify how the experience will inform future opportunities.
Curricular Experiences
A curricular experience in the OHIO Honors Program (OHP) is an approved honors course that provides students with academically rigorous, interdisciplinary, and enriched learning opportunities beyond the standard curriculum. Students earn one curricular experience for each honors course completed, which may include Honors Tutorial College (HC) courses, honors adaptations (A), departmental honors (H), service-learning/community engagement (C) courses, designated honors courses, independent studies, graduate courses, or student-led curricular projects. Together with co-curricular experiences, honors courses allow students to customize their honors education to align with their academic interests, career goals, and intellectual curiosity while fulfilling the program's graduation requirements.
Capstone Portfolio
Students in the OHIO Honors Program complete a portfolio in their final year that documents their cumulative experiences and demonstrates how they have applied what they’ve learned in preparation for their next professional or educational pursuit. These projects provide evidence of the significant practical experience students gain through their co-curricular endeavors and the interdisciplinary engagement they encounter throughout their time in the OHIO Honors Program. Students have the option of enrolling in HC4950: OHIO Honors Capstone to participate in a structured reflection seminar that assists students in the curation of their portfolios. This course also counts as an OHIO BRICKS Capstone general education requirement.
Program Structure and Requirements
To receive the OHIO Honors designation upon graduation, students must have earned a 3.3 cumulative grade point average and completed up to 13 honors experiences with the required number appropriately scaled to the number of semesters in the program.
OHP Students Complete:
3 Common Experiences:
- HC2400: Introduction to OHIO Honors
- HC240: Honors Engagement Lab
- OHIO Honors Capstone Portfolio
10 Individualized Experiences:
- These are a combination of curricular and co-curricular experiences that include embedded reflection. Students will work with their dedicated honors advisors to map out their individualized plan. Typically, students complete 1-2 honors experiences each semester.