Honors College requirements are designed to ensure that students receive a broad, liberal arts education from the best teaching and research faculty at USC. The goal is for our students to acquire essential intellectual skills and exposure to a range of perspectives and academic disciplines in the Honors environment, a distinctive learner-directed experience and philosophy composed of carefully selected teachers and students.
Curriculum
The Honors College curriculum consists of four categories:
- Honors core
- Honors electives
- One Beyond the Classroom experience
- Senior thesis
Together these will total the 44 Honors credit hours required to graduate from the university with honors from the South Carolina Honors College. You may choose to fulfill these requirements in any way that works with your major, minor or personal interests, meaning there is no specific order in which you must take certain classes.
Explanation of the Honors Requirements
Arts and Humanities: These courses explore the human experience, both past and present. Arts courses focus on creativity and aesthetics and often involve production and expression of ideas and concepts through various mediums. Humanities courses focus on understanding, interpreting and appreciating various aspects of human culture, expression and thought. Honors arts and humanities courses include art, English, history, law, music, theater, speech and more!
STEM: Courses in these areas usually fall within the fields of science, technology, engineering or mathematics. Honors STEM courses include areas such as biology, chemistry, physics, computer science, math or statistics, but you’ll also find a few in unexpected places, such as philosophy, geography, linguistics and business!
Social Science: These courses focus on the study of people – as individuals, communities and societies – and examine their behaviors and interactions with each other. Honors social science courses include political science, psychology, sociology, journalism and mass communications, public health, economics and more!
Honors Beyond the Classroom: This requirement is typically fulfilled through a credit-bearing experience that allows for exploration outside of the classroom, including an internship, research, service learning and study abroad. For more information on how to fulfill this requirement, visit our Honors Beyond the Classroom website.
Honors Electives: Any Honors course will fulfill this requirement, including Beyond the Classroom courses. For example, dive deeper into your major by taking Honors courses in your field of study, or explore something new, such as the Chemistry of Food, Heroes and Villains of the Ancient World or the Economics of Star Trek!
Senior Thesis: The four credit hours for the Honors senior thesis are broken into two SCHC courses:
| Thesis Courses | Credits Required | Course Description |
|---|---|---|
| Thesis Prep (SCHC 390) | 1 | Senior thesis preparation course, usually in the 6th semester. |
| Thesis (SCHC 499) | 3 | Usually register for 1 credit of SCHC 499 in the 7th semester and 2 credits of SCHC 499 in the 8th semester. |
Progression Requirements
| End of Semester | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPR | 3.0* | 3.0* | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.3** |
| Honors Credits | 0 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 18 | 27 | 27 | 36 |
* A student is expected to earn a minimum GPR of 3.0 in the first two semesters.
** A student must maintain a cumulative GPR of 3.3 in order to graduate with honors
from the South Carolina Honors College.
Minimum letter grade: "C" or better for any Honors course counted towards graduation
with honors.