Graduation Requirements

Students admitted to the Honors College may select any major offered by the university and are expected to maintain a cumulative 3.3 GPA. In order to graduate “with honors from the South Carolina Honors College,” you must complete at least 44 hours of Honors course credits, including courses in arts and humanities, STEM, social science, electives of your choice and the Beyond the Classroom requirement. In addition, students are required to complete a senior thesis or project. 

 

Curriculum

The Honors College provides students with greater depth within their majors — honors courses are offered in every major — and greater breadth across the curriculum. We are one of the nation's top ranked honors programs based largely on our outstanding curriculum, and have remained at the top.

Honors courses aren't regular classes with more assignments or more difficult work. They're smaller, innovative, interactive, and they will spur you to explore new ideas and viewpoints. 

Advisement

Individual attention and personal mentoring is a hallmark of the Honors College. All Honors students are assigned to an advisor with expertise in Honors requirements and opportunities. Your advisor will guide you through the Honors curriculum and requirements and help you make strategic course selections to meet your academic and post-graduation goals. Your advisor will also support your pursuit of Beyond the Classroom opportunities, including study abroad, internships, undergraduate research and service learning courses. 

Beyond the Classroom

With our "Beyond the Classroom" requirement, we’ve developed a liberal arts curriculum for the 21st century. Students are required to experience real-life learning outside of the traditional classroom setting and with educational adventures like study away, internships, service learning and research. Honors students also are encouraged to pursue prestigious national fellowships and join the ranks of the many Gamecocks who have earned over $45 million in national fellowship awards.

Learning outside the classroom adds value to your education and allows you to apply what you're learning to a variety of real-world experiences.

Senior Thesis

The Honors College senior thesis is a remarkable opportunity unlike any other at the University of South Carolina. Although the thesis is a requirement for graduation from the South Carolina Honors College, we encourage students to consider it an opportunity to express the quality of their intellectual development and draw their undergraduate learning experiences together. It is a chance for students to ask and answer meaningful questions about the natural world, social or political systems, history and culture, artistic expression, the creative process, or the application of knowledge to specific challenges. Students are free to choose their thesis topics and may elect to write a thesis or complete a project outside their majors. Students who must complete a thesis or capstone project related to their major course of study (e.g., students in the College of Engineering and Computing) will submit this project for their Honors thesis.