Honors Courses: Detailed Descriptions : Commonwealth Honors College : UMass Amherst

This page provides detailed information about the various ways to satisfy Commonwealth Honors College requirements. All courses need to be completed with a grade of “B” or higher to be counted toward CHC requirements.

Designated Honors Courses

Commonwealth Honors College partners with departments and programs campuswide to offer various types of courses and experiences that fit within an Honors curriculum.

Enriched Honors Courses

Enriched Honors courses are Honors sections of courses and seminars (three or more credits) with a 25-person enrollment capacity. They can be identified CHC Honors Course Guide and on SPIRE by their course number suffix “H” (e.g., ENGL WRIT 112H, ANTH 104H, BIO 383H). The small class size of these courses allows for direct mentoring relationships between faculty and students.

Honors Colloquia

Honors colloquia are one-credit enrichments to non-honors courses.

Colloquia offer the opportunity for more focused study of course content. Honors colloquia can be identified in SPIRE by their course number prefix “H” (e.g., COMPSCI 311 + COMPSCI H311).

In tandem with the non-Honors course, a colloquium will fulfill one Honors course requirement. For the vast majority of Honors colloquia, the course and colloquium will share the same course number, although there are some instances where they differ. Please talk with a CHC Advisor if you have questions about enrolling in a colloquium.

Note: If you are the only student interested in enriching a course, read about the Honors independent study option below.

Honors Independent Study

An Honors Independent Study is developed in partnership with a faculty member, either as additional one- to two-credit in-depth, independent work for a non-Honors course (e.g., SPANISH 312 + SPANISH HI312) or as a three- to six-credit Honors Independent Study of your own design unrelated to an existing course (e.g., SLHS 396ISH). CHC calls a one- to two-credit Honors independent studies “add-on” and a three- to six-credit Honors independent studies “stand-alone.” A maximum of three Honors independent studies of either type may be applied to the Honors requirements.

Honors Independent Studies require faculty collaboration and cannot be registered in SPIRE. Please see the Honors Independent Studies Proposals page for more details, including the course expectations and registration process.

Honors Independent Study Contract Registration

If you are interested in arranging an Honors independent study, you should approach a faculty member and ask if they would consider guiding you in an Honors experience. After you and the faculty member discuss the planned course of study, you will initiate a proposal through CHC PATHS.

Please see the Honors Independent Studies Proposals page for more details, including the course expectations and proposal content.

Requirements

One- or two-credit HI enrichment of a non-honors course of three or more credits: This must involve at least eight hours of student-faculty contact time over the course of the semester. Once your proposal has been approved in CHC PATHS, you will be registered in an additional one- or two-credit section with a prefix of HI (e.g., ANTH HI104). Both the Honors component and the regular course must be passed with grades of “B” or higher to fulfill Honors course requirements.
Three- to six-credit “stand-alone” ISH: Students requesting this option must provide a syllabus-like proposal and documentation of the course workload. They must have at least 30 minutes of contact with the sponsor per credit, per week and approximately three to four hours of work per credit, per week.

Note: A maximum of three Honors independent studies (HI or ISH) may be applied to the Honors requirements.

Six-Credit Intensive Language Courses

Six-credit intensive language courses provide a highly interactive experience that CHC feels aligns with the rigors of Honors coursework (e.g., CHINESE 246). A maximum of two intensive language courses may be applied to the CHC curriculum.

UMass Amherst Graduate Courses at the 600, 700, and 800 Level

UMass Amherst graduate courses at the 600, 700, and 800 level apply automatically to Commonwealth Honors College requirements.

As part of a large research university with many master’s and doctoral programs, Commonwealth Honors College is uniquely positioned to support students ready and eager for the rigorous challenges graduate courses afford. Therefore, CHC accepts any upper-level graduate course that carries three or more graded credits. Graduate courses completed as an undergraduate as part of an accelerated master’s or 4+1 program should be taken in consultation with appropriate graduate program staff to confirm eligibility.

Honors Thesis Course Options

The Honors Thesis provides the culminating experience of a CHC student’s academic life and is designed to provide them with an opportunity to integrate their undergraduate experiences while preparing for their intended career paths. Whether you choose to work with a faculty member to design an individually contracted Honors Thesis or participate with other CHC students in a faculty-taught thesis seminar, you will have an opportunity to conduct in-depth scholarly research and complete a Research Manuscript or Creative Portfolio under the guidance of an experienced faculty mentor. The Honors Thesis is traditionally completed over two semesters in the senior year, divided into Honors Thesis Part One (three or more credits) and Honors Thesis Part One (three or more credits).

Petitioned Courses

There are many types of valuable experiences available during your time at UMass, and some of these experiences may or may not count towards your Honors College requirements. A petition process exists to validate that academic work and to apply it the Honors College curriculum.

While traditional undergraduate UMass non-honors courses cannot be petitioned for Honors course recognition, other types of courses, as listed below, can. No more than two non-honors courses may be approved as substitutes for honors course requirements. In some unique circumstances, certain courses and experiences that are petitioned can be pre-approved and essentially function as Designated Honors courses. An Honors advisor can guide you through the petition process and consult on these types of academic experiences.

Note: The Petition for Exception form is located in CHC PATHS.

Five College Courses

Five College courses taken at neighboring Amherst, Smith, or Mount Holyoke Colleges through the Five College Consortium may be petitioned for Honors credit.

These courses must meet the following criteria:

Enroll a maximum of 25 students
Include a high degree of interaction between instructor and students
Feature a challenging course syllabus, as determined by petition reviewers.

The petition will be reviewed by the equivalent department to determine whether the Five College course has similar rigor to an Honors experience at UMass.

Exceptions: Five College language courses that carry more than eight credits per semester may not be used to satisfy Honors requirements.

Study Abroad Courses

Study abroad courses may be petitioned for Honors credit.

Each year hundreds of students from UMass Amherst experience the challenges and rewards of studying abroad. Commonwealth Honors College views courses completed in this environment as aligned with the rigors of an Honors curriculum. A maximum of one course per semester abroad may be applied toward CHC requirements.These courses must be academic in nature and cannot be practicum or internship credits.

National Student Exchange and Honors Transfer Courses

Honors courses completed during a National Student Exchange and/or Honors courses transferred into UMass can be applied toward Commonwealth Honors College requirements. Consult with a CHC Advisor for further details.

UMass Amherst Graduate Courses at the 500 Level

500-level courses may be petitioned for Honors credit.

UMass Amherst offers a variety of courses at the 500 level. . Petitions for this kind of course will be reviewed to determine whether the 500-level course has similar rigor to an Honors experience and/or graduate level course at UMass. Students can petition any three-credit 500-level course, but some of these courses are already considered pre-approved by CHC. A list of these pre-approved 500-level courses can be seen in the Petition for Exception section of CHC PATHS. Typically, a 500-level course must have an enrollment cap of ~25 students, feature a challenging course syllabus (as determined by petition reviewers), and include a high degree of interaction between instructor and students.

Commonwealth Honors Program Courses

Transfer students from a Commonwealth Honors Program in the Massachusetts public higher education system may count Honors courses toward the Breadth of Study requirements. Check with your Honors advisor for more information. However, Honors 201H and Honors 391AH requirements and the Honors Thesis requirement will not be waived under any circumstances.