Your Life
Your Commonwealth Honors College experience offers unique opportunities to engage with faculty members, develop lifelong learning skills, and join a vibrant intellectual and social world.
Honors Living-Learning Community
The Honors Living-Learning Community is an extension of the rich cultural and research-centered environment that is UMass Amherst. Commonwealth Honors College offers special opportunities to connect with other CHC students, become better acquainted with faculty members, and participate in the life of your honors community. Meet faculty at our regular informal gatherings. Gain networking and professional development skills through our workshops and information sessions. Globalize your mind through our special lectures, events, and international programming. Consider living in the residence halls of the Commonwealth Honors College Residential Community (CHCRC).
A Vibrant Living-Learning Community
Honors First Year Residential Academic Program (RAP)
Some CHC first-year students participate in the Honors First Year Residential Academic Program (RAP). In the Honors First Year RAP, you live together on the same floor, take a first-year seminar together, and participate in other co-curricular activities. The Honors First Year RAP is housed in first-year residence halls in the Commonwealth Honors College Residential Community (CHCRC).
Commonwealth Honors College Events
Special programming throughout the year provides CHC students across disciplines opportunities to gain insight into cutting-edge scholarship, to foster global perspectives and diverse viewpoints, and to promote dialogue about contemporary issues.
A Top College Town
Amherst offers the perfect blend of New England beauty and cosmopolitan culture—that’s why it’s been named one of the “top college towns in North America.”
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
We believe that our Honors Living-Learning Community is most beneficial when it encompasses the widest range of voices, ideas, disciplines, and backgrounds, and we are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all our students, faculty, and staff.
Commonwealth Honors College embraces the UMass Amherst values of diversity, equity, and inclusiveness, and is invested in the success and well-being of every individual in our community.
The CHC student population reflects the overall diversity at UMass Amherst and the diversity of the college has been steadily broadening. Our efforts to promote equity and inclusion support the university’s diversity mission, which includes a commitment to the inclusion of historically underrepresented groups and a belief that a culturally diverse campus is integral to academic excellence.