Major Characteristics of Honors Seminars
UHP seminars are interdisciplinary and do not duplicate courses offered by other UNM departments. Here are some of the exciting, essential, and distinguishing differences that allow our Program to continually cultivate excellence:
1. Restricted Enrollment. Students who participate in Honors classes have met specific criteria. They must have achieved an 1860 composite SAT score, a 29 ACT score, or a minimum 3.5 cumulative grade point average in high school. In addition, they are generally in the top 10% of their graduating high school class and have distinguished themselves through their academic and co-curricular work.
2. Limited class size. The classes are limited to 16 students—17 or 18 under exceptional circumstances.
3. Student participation. While the format of the class is left to the discretion of the instructor, Honors classes typically involve much more student discussion and student-faculty interaction. The model, to some extent, is to approximate a graduate seminar for undergraduates. Students should be encouraged to “discover” knowledge through discussion, critical reading, writing, laboratory experience, and research.
4. Communication. Oral and written expression should be a major part of the Honors experience. We thus suggest that students be encouraged to collect their ideas, have good justification for what they are going to say, and then be given every opportunity to communicate those ideas. These can take the form of lively class exchanges, journals, papers, laboratory reports, and a variety of other techniques that teach organization and presentation skills.
5. Enrichment rather than extra work. Honors classes in high school often have the reputation of simply “piling on the work” rather than attempting anything creative or enriching. While more motivated students, such as one finds in an Honors class, can absorb material a little more readily, Honors classes should never be viewed as punitive—that is, involving substantial extra work when compared with a regular class or having a much more rigorous grade expectation. The emphasis in these classes should be on exploring the subject matter a little more thoroughly, and on dealing with the course material in a way that smaller numbers permit. The goal of an Honors education is greater breadth, more enrichment, and a somewhat faster-paced presentation.
