Students who have accepted the invitation to join the Honors College (see BSU catalog for selection criteria) will be assigned to freshman advisors who specialize in the honors curriculum. Honors Advising is housed within the Honors College in Carmichael Hall. After completing 30 hours, honors students will also be assigned to advisors in their major area, but they will continue to have easy access to the Dean, Assistant Dean, honors advisors, and other Honors College staff.

All new freshmen enroll in HONRS 100 in the fall semester. By way of peer mentoring from an Honors College upperclassman, this course provides an orientation to the Honors College. The sessions will be organized around discussion of a short text or topic; explanation of policies and procedures and their effects on Honors College students; an introduction to university resources; curriculum discussion; and social activities integrated with the Honors Residence Halls by Student Honors Council ("Honors Connections"). The peer mentors are supervised by an experienced Honors faculty member. The Honors College has designed its curriculum so that the majority of the required honors courses will satisfy the University Core Curriculum (UCC). Six of the ten honors requirements currently fit into UCC for most majors: HONRS 189, 199, 201, 202, 203, and 296 or 297 or 298.

HONRS 189 is a Global Studies course in which specific non-American cultures are studied in depth. The precise content of the course varies according to the expertise of the instructor.

HONRS 199 focuses on issues of contemporary American culture, often centering on the American family.

The Humanities Sequence (HONRS 201, 202, 203) lies at the heart of the Honors curriculum. It is recommended that students begin these courses in the fall or spring of the freshman year. This Great Books/Great Ideas sequence focuses on creative and nonfiction works from Western and World literature, while exploring connections to music, theatre, art and architecture. Students analyze definitions of human nature from the ancient world onwards in order to examine their identities as individuals within this larger context. Because students may choose to remain with the same professor throughout the sequence, humanities classes often become close, interactive units and important support groups for Honors students. (These courses also serve as the core for the interdisciplinary Humanities Minor, an option for Honors and Non-Honors students.)

HONRS 296, 297, and 298 are honors science courses in Physical, Earth, and Life Sciences respectively. The precise content of the course varies according to the expertise of the instructor.

Two of the four non-UCC honors requirements are honors colloquia. The colloquium classes are small discussion-oriented courses that provide in-depth study of specific topics. Honors colloquium topics are widely varied, and new courses are added every year. Recent colloquium topics have included "5000 years of Board Games," "Sources of Evil in Detective and Horror Fiction," "Liberty, Knowledge, and the American Environment," "Once Upon a Time: The Art of the Fairy Tale," "The American Road," "Human Sexuality," "American Film Comedy," and "Cleopatra: Life and Legend."

The final and capstone course in Honors is the thesis or creative project, HONRS 499. A student will design his/her project, have it approved by the Dean or Assistant Dean, and select a faculty mentor. For more specific information, contact the Honors College to receive project-related publications or visit the Honors College web site: www.bsu.edu/honors.

To remain in good standing at the Honors College, a student must have a 3.000 cumulative GPA at the end of the freshman year and a 3.150 at the end of the second year. Students should complete at least three honors courses in the first two years. To earn an Honors Diploma, a student must have a 3.333 cumulative GPA at the time of graduation and have satisfactorily completed all required honors courses and the senior project. All honors students are eligible for priority registration as well as extended library privileges.

Each semester, Honors sections are offered in non-HONRS prefix courses (e.g. COMM 210, HIST 150, ECON 201.) These sections, though only available to honors students, are not required. These optional sections generally have smaller class sizes and are taught by honors faculty.