Honors FAQ

The Honors Program is a restricted admissions program; only students admitted to the Honors Program are eligible to complete Honors courses. Prospective Honors students should possess the ability to think and work independently, to write clearly and purposefully, and to cooperate in the spirit of discovery and understanding. The Honors Program encourages applications from all interested students and enrolls individuals into the program based on evidence of their potential to benefit from, and contribute to, Honors courses. For further information, see Honors Eligibility.

There is no GPA requirement for admission to the CRC Honors Program. Although two of the three pathways into the Honors Program (Pathway One and Pathway Two) have GPA requirements, the third (Pathway Three, the Challenge Pathway) does not. The Honors Program encourages applications from all interested students and enrolls individuals into the program based on evidence of their potential to benefit from, and contribute to, Honors courses. We ask that students provide us with information that demonstrates their interest, motivation, preparation and potential for this form of study. Unlike many Honors Programs, the Cosumnes River Honors Program is specifically designed not only for academically accomplished students but also for students with the potential for high achievement, whether or not they've realized that potential already. Some students need an Honors environment before they realize their full potential as scholars and CRC's Honors Program gives these students a chance at high achievement. It also provides academically accomplished students a place to continue to grow and excel. For further information, see Honors Eligibility.

Honors students are expected to take at least one Honors course each semester every semester after they have been admitted to the program. (Exceptions are made for special circumstances.) However, there is no minimum total number of units Honors students must complete. Some students elect to take a single Honors course after being admitted to the Program. Others take multiple courses. Only students who take a total of 15 units of Honors courses are eligible for the Honors Scholar Designation (Certificate), earning special recognition as an Honors Scholar and enhanced transfer prospects to highly selective colleges and universities, including UCLA. See Honors Scholar Certificate and Honors Enhanced Transfer Opportunities.

CRC Honors Program courses don't require more work than "regular" courses. The amount of work a course requires is determined by the number of units it carries. To pick the most common number (and type) of course, a 3-unit lecture course requires 3 hours a week of class attendance and 6 hours outside of class of additional work (e.g., studying, doing assigned reading, completing other sorts of homework assignments), for a total of 9 hours of work a week. (The ratio for work outside of class to work in class for lecture courses is always the same, 2:1.)

Honors courses are the same number of units as their "regular" counterparts, so they don't require more work than those "regular" counterparts do.

Honors courses also aren't "higher level" classes than their "regular" course counterparts either (despite the misleading way in which CRC numbers its courses). For example, both ENGWR 300 (College Composition) and ENGWR 480 (Honors College Composition) are first semester college freshman-level English composition courses.

Honors courses are different from most other kinds of courses in that they require you to do more original thinking and engage more directly with theory. They require you to be more highly engaged during class, and more self-directed outside of class, than "regular" courses do. Honors classes also provide you with more opportunity to pursue your own scholarly interests than “regular” classes do.

If you like pursuing what interests you rather than what happens to interest your instructors, Honors is a good fit for you. If you can think for yourself and have strong abstract reasoning skills, Honors is a good fit for you. If you're the kind of student who is highly engaged during class and stays on top of your work outside of class, seeking help from your instructors when you need it, Honors is a good fit for you and you are likely to earn grades in Honors courses that are at least as high as those you would have earned if you'd taken "regular" classes instead.

Some students earn higher grades in their honors courses than they do in their "regular" courses because Honors is such a good fit for them. Course success rates (pass or fail rates) for CRC Honors courses are actually higher in CRC Honors courses than in "regular" CRC classes. For example, "first time college students" (those who are new to college) have 22.92% higher success rates in Honors courses than in "regular" CRC classes.

Honors students are expected to take at least one Honors course each semester every semester after they have been admitted to the program. (Exceptions are made for special circumstances.) Your transcript will not reflect your admission to Honors, only the Honors courses you complete. Each semester, Academic Honors (special recognition administered separately from the Honors Program) may be earned by students enrolled in 12 units or more, nine (9) of which must be graded on a letter grade basis exclusive of Pass (P) or Credit (CR). Students who earn a grade point average of at least 3.0 have achieved Academic Honors. If they earn a grade point average of 3.5 or better, they have achieved Highest Honors. For further information about Academic Honors, see the college catalog. 

There is no GPA requirement for earning the CRC Honors Certificate. To be eligible for the certificate, you simply need to complete (earn a "C" or better) in 15 units of Honors coursework. You must earn at least nine of these honors units at CRC but may apply up to a total of six units from honors courses you have completed at other Los Rios colleges (ARC, SCC, FLC) to the total 15 units required.

Those interested in transfer to UCLA, please note that completing the CRC Honors Certificate is also the core of eligibility for priority admissions consideration by UCLA's College of Letters and Science via the UCLA Transfer Alliance Program (UCLA TAP transfer). You must complete the CRC Honors Certificate with a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or better to participate in UCLA TAP transfer.

Unlike high school diplomas, college degrees and certificates are not automatically distributed to those who are eligible for them. You must petition the college to confer your certificate or degree. The petition form is available at Petition for a Degree or Certificate.

Although the Honors Program provides targeted support for transfer to highly selective colleges and universities (like UCLA and UC Berkeley, as well as  Ivy League schools like Columbia), you don't need to transfer to a highly selective college or university to participate in the Honors Program.

In the Honors Program we have a mixture of students who apply for transfer to UCs, CSUs, privates, and many more. The Honors Program is here to support all its students by offering enhanced General Education coursework, counseling, advising, special events, scholarships, etc.

Yes, you will still need to apply to the Honors Program. In the case of only wanting to take one class, you should apply to the Honors Program via Pathway Three and request Restricted Admission, special permission to enroll in the course you want to take. You will need to provide a personal statement as to why you would like to take the course.

If your application is approved, you will be accepted into the Honors Program for only that semester to take only that one course. However, if, after that semester, you decide that you wish to remain in the program longer, nothing prevents you from applying for General Admission to the program. In fact, succeeding in your first Honors course gives the Admission Committee a very good reason to approve your application for General Admission.

You have two choices:

1. You can ask the Honors Student Personnel Assistant to amend your application to indicate that you wish to begin the Honors Program in the following semester.
   
   You will not be a student in the Honors Program until the start of the following semester. You will lose access until then to the benefits of being an Honors student e.g., reserved appointment access to our Designated Honors Counselor and Co-Counselor, eligibility to participate in Honors events and to receive Honors-restricted scholarships, access to our new Honors Center, etc. However, you also won't need to satisfy any of the Honors Program Continuation Requirements in order to remain in the program from this academic year to the next.

2. You can remain a current active participant in the Honors Program and petition the Honors Program Coordinator (via email) for a waiver of the requirement that you enroll in an Honors course for the semester.
   
   You will retain your current access to the benefits of being an Honors student, but will need to satisfy the Honors Program Continuation Requirements in order to remain in the program from this academic year to the next—except that you won't need to satisfy the Course Enrollment Requirement for the semester for which you received a waiver. Please take a look at Continue in the Honors Program for a complete list of continuation requirements.

Yes. As a student in the CRC Honors Program, you may take up to a total of six units of Honors at ARC, FLC, or SCC and apply these units to the satisfaction of the CRC Honors Program Continuation Course Requirement and/or apply them towards the 15 units required to earn the CRC Honors Certificate.

The University of California uses the acronym TAP in three different ways. (Rest assured that doing this wasn't our idea!).

UC TAP (Transfer Admissions Planner) is not to be confused with UCLA TAP (Transfer Alliance Program), which is not to be confused with UC Berkeley TAP (Transfer Alliance Project).

It's unfortunate that the UC uses the same acronym in three different ways. Fortunately, your Honors Program is here to help you keep it all straight!

In order to be UCLA TAP-certified by CRC (i.e., to receive priority transfer admissions consideration from UCLA's College of Letters and Science in virtue of having completed CRC's UCLA TAP requirements) a student must, among other things:

1. satisfy the 12-unit CRC residency requirement (have completed 12 or more units at CRC) at the time of certification (i.e., by February-March of the spring semester following the fall semester to which they apply to UCLA for transfer), and
2. state on their application to UCLA that they are seeking transfer to UCLA from CRC.
   

However, in addition to this (and other) official requirements, it is worth noting that the CRC Honors Program was designed to meet the needs of students who may take the occasional class at another college but who take the majority of their classes at CRC. Students who take the majority of their classes at another college may find that, as a practical matter, it is difficult to complete the 15-unit CRC Honors Certificate (which serves as the foundation of eligibility for UCLA TAP transfer) given obstacles like class scheduling conflicts.

To start the UCLA TAP process, you need to get on track to satisfy the requirements for UCLA TAP eligibility. See Honors Enhanced Transfer.

Meeting with a counselor is a best first step. Initiating a UC Transfer Admissions Planner (UC TAP) as early as possible is highly advisable. As a transfer student, it's never too early to get one going. The Transfer Admissions Planner will help ensure that you qualify for transfer admission to UCLA, the first step in getting priority admissions consideration via the UCLA Transfer Alliance Program.

The Honors Program application asks prospective Honors students to indicate the "term in which you wish to begin the Honors Program". When a student indicates on their application a future term as the term in which they wish to begin the program, they postpone the start of their full participation in the program until that term. In specific, they postpone their eligibility to take Honors courses until that term and postpone the point at which they will need to begin satisfying Program Continuation Requirements, including the Course Enrollment Requirement. (After all, you can't continue in a program that you haven't even begun yet and you can't enroll in courses for which you are not yet eligible!).

However, all students who have been accepted into the Honors Program (that is, all incoming Honors Program students) have immediate access upon acceptance to Honors Program events and Honors support services, e.g., access to the Designated Honors Counselor and permission to use the Honors Center.

There are several different ways to establish eligibility for the Honors Program; that is, there are three Honors Program Admission Pathways. The requirements differ for each. Make sure you have carefully and completely read the requirements for each Pathway. Apply to the Pathway that suits you the best.

Exploring the application can help you figure out which Admissions Pathway that is. Just remember not to hit ‘submit’ on your application until you’re ready for the Admissions Committee to review your application. Be sure that you have all the supporting materials needed available (such as your transcript) and that you submit them along with your application. Incomplete applications will not be accepted. In specific, make sure you:

• Have your current and updated transcript or placement results available for any Admissions Pathway that requires them.
• If applying via Pathway 3 (Challenge pathway), make sure you have your personal statement completed and ready to submit. Use the statement to explain why you are interested in the Honors Program, what you hope to get out of it, and why you believe you are a good fit for the program. It can be helpful to acknowledge any obstacles to your academic success that you are currently facing (or that you faced in the past) and to explain how you have (or will) overcome them. The best personal statements are honest ones that give the Honors Admissions Committee a clear sense of who you are and why you want to be in the Honors Program.
• If applying via Pathway One, be prepared to provide evidence of eligibility for ENGWR 300 or better.

To petition for a Course Enrollment Requirement Waiver, email Honors Program Coordinator Dr. Rick Schubert at schuber@crc.losrios.edu. There is no form to fill out. Explain in your email which semester you are seeking a waiver for (for example, Fall 2024) and why you believe you should be granted a waiver.

No. While receiving Academic Honors in recognition of your high GPA happens automatically, participating in the Honors Program requires you to apply and be accepted. An Honors Program application and a detailed explanation of eligibility requirements for Honors Program participation is available at How to Apply.