1. What are the benefits of being in the BMCC Honors Scholars Program?
- Being in the BMCC Honors Scholars Program provides high achieving students with the opportunity to engage in deeper exploration of their course content and to share in a community of self-selected students who are similarly driven to pursue academics.
- Being part of an Honors program also makes students more attractive to competitive colleges during the transfer application process.
- Honors courses in a student’s transcript work as a presentation card that attests to students’ focused approach to their goals and responsibilities, as well as to their curious nature, ability to go above and beyond the minimum, and to their wish to explore practical interdisciplinary connections and applications between their major and other disciplines.
- In addition, students will have access to mentors, advisors, transfer information and assistance, information about scholarships, study abroad, other honors organizations, as well as to workshops, presentations, and activities directly connected to student success, career development, etc.
2. What are the differences between an honors class and a regular class?
Honors courses promote student access and provide the kind of high-impact instruction and enriched experience that prioritizes students’ potential and search for excellence. Honors courses encourage, support and promote exploration, research, and the development of life-long learning skills. They embody BMCC’s mission to provide intellectual and personal growth to students. They celebrate curiosity, persistence, and highly motivated students.
Honors courses provide the kind of high-impact instruction and enriched experience that prioritizes students’ potential and search for excellence, while encouraging, supporting, and promoting exploration, research, equity, inclusion, and the development of life-long learning skills that embody BMCC’s mission to provide intellectual and personal growth to students. In addition, Honors courses create meaningful and enriched learning and teaching experiences for both students and instructors as they foster inquiry and interdisciplinary experimentation. They celebrate curiosity, persistence, and highly motivated students.
3. How many honors classes are required for an Honors Scholars Program student?
To graduate as a BMCC Honors Scholar, students must complete four (4) Honors courses, with no lower than a B in each course. Up to two Honors Contracts may count towards the minimum four required. One or two Honors courses should be taken in the major. Two or three Honors courses can be general education classes.
4. What is the difference between being in the Honors Scholars Program and setting up a contract with a professor to do honors work in a particular course?
For the Honors Contract, a student asks a professor in one of their non-Honors classes to work with them individually on a course-content-related project that is ultimately presented to the BMCC Honors Contract Committee. In an Honors or Honors-enhanced class, all or some of the students are part of the BMCC Honors Scholars Program, the honors content of the class applies to all/some of the students, and, unlike with an Honors Contract, students do not present their work to the BMCC Honors Contract Committee
5. What are Departmental Honors?
Each academic department of the College presents awards and honors to graduates who have exhibited significant achievements in their studies. Students do not need to belong to the BMCC Honors Scholars Program to receive departmental honors.
6. What is Graduating with Honor?
Students who graduate with a cumulative 3.30 GPA or better are designated as “Graduating with Honor,” but a minimum 3.5 GPA and four (4) Honors courses with a B or higher are needed for the distinction of BMCC Honors Scholar to be included in students’ transcripts.
