Frequently Asked Questions about the Honors College

If you are applying to OSU, you can apply to the Honors College by filling out the HC section of the OSU application for admission. If you are a current OSU student who has finished at least one term of classes at OSU, you can apply here.

Yes. The Honors College serves students at the Corvallis campus, at OSU-Cascades, and on Ecampus. Students who plan to attend OSU at the Corvallis campus, at OSU-Cascades, or on Ecampus can apply to the Honors College.

No, the Honors College does not accept letters of recommendation as part of the admissions process.

No. There is an Honors College credit track specifically designed for students who transfer in to the HC with at least two years left in their undergraduate studies. However, each student enters the HC with a unique timeline to complete all requirements. The HC curriculum requirements can be found at: honors.oregonstate.edu/curriculum. Please contact us at [email protected] if you have specific questions. 

A first-year applicant is typically defined as a student who is currently attending high school, has recently graduated from high school, or holds a GED. This includes students who have earned 0 to 23 graded, transferable college credits. 

Transfer applicants have attended college after graduating from high school and are applying to OSU after attending another college or university and completed a minimum of 24 graded, transferable college credits.  

Current OSU student applicants are currently attending OSU and have finished at least one term of classes at OSU. If you are currently in your first term at OSU, you can apply to the Honors College after your final grades are posted for your first term of OSU classes.

Students applying to OSU can apply to the Honors College at the same time as they apply to OSU by filling out the Honors College section of the application. You will not receive an HC admission decision until after you have been admitted to OSU. If you applied to OSU already without applying to the HC and want to apply to the Honors College now, you can do so by filling out the HC application in your Beaver Basecamp portal. If you have already applied to OSU, the Honors College application is available in an informational block in your Beaver Basecamp portal, below the section with your documents and to-do lists. The application will be available until the deadline, which typically matches the OSU deadlines to apply based on your student type and campus.

First-year applicants can apply August 1 through February 1. There are two application deadlines for first-year applicants: November 1 (early action) and February 1 (regular decision).  Transfer applicants can apply each term for admission the following term.

The deadline to apply depends on what type of student you are and which term you’re applying for. If you’re applying to OSU, the Honors College application is part of the OSU application and in Beaver Basecamp, and typically follows OSU’s application dates and deadlines for each student type and entry term, which you can find at admissions.oregonstate.edu/undergraduate-admission-deadlines for the Corvallis campus, osucascades.edu/admissions/undergraduate-admission-deadlines for the Cascades campus, and ecampus.oregonstate.edu/admissions/ for Ecampus. If you have already completed one term at OSU, you’ll be applying through the application for current OSU students on our website at here. Look at the section labeled “Current OSU Students” for dates and deadlines.

Your Honors College application status is available in your Beaver Basecamp portal. As long as you see that status there, it means we got your application.  

For Current OSU students who have finished at least one term OSU and applied on our website, you will receive an e-mail confirmation shortly after the application is submitted. Make sure you have entered the correct e-mail address on your application; if your confirmation e-mail does not arrive, check your SPAM or Junk filter. If you have questions about verifying receipt of your application, contact us.

First-Year students (entering from high school) minimum criteria:

• 3.75 cumulative unweighted high school GPA (students who don't meet the GPA minimum can qualify with a test score of 1300 SAT or 27 ACT) 

Transfer/Current OSU student minimum criteria:

• Transfer college cumulative 3.50 GPA

Current OSU student (finished one term of classes at OSU) minimum criteria:

• OSU cumulative 3.50 GPA 

Students who do not meet those criteria are still welcome to apply – you'll just need to fill out the question about why your grades or test scores may not be the best indicator of your academic performance or potential. All applications will be considered holistically.  

No, we use the highest SAT score from one sitting. Keep in mind that the HC is test-optional, matching OSU. The Honors College will only consider SAT scores if a student has elected for them to be considered and submitted their scores to OSU admissions.

No, meeting the minimum criteria means that your application will be reviewed holistically, but does not guarantee admission.

If you are accepted to the HC, you will be asked to confirm your enrollment in the HC or decline the offer of admission. The deadline to inform the HC of your final decision matches your deadline to confirm your OSU admission (typically May 1st for first-year applicants applying for fall term, but other terms vary)

Yes, you may apply as often as you wish, provided you have approximately two years left of your undergraduate studies.

Yes, if you have already applied to OSU, the Honors College application is available in an informational block in your Beaver Basecamp portal, below the section with your documents and to-do lists. The application will be available until the deadline, which typically matches the OSU deadlines to apply based on your student type and campus.

No, the Honors College residence halls are not open for touring. However UHDS provides 360-degree videos and virtual tours on their website at uhds.oregonstate.edu/residence-halls/tour-residence-halls.

Yes, you can apply to the Honors College and then submit an updated transcript to OSU Admissions after your new grades are in – the Honors College will have access to it after you submit it to OSU Admissions. You’ll need to follow the steps outlined in your Beaver Basecamp portal to submit your updated transcript. If you have questions about that process, contact OSU Admissions at [email protected].

No, once you’ve been admitted to the Honors College, the offer of Honors College admission will not be revoked. You can change your schedule for the remainder of the year and it will not change your Honors College admission decision.

No, once you’ve been admitted to the Honors College, the offer of Honors College admission will not be revoked. The grades you earn for the remainder of the year will not change your Honors College admission decision.

The Honors College is one of the colleges at OSU that charges a differential tuition. The HC differential tuition is currently $520 per term for students enrolled in 12 or more credits in the term and $260 per term for students enrolled in 11 or fewer credits in the term.

The Honors College differential tuition allows the HC to provide honors classes, activities, events and advising and career-related resources for honors students. Honors students have access to honors courses, priority registration for classes, HC academic advisors and a variety of co-curricular activities and events.

Yes, Honors College students can be in any undergraduate major offered at Oregon State University. Some students have multiple majors and even minors or certificates as well. As long as you’re an undergraduate student studying at OSU on the Corvallis, OSU-Cascades campuses or on  Ecampus , then you can be in the Honors College.

Transfer credits might count toward your overall OSU graduation requirements or your major graduation requirements, but they will not count toward the honors-specific credit requirements. The current Honors College curriculum requirements are available on our website and those credits must be fulfilled with credits taken while you are an OSU student, not with transfer credits. Only a portion of your classes need to be honors classes to graduate from the Honors College; you’ll work with an Honors College academic advisor to plan a schedule that works for you, including considerations for your transfer credits and your remaining OSU, major and Honors College requirements.  

Yes, students doing DPP can be in the Honors College. If you take any OSU classes while you’re in the Degree Partnership Program, including Ecampus classes, you’ll be charged the Honors College differential tuition. You can also take honors classes during your time in the Degree Partnership Program if you plan to take OSU classes during that time. It’s best to work with your Honors College academic advisor to determine the best plan for you.

This varies on a case-by-case basis and depends on each student’s plans at OSU. Time to completion is often more of a direct result of the student’s major(s), minor(s) and other activities – being in the Honors College doesn’t typically change a student’s planned time to graduation. 

Yes, Honors College students can be in any undergraduate program offered at Oregon State University. Some students have multiple majors and even minors or certificates as well. As long as you’re an undergraduate student studying at OSU on the Corvallis or OSU-Cascades campuses or on Ecampus, then you can be in the Honors College.

The Honors College is test-optional, just like OSU. The minimum criteria to be eligible to apply to the Honors College is a 3.75 unweighted high school GPA, a 1300 on the SAT or a 27 on the ACT. However, students who do not meet any of those criteria can still apply to the Honors College as long as they provide context in the question on the application about why your grades or test scores might not be the best indicator of your academic performance.  All applications to the Honors College are considered holistically and consider the responses to the HC short-answer questions about your interests, experiences, adversities, and goals; your transcript and the courses you took; your responses to the OSU application essay and questions; and your test scores (IF you selected that you’d like to have your test scores considered).

We are all one Honors College, so students in the HC can change their campus however they need based on their academic plans. Students simply need to work with their academic advisors – their major advisor and their Honors College advisor – to make the choices that are best for their plans.

All students are considered for OSU admission first, then are considered for Honors College admission. Applicants will receive their OSU admission decision first, and if they’re admitted to OSU, then they’ll receive their Honors College admission decision after that. The Honors College admission decision will not have any impact on or change the OSU admission decision

The HC differential tuition enables the Honors College to provide unique honors courses, academic advising, co-curricular activities and other core elements of the Honors College student experience.

Yes, we have two residence halls for Honors College students: West Hall and Sackett Hall. These halls are reserved for honors students, but honors students are not required to live there. Honors students can still make the choice to live in any of the residence halls available to them. More information about these residence halls is available on the UHDS website.

After you’re admitted to the Honors College, you’ll meet with your academic advisor during your New Student Onboarding sequence (your OSU orientation). After your first term, you’ll be able to meet with your Honors College academic advisor regularly each year.

Your Honors College admission decision will be sent to you after you have received your OSU admission decision. For freshmen applying early action (by the Nov 1 deadline) for fall term, you’ll receive your HC admission decision by the end of December. For freshmen applying regular decision (by the Feb 1 deadline) for fall term, you’ll receive your HC admission decision by the end of March. For other student types or entry terms, you’ll typically receive your Honors College admission decision within 6-8 weeks of applying, depending on when you applied. Have specific questions or want to check on your application status? Contact us at [email protected].

If you’ve applied to the Honors College while applying to OSU, you can check your HC application and decision status in your Beaver Basecamp portal. If you can’t find it there or have any other questions about it, contact us at [email protected].  

If you’ve applied to the Honors College while applying to OSU, you can submit your Honors College enrollment confirmation in your Beaver Basecamp portal – it’ll be a checklist item in your to-do list called “Indicate your Honors College Plans.” If you are a current OSU student who has already completed at least one term at OSU and you were admitted to the Honors College, your admit email has a link to a form to submit your confirmation. Can’t find the link? Contact us at [email protected].

Yes, students can withdraw from the Honors College at any time. More information about that process can be found on our website.

Yes, post-bacc students can be in the Honors College, though we encourage you to connect with us to get more information about how the curriculum requirements and thesis project can work for post-bacc students before applying.

The Honors College thesis is an immersive project that students work with a faculty mentor to complete. More information on the process is here on our website, and you can see examples of completed theses in the Thesis Archive. 

Honors students take some of their OSU classes as honors classes (honors versions of OSU courses). Honors students also take a certain number of Honors College seminars, which are not offered outside the Honors College and may not “double dip” (count for both honors and OSU or major requirements) the way that other courses do. More information about the curriculum requirements is available on our curriculum page. 

Yes, you can apply to the Honors College in your Beaver Basecamp portal as long as you submit the application before the deadline for your new entry term. The Honors College application is available in an informational block in your Beaver Basecamp portal, below the section with your documents and to-do lists.

Yes, if you were admitted to the Honors College and choose to defer your OSU admission, your Honors College admission will automatically get deferred along with your OSU plans. You can check your Beaver Basecamp portal to see the Honors College admission information there. Questions or concerns? Contact us at [email protected]. 

Yes, if you were admitted to the Honors College and choose to defer your OSU admission, your Honors College admission will automatically get deferred along with your OSU plans. You can check your Beaver Basecamp portal to see the Honors College admission information there. Questions or concerns? Contact us at [email protected].

We have links to schedule information sessions, with both in-person and virtual options, on our website.

The steps to take and link to the form are both available on here.