By Rory Dulock | Staff Writer
Applications to the Honors College are accepted on a rolling basis until programs fill. In order to be considered for scholarships, prospective students are encouraged to apply and, once accepted, confirm their intent to enroll by April 1.
Erin Stamile, director of enrollment management for the Honors College, said about one-tenth of students at Baylor are involved with the Honors College in some way. There are four programs: two majors (University Scholars and Great Texts) and two programs that can go alongside any student’s major (Honors Program and Baylor Interdisciplinary Core).
“Our dean likes to say the Honors College is not a one-size-fits-all college,” Stamile said. “There’s really something for everyone, and we have students in over 90 different majors across campus.”
Currently, the Honors College has over 1,800 applications. Stamile said it’s important to know that prospective and current students are welcome and encouraged to apply for more than one program and are allowed to do more than one program.
While there is no formal deadline for applications, Stamile said applicants need to confirm their intent to enroll by April 1 to be considered for scholarships.
“There’s no official deadline to apply, and for programs that are not full yet, we’ll continue to accept students over the summer as well,” Stamile said. “We do typically tell students to go ahead and apply as soon as they’re able because some of our programs fill, and they fill quickly, so it’s important to get their application in if they haven’t already so that we can consider them for this coming fall or even next spring.”
To apply, Stamile said prospective students can go into their GoBaylor account. Current students can apply to the Honors Program anytime after their first semester, and they also have the option to change their major to Great Texts.
“The Honors College application is open to everyone,” Stamile said. “There’s no set standards for GPA or SAT or ACT in order to apply, and that’s because we do have programs that fit a wide range of students academically. There is an essay that students would complete, and we encourage students to engage with us and show us that they have a good understanding of the programs. We have a holistic process, so we look at every single part of the student’s application materials.”
Additionally, the housing application opened on March 1. Courtney DePalma, program director for the Honors Residential College, said if students want to live in the HRC, they should rank it first.
The housing application doesn’t officially close either. However, DePalma said May 1 is the deadline for students who want to be able to choose their room and roommate. If a student does not submit the housing application by May 1, they will be auto-assigned.
DePalma said a special part of the HRC is that while every hall has specific events just for those residents, there are a ton of different events that are open to the whole Honors community.
“Although only a certain number of students live in our community, we really do try to have an open door to all Honors College students, that they feel welcome and they feel like that’s a place for them to come and study or come to events,” DePalma said. “We kind of really want the space to be seen and feel that it’s an open space for students of the whole entire college to come and be together and have community.”
Registration for Honors orientation and Line Camp opens on April 3. Students can sign up online and mark their calendars for July 22-26. Information on the Honors College programs and the HRC can be found on the Honors College website.
