Honors Program Benefits
All students who meet the prerequisites and enjoy academic rigor are welcome to join the Honors Enrichment Program. A full-fledged member of the program qualifies to take honors classes and participate in the Honors seminar. Taking honors classes is a terrific idea but there are many more benefits to participating in the Honors Enrichment Program.
- One-on-one mentoring and help from the honors coordinators and faculty in preparing applications for university admissions and scholarships. Our Honors counselors will give you major assistance- key information about classes and teachers as well as career goals and opportunities.
- Transfer workshops to help you prepare applications and essays for transfer applications.
- Cultural activities, college visits, and field trips. Take advantage of any of the out of class excursions and events the program offers students. Honors students also enjoy discounted tickets at MSJC cultural events and productions.
- Honors students experience a rich variety of learning approaches: small classes, seminars, guest speakers, field trips, films, computer applications, experiments, group projects, essays, peer critiques, student presentations and community service.
- Leadership opportunities. You may be given a chance to serve on the Honors Faculty Committee. There will also be opportunities to hone leadership skills in your Honors classes through group discussions and projects.
- Honors students receive opportunities to participate in a student research conference where students get to present their own original work (Hosted by the Honors Transfer Council of California; during the spring semester). This is a great opportunity to become a published author; having a conference presentation on your resume looks terrific at application time! Work with your faculty to identify and then prepare your abstracts, and check the monthly calendar for dates.
- As an honors student, you qualify to apply for scholarship support from the HTCC (Honors Transfer Council of California). Each spring the HTCC awards over a dozen stipends to the winning applicants, who must be members of honors programs belonging to the HTCC.
- And quite likely—you will make life-long friends who share your ambition and interests.
BENEFITS OF BECOMING
AN HONORS PROGRAM GRADUATE
When you have fulfilled all our requirements, you qualify to be designated as an Honors Graduate.
(That’s different from graduating with honors, which you probably will accomplish as well.) This title means something, too. Your academic transcript will show that you have completed all the required honors classes and have graduated from the MSJC Honors Program- an esteemed honors program recognized as having met all the standards of the Honors Transfer Council of California. In academic circles that achievement earns respect. There are even more benefits to completing the MSJC Honors Enrichment Program.
- As an Honors Graduate, you will receive special recognition at graduation.
- Your personal résumé and curriculum vitae will be enhanced.
- Graduation from our Program means you will be given special consideration when transferring to institutions with which MSJC has honors agreements. As a MSJC Honors Graduate you will be avidly sought after by such institutions as UCI, UCR, UCLA, Cal State Fullerton, Chapman University, Occidental College, Mills College, and others.
- As an Honors Graduate you’re not only more likely to be accepted by the college of your choice, but you will find out sooner, so you can stop fretting and begin making plans.
- Honors students are often candidates for special scholarships. Universities such as UC Irvine and UCLA have numerous scholarships for transfer Honors Graduates. One scholarship specifically for honors students graduates is the Honors Transfer Council Scholarship, which are awarded to several honors students at the HTCC Conference in March. Several MSJC Honors Graduate students have applied for and received these scholarships over the past few years.
"Learn from the past, set vivid, detailed goals for the future, and live in the only moment of time over which you have any control: now." - Denis Waitley
You can also download the complete Handbook as PDF or Word document.