The Honors College partners with faculty in academic departments to provide opportunities for students to build intellectual and academic frameworks that prepare them for graduate school, careers, and lifelong learning. Thank you for supporting Honors College students. This page collects information about Departmental Honors Experiences faculty members may be asked to participate in. Please contact the Honors College at (940) 565-3305 if you have any questions about working with Honors students or would like to discuss expanding Honors experiences in your department.

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The application to join the UNT Honors College for the Spring 2027 semester will open on Thursday, October 1, 2026, and will close on Tuesday, December 1, 2026. 

The application to join the UNT Honors College for the Fall 2027 semester will open on Monday, February 1, 2027, and will close on Saturday, May 1, 2027.

If you are a Fall 2027 incoming freshman recipient of the UNT Meritorious Scholarship for National Merit Finalists, Terry Foundation Scholarship, Texas Leadership Scholarship or a UNT Excellence Scholarship in the amount of $12,000, $10,000, or $8,000 you do not need to complete an application; you are automatically admitted into the Honors College. You will be contacted with additional information in mid-March/early April with additional details on accepting your automatic admission.

Students that are not automatically admitted to the Honors College may apply to join the Honors College after being admitted to UNT. Once you have been assigned a UNT Student ID number and a UNT email, use the link below to complete your application.

The first question on the application asks that you indicate whether you are an incoming freshman, a continuing student, or a transfer student.

  • Incoming freshmen are often referred to as first time in college students. If you graduate High School in Spring of 2025 (or plan to graduate in Fall 2025), and are not currently enrolled in classes at UNT or another institution, please select the Freshman designation.
  • If you are currently enrolled in UNT classes, choose the Continuing Student designation.
  • Note: If you are currently in your first semester at UNT the Honors College Admissions Committee will hold applications submitted without a current UNT GPA. These applications will be reviewed once spring semester grades are posted at the end of the term.
  • If you have completed one or more semesters of classes from another college or university, and have not yet taken courses at UNT, please select the Transfer Student designation.

Honors Courses

The heart of the Honors College experience is the Honors course classroom, where UNT faculty engage students in an environment that challenges students and advances academic achievement. These courses are specially designed to facilitate deep engagement with course material. Classes are kept small (with an average of 25 students) to foster student involvement, classroom discussion, and opportunities for faculty to experiment with innovative pedagogical approaches.

Combined Courses

In combined courses, Honors and non-Honors students enroll in the same course under different section numbers. The sections meet together. Students enrolled in the Honors section have a supplemental syllabus that provides opportunities for more sophisticated engagement with the course material. The supplemental requirements may incorporate research, field work, collaboration, projects, or presentations. In combined courses that require separate lab meetings, one or more lab sections may be reserved for Honors students.

Sample Supplemental Syllabi for Combined Course

Honors Contracts

An Honors contract allows an Honors College student to earn Honors credit in a non-Honors 3000/4000-level course by undertaking independent academic work related to the course topic. The student works with the faculty member to formulate a proposal for an appropriate contract project. Contract projects must be additional assignments, not longer versions of what is already required for students. Contract projects can take many forms. Research papers are the most common, but students regularly complete music compositions, novellas, designs, laboratory research, and book reviews for Honors contracts.

Faculty Guide to Honors Contracts

Access our complete repository of faculty guides and academic experience documents via the UNT Honors College Faculty Resources General site.

Mentored Research

Honors College students can earn Honors credit for completing mentored research under the direction of a faculty member. These semester-length projects require independent work but may be designed and primarily executed by the faculty member. For example, a student working as a research assistant on a faculty member's project would be an appropriate mentored research project.

Honors Theses

A thesis project requires independent research. The student is responsible for all aspects of the project's planning and execution which they undertake under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Completion of a thesis is a multiple semester process that typically includes completion of the Honors College's Introduction to Research and Thesis Proposal courses and culminates with the student's public defense of their thesis project.

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