William J. Maxwell College of Arts and Sciences

The Honors Program

The Honors Program is an innovative and intellectually rigorous course of study, offering an advanced core curriculum that emphasizes in-depth investigation rather than broad surveys, as well as the opportunity to do independent research. Class sizes are small and personalized, so there is more opportunity to interact with faculty within a community of learners from a variety of disciplines. In short, the Honors Program at New Jersey City University is a real learning community.

Acceptance into the Honors Program is based on a combination of standing in the high school class, high school GPA, combined scores on the SAT, placement scores in writing and math, and the application essay. If you meet one or more of the following criteria, you may be eligible for the Honors Program: 1) high school standing in the top 25% of your class, 2) high school GPA of 3.5 or higher, or 3) combined SAT of 1100. Current NJCU and transfer students with a GPA of higher than 3.0 may also be eligible for admission to the Honors Program.

Students in the Honors Program meet their General Studies requirements by taking courses that have been designed by the Honors Program faculty specifically for the program. Based on a seminar format, the courses in the first two years are interdisciplinary and emphasize critical and creative approaches to understanding in the humanities, science, the arts, and the social sciences. The program culminates with the junior and senior honors seminars where students engage in individualized advanced- level research/creative projects.

New Jersey City University is a member of the Northeast Regional and National Collegiate Honors Council.