The Honors Program is open to any student with a minimum high school grade-point average of 3.75 and a combined score of 1350 on the SATs. Such students will be issued an invitation to join the program when they apply to St. Joseph's University. Students not meeting these requirements may request admission to the Honors Program and a decision will be made on an individual basis. Additionally, students in the freshman class who achieve a grade-point average of 3.5 or above at the completion of their first semester will also be invited to join the Honors Program.
Successful completion of General Honors requires at least eight semesters of Honors courses. Students typically schedule Honors coursework in each of their eight semesters, although adjustments may be made to this schedule on the advice of the Honors Director. The following further restrictions apply to the minimum eight-course requirement:
- At least two courses must be team taught interdisciplinary courses.
- At least two courses must be honors courses satisfying Philosophy and/or Theology GER requirements. At least one of these two must be at the third level.
- Independent Studies done at the Honors level, including the two semesters required for Departmental Honors or University Scholar, can be used to satisfy the eight-course requirement.
- Honors students are permitted to convert one of their upper division courses into a Honors level course, provided that they observe the following guidelines:
i. Use a course upgrade form to obtain permission from the instructor of the course and the Director of the Honors Program by the end of the Drop/Add period of the semester in which the course is being taken.
ii. Arrange a specific research project in collaboration with the instructor, which is separate from regular course requirements and which results in a substantial research essay or its equivalent in addition to regular course requirements.
iii. Take a final examination that is different from the regular examination which addresses the chosen area of research. Lower division GER courses may not be converted into Honors courses.
To remain in the Honors program, students are expected to maintain a 3.50 GPA, which is the minimum required for graduation with General Honors. Students who are not making reasonable progress towards the eight-course requirement or whose GPA is significantly below 3.50 are subject to withdrawal from the Honors Program.
Students may also elect to pursue Departmental Honors. The requirements for graduating with Departmental Honors are the successful completion of two semesters of Honors independent study, generally a year-long research project under the supervision of a faculty in the student's major.