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Honors Courses

Class meeting around a conference table

The Honors College experience is about more than absorbing prepackaged information. It involves participating in the process of self-discovery, wrestling with new ideas, and thinking critically about their implications. Honors professors are carefully selected from among the most enthusiastic and accomplished faculty members at Boise State and take a personal interest in helping students achieve their full academic potential.

Current Courses

Curriculum Description

Honors Signature Courses

These courses are unique to Honors. These credits will count as electives in students’ major requirements. While we offer online options for most of our courses, HONORS 198 is only offered in person; therefore, our program is not intended for online-only majors.

HONORS 198

HONORS 198 connects students to other members of the Honors community and prepares them for the expectations of the Honors College and Boise State. The 10-week, 1-credit course is required of all incoming Honors students and centers on readings and group discussion, asking students to think about their expectations and the goals surrounding their college education. It also features an academic advising component.

HONORS 390

HONORS 390: Crafting Professional Narratives is a 1-credit course designed to help students develop their writing and speaking skills for graduate school or their future careers, challenging them to carefully consider their pathway through college and their steps after graduation. This course is offered as a 7-week hybrid course (including an in-person weekend) or a 7-week online course.

HONORS 392 Colloquia

HONORS 392 Colloquia are rigorous, upper-division, seminar courses that allow Honors students to explore interests outside their major. Course topics change every semester, giving students the ability to study topics that complement their field of study or ones they never before considered. Past courses have included subjects like the process of domestication, medicine and magic in ancient Greece, or business practices in China.

One HONORS 392 each spring also includes a travel component.  Past classes have traveled to Oxford University and the Mediterranean. Though there are increased course fees for these classes, the Honors College helps students seek out funding assistance to help with travel costs.

Students may substitute 3 credits of VIP coursework or 3 credits of graduate level coursework for one HONORS 392.

HONORS 498

This 10-week Senior Seminar provides a capstone experience for Honors seniors, assisting their transition into the world beyond the university. Students meet once a week to discuss a series of readings and end the course by presenting a “Last Lecture” where they reflect on their college experience and how it influences their journeys as life-long learners.