Introduction
The Honors College offers talented, motivated students educational opportunities designed to enrich the university experience and to advance progress toward personal, academic and career goals. Honors courses are designed to prepare students to do independent research, to speak and write effectively, and to reason accurately.

Dating back to 1974, Freed-Hardeman University had the first honors program in schools associated with the churches of Christ and also became the first of those schools to have an Honors College. Freed-Hardeman's move brought the first Honors College to the state of Tennessee in February 1998, reaffirming a commitment to academic excellence in all the schools of our university.

At the cutting edge of honors education, Freed-Hardeman University students have been invited to make honors presentations at the conference meetings of the Tennessee Honors Council, the Southern Regional Honors Council, and the National Collegiate Honors Council every year in recent years. The many different student presentations through the years document the active role this program plays in honors education.

Not High School Honors
High school students are often surprised to discover that college honors opportunities are quite different from opportunities available in their local school programs. Some students may even hesitate to apply for college honors programs due to prior experiences with high school teachers and classes designed to focus on a greater quantity of work for the most capable students. Tedious, time-consuming assignments are not the focus of college honors work. Instead the emphasis is on excellence, independence, and integration of disciplines. College honors focuses on quality of work, not just quantity. Students with records of outstanding academic success are offered special academic opportunities emphasizing close cooperation with teachers for those with the initiative to pursue learning beyond the classroom.

Mission Statement & Purposes
The Honors College offers talented, motivated students educational opportunities to enhance the Christian university experience and helps them make progress toward their personal, academic, and career goals. Our mission is to help Freed-Hardeman's most academically gifted students gain the most from their college program.

Five original purposes were enumerated in documents establishing the Honors Program in 1974:

1) Recognize and foster academic excellence and leadership.

2) Encourage and assist able students to progress beyond normal course activities.

3) Provide opportunities to integrate learning and individual interests.

4) Enable students to work more closely with teachers.

5) Promote academic responsibility, independent thinking, and the development of students' initiative to learn and work on their own.

Admission to Honors Course Work
Admission involves a set of established criteria, but motivated students will not be ignored. Applicants to Freed-Hardeman University with outstanding academic records are invited to apply for admission to honors course work. Interested students with outstanding academic records, including excellent high school grades and superior standardized test scores, may contact the Honors Office for additional information or for an application.

Freshmen are admitted to Honors course work through an application process completed in the academic year before they enter the university. Interested high school seniors should contact the Honors Office for an application in October of the year before they plan to enter college. Applications are generally due on or about March 1 for the upcoming academic year. Freshman admission to honors is competitive -- based on standardized test scores, high school grades, extracurricular activities, letters of reference, and writing samples. Though freshman admission is limited to approximately the top five per cent of the incoming class, other students can qualify for admission to honors work after earning thirty semester hours of college credit with a 3.3 grade point average.

Transfers from other college honors programs will be admitted if they have appropriate grades. Prior honors course work may count as much as 40% of total requirements for graduation as an Honors College Scholar or graduation with University Honors. Transfer students who have not participated in college honors elsewhere may also apply for admission to honors course work

Upperclassmen who have achieved a grade point average of 3.3 or higher on thirty semester hours of college credit receive eligibility notices at the beginning of each term in the academic year. Students are eligible for honors course work as long as they maintain a 3.3 GPA.