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Hicks Honors College

The Hicks Honors College

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The Hicks Honors College at the University of North Florida offers talented students a unique approach to higher education. Averaging only 20 students, Honors seminars apply active learning in interdisciplinary settings. The goal is to build a community of learners who have the power to take their learning outside the classroom, enabling them to take what they read in their text and apply it to the outside world. In addition, Honors students are offered special funding opportunities to enable them to learn through travel, internships, and research. The Hicks Honors College provides students with a personalized education that is usually only available at small liberal arts colleges but at the price of a state university tuition.    

 

 

The Hicks Honors College Advantage

Strong Start to College

  • Close-knit community fostered by retreat at beginning of first year
  • Living/learning residence-live with others who are like-minded and with whom you learn
  • Deeply meaningful first year colloquium with community-based service learning
  • Strong academic and personal support, including a dedicated Honors advisor for four years
students with tie dye masks
Two students with balloons at honors event

Overall Benefits

  • Unique "cool" topics classes that fulfill university requirements, like "Hidden Kitchens," "The Genesis of New Ideas," and "Genius in the Big Bang Theory" (the TV show)
  • Many curricular and co-curricular opportunities to build intercultural competency
  • Immersive study abroad experiences with funding from the Hicks Honors College
  • Funding for research with faculty
  • Significant Honors leadership opportunities as well as support for other leadership activities
  • Service learning in classes as well as co-curricular service activities
  • Careful cultivation of critical thinking and "soft" skills
  • Support for applying for nationally-competitive fellowships
  • Capstone project which integrates education from all four years and adds distinction
  • Priority registration

Strong Finish

Honors students thrive in college, but they also don't hang around forever. The majority of honors students graduate within four years, despite the fact that most study abroad and many of them have double majors and multiple interests.

Graduates of the Hicks Honors College have excellent post-graduate prospects. Recent alumni have attended top graduate schools such as Columbia University, Georgia Tech, University of Pennsylvania, University of South Carolina, The Ohio State University, University of Florida, University of Glasgow, etc. Some examples of jobs they have received include Mayo Clinic Research Associate, Insight Global Recruiter, District Executive Secretary at the Florida House of Representatives, Peace Corps, etc.

Student showing research poster in honors residence hall
  • What does it mean to be a UNF Honors student?
    It means learning to think carefully and well. It means working with professors who know your name. It means traveling to other countries and learning to understand other cultures. It means being part of a tight-knit community in which everyone is focused on becoming well-rounded individuals and exploring the world beyond lectures and textbooks. It means being supported by faculty who understand that the most meaningful education combines experiential learning and critical thinking. Our classes are heavily discussion-based, with plentiful opportunity for careful, critical thought. Many of our courses include field trips and other activities beyond the classroom so that students have the chance to see how the topic relates to the real world and to apply the skills they've learned.
  • Hicks Honors College vs. High School Honors
    In high school you get quality points because the class is more advanced and requires more work - it is both faster and more. Honors at UNF also gives you more, but in a different way. We take the best of challenging advanced work and use active and experiential learning techniques to make the subject more project-based, more applied, more experiential. Some classes replace large traditional General Education offerings with smaller classes that have a more focused theme and an interdisciplinary basis, others are a part of your major but involved research or applied projects, and still others include a trip abroad or the opportunity to work one-on-one with a faculty member on your own research or a joint project.

What Honors Students Say About The College

Headshot of student Diego Salinas
"My favorite part of the Honors College is definitely the unique educational opportunities it provides you. The smaller class sizes and Honors only classes allow you to learn different course material and engage much more closely with the faculty at the school, further building your networking skills as well." 

-Diego Salinas
Music Performance Major
"What I like about the Hicks Honors College is the ample amount of opportunities provided to undergrad, whether it be lab research, a TA position, or a chance to present at a conference. Such opportunities arise as a result of small class sizes, which creates the perfect environment for students to develop personal relationships with their professors. These connections could land students undergraduate research experiences - as early as freshman year!"

-Mahnoor Izhar
Biomedical Sciences Major

headshot of student Mahnoor Izhar

  • Is there a deadline to apply?
    June 30th is the last day to apply to the Hicks Honors College.
  • Is living in the Honors LLC required?
    It is not required; however, it is highly recommended. Living in the Honors First Year LLC builds a community that lasts throughout your college career and, hopefully, beyond.
  • Is honors in college the same as honors in high school?
    In high school you get quality points because the class is more advanced and requires more work - it is both faster and more. Honors at UNF also gives you more, but in a different way. We take the best of challenging advanced work and use active and experiential learning techniques to make the subject more project-based, more applied, and more experiential. Some classes replace large traditional General Education offerings with smaller classes that have a more focused theme and an interdisciplinary basis, others are a part of your major but involved research or applied projects, and still others include a trip abroad or the opportunity to work one-on-one with a faculty member on your own research or a joint project.
  • Are there any fees?

    Supplemental Honors Fee

    In order to get the most out of the Hicks Honors College Experience, we ask you to pay a small supplement of $150 before you begin the program (it will be added to your bill before the first-year student retreat in August).  Please be aware that the supplement is  not  a mandatory fee, but is a small one-time payment that enriches the Honors experience by providing branded apparel and gear; paying for some activities and food that are part of the Honors retreat; offsetting some of the administrative costs of the retreat and first-year experience; paying for supplies for events and activities throughout your time in the program; and covering the cost of medallions and other awards in recognition of your success in the program. The supplement can also be paid with your scholarships and financial aid—it will appear on your bill as HPEX.  If you wish to opt out, you may certainly still participate in Honors, but some of the materials and activities may not be available to you.  If circumstances are such, however, that you feel you must opt out because of financial limitations, please contact us before you do so.

    Special Course Fees

    There are some Honors courses that have special requirements that necessitate an additional fee that is essentially a lab or travel fee. For example, students enrolled in the First Year Colloquium course are required to pay a $40 fee to cover the costs associated with special course materials. Each semester, any extra fees associated with a particular class will be clearly identified in the course descriptions that we send out to all students several weeks before the registration date.

    Early Move-In Housing Fee

    The Honors move-in day is August 18th, the Wednesday before classes start. Housing charges a $50 early move-in fee that all Honors students living on campus must pay to participate in the Retreat. This is a special opportunity for Honors students to move in two days ahead of the general campus population.

     

    All fees are non-refundable and will be added to the student's account prior to Fall Semester. If you have a question regarding these fees, contact honors@unf.edu.

  • What is the Honors Retreat?
    The Honors Retreat begins on Wednesday, August 18th when first year Honors students move in. It is a three day event designed to familiarize students to campus and get to know their fellow Honors students.
  • What are the guidelines for applying to the Hicks Honors College?

    e consider academic ability and motivation, but also look at evidence of engagement—that is, meaningful involvement in activities outside of academics, such as community involvement, leadership, etc. We look closely at the self-assessment and essays portion of the application in order to get a sense of you as a person. We consider GPA and test scores, but only in conjunction with the other components of the application. There is no absolute cutoff, but most often those who are accepted into the program have a weighted GPA of 4.0 or above, an SAT of 1200 of above (or an ACT of 26 or above). Though letters of recommendation are not required, they are often helpful in giving us other perspective(s) on your motivation, abilities, and accomplishments, so we encourage and welcome you to submit them (instructions are on the application form). If you need to have someone else submit them for confidentiality reasons, please asked for your letter(s) to be emailed to honors@unf.edu. The subject line of the email should contain your full name and make it clear that it is a letter of recommendation (or LOR).  You also will have the opportunity to submit a short video of yourself answering a prompt.  It is not required either, but we welcome you to submit one.

     

    If you have any Honors admissions questions, please call (904) 620-2649 or e-mail honors@unf.edu.