Scheduling Problems
The Honors Program has been designed to be as flexible as possible, while still maintaining the rigor and quality that such a program must have.
Since the typical honors student spends eight semesters at St. Norbert College and takes seven honors courses, there is one open semester. Usually this semester is one of the semesters in the senior year. However, an open semester may be taken at any time, as with late entrants to the program, students studying abroad and education students. If you are using an open semester in the Honors Program prior to senior year for a different reason, please inform the director that you have not withdrawn from the program.
Honor students also have the option of taking two lower biennium honors courses or two upper biennium honors courses in the same semester. In that case, the student usually submits the same critical essay to both instructors, and one or both instructors will evaluate it. Since the student will have taken two honors courses, but completed only one reading assignment, she or he must make special arrangements with the director of the Honors Program to make up an extra reading assignment.
Students entering the program under the late-entry provision may "double up" once without writing an extra essay.
On rare occasions, a student finds that no honors course fits into his or her schedule. This might be an appropriate time to use the open semester. As a last resort a student may take a regular course under a contractual arrangement with the instructor to do the work necessary to have it count as an honors course. An honors student may take a maximum of one regular general education course as an honors course.
An honors student seeking certification in education may take two such courses, provided both of them are required for certification.
The procedure for taking a regular general education course as an honors course is as follows:
- Obtain the honors course credit form from the director of the Honors Program. Part 1 of this form requires the instructor of the course to describe what the student will do to justify credit for the course as an honors course, and also describes how the special reading assignment will be completed. This form is signed by the instructor, the student and the student's advisor and returned to the director.
- During registration, the student registers for the regular section of the course.
- When the course has been completed, the instructor submits Part 2 of the honors course credit form to the director , who will then inform the registrar to designate the course as an honors course on the student’s transcript.
