The Schedler Honors College Application for Track II students will be open from January 15-April 1
Welcome to the Schedler Honors College!
While the majority of students admitted to the Schedler Honors College join us as incoming freshmen, about 10% of our students join us as second-year college students. Rather than the four-year curriculum that the traditional student participates in, we have a special three-year curriculum for the students we refer to as “Track II” students. The Track II program was created to give additional students the educational opportunities that the Honors College offers while also creating a more diverse community. Whether non-traditional students, international students, or students who did not learn about the Schedler Honors College before starting UCA, Track II students are an essential part of our learning community.
The curriculum of the Schedler Honors College is not like high school AP or honors classes that are focused on your depth of disciplinary knowledge. Our intentionally designed, integrated curriculum emphasizes interdisciplinary learning and provides the opportunity for you to make broader connections between the classes you are taking in college and in real-life, while maintaining your freedom to pursue any major. You will take just one Honors course each semester; and while Honors courses are designed to satisfy requirements that all university students are expected to have, they are delivered in a dynamic and engaging setting that emphasizes student participation and small class sizes. This unique program offers opportunities for student involvement and promotes individualized learning. Track II students will complete a total of seven courses in the Honors College, culminating with a minor in Honors Interdisciplinary Studies.
Scholarships
Track II students receive the Schedler Honors College Stipend valued at $1,000 per semester and can be renewed for six semesters. These scholarships are not the same as the Schedler Honors College scholarship offered to incoming high school students. This stipend will be awarded in addition to any academic scholarship awarded by UCA, the Arkansas Lottery Scholarship for in-state students, and any other student aid. Any scholarships that the student earns may stack to the amount specified by state law. Recipients of UCA’s Distinguished Scholarship may also apply and receive the stipend in addition to their existing scholarship.
Additionally, all Honors students are given the opportunity to live in Farris Honors Hall, featuring private rooms arranged in suites. Track II students will receive the private room upgrade scholarship covering the difference in cost between the private room in Farris and a standard Tier I double-room rate (valued at over $1,100/semester) if the student chooses to live in Honors housing.
Track II students also have access to Travel Abroad Grants (TAG), Experiential Learning Funds (ELF), and Undergraduate Research Grants in Education (URGE) programs which provide funding for more than 60 students each year to participate in life-transforming study abroad and undergraduate research or internship experiences.
Admission
The Schedler Honors College uses a holistic admission process that factors in academic performance, quality of writing, and service and leadership potential. The only minimum requirement to apply is a 3.5 college GPA. To apply to the Schedler Honors College, please use our secure online application form linked below. Once you have begun the application, you can monitor your status through our secure, web-based information system, and once registered will be able to save your in-process application and return to complete it at any time.
If you have previously completed an application to the Schedler Honors College but were not admitted, your application is already on file. We ask that you use the same account information from your previous application at the link below. If you do not remember you username or password, use the reset password feature at honors.uca.edu/apply and an email will be sent to you containing your username.
Application Requirements
- Background and Recommendation. The application asks for background information that should take no more than 15 minutes to provide, as well as the name and e-mail contact of two references. For your academic recommendation, be sure to select a teacher or counselor that is familiar with your academic record and who will be able to intelligently evaluate you on all of the following characteristics: intellectual ability, motivation, maturity, oral and written communication skills, analytic ability, and creativity. For your service and leadership recommendation, be sure to select a teacher or counselor that is familiar with your experience with service and leadership and will be able to evaluate you on the following characteristics: leadership, initiative, originality, integrity, empathy, openness, and collaboration. We will contact your references with information about how to complete a recommendation form on our website. If you are reapplying, then new recommendations are required.
- Two essays. You will be asked to provide two essays. In the first you will address an issue of public service in 400-600 words. It is very important that you conduct research about the Schedler Honors College at UCA before writing this essay. We want to see evidence that you have some understanding of our curriculum and our orientation to public concern. In the second writing sample we ask you to read an essay by Peter Elbow and respond to it in 600-800 words based on a prompt we provide. For both essays, write them offline. Take your time. Research, write a draft, get reviews, revise it, and carry out that process more than once. When you have the best draft you can produce, paste it to the webform. These writing samples carry a great deal of weight in our admission process. If you are reapplying, you will be provided a new prompt that asks you to revisit your original essays.
- Complete Application to UCA. For transfer applicants, you should complete an application for admission to UCA no later than April 1. Please allow up to two weeks to process your admission application once all materials are received. UCA Admissions will issue your ID once you have been admitted. You will be required to provide your UCA Student ID in order to complete your Honors application. We will use this information to verify your College GPA. You may work on your application prior to being admitted to UCA, but we will not review the application until all supplemental items are received by the university and your admission to UCA is confirmed. Please note that the university’s deadline for transfer scholarship consideration requires you be admitted by March 16. If you are interviewed, you will also need to provide an unofficial copy of your spring transcript to the Honors College as well as submit the official copy to UCA Admissions. If you are a current UCA student, we will not need you to provide your transcript.
Application Review and Scoring
The review of application materials begins in April for college student applicants. Once the application, recommendation, admission verification, and transcript data are received, your application will be given consideration by a committee of Honors College faculty and administrators.
Step 1. The first step is to review your academic record and recommendation based on the transcript data you submitted for admission to UCA. Your prior academic record is worth 50% of your overall score.
- College GPA = 39%
- Recommendations = 11%
Step 2. In the second step a Schedler Honors College faculty member will read and score the two essays you submitted. Once scored, the faculty member will make a recommendation—based solely on your writing—whether to invite you for an interview. Essays will be scored on the following criteria (26% of the total admission points):
Elbow Essay
- Shows understanding of purpose
- Shows understanding and appreciation of main parts of argument
- Provides and analyzes effective example
- Demonstrates clear and original thinking
Civic Service Essay
- Shows understanding of Honors College purpose
- Demonstrates clear, original thinking
- Connects goals to honors education
- Demonstrates potential for reflective civic action
Mechanics
- Mechanically and syntactically sound
- Strong and coherent sentences and paragraphs
- Use of specific details and examples
- Overall flow and organization
Step 3. In the third step the Dean and Associate Dean read every essay as well as review the academic record. Taking into account the faculty member’s recommendation as well as the student’s overall score, they reach a consensus about whom to invite to interview.
Step 4. If you are selected for an interview, you will be part of the fourth step; you will visit us for a half-day Inform and Interview Day (I2 Day) event. The event will be held on the afternoon of Study Day at the end of the spring semester. Activities on this day introduce you to our program and provide an inside look at its operation. You will learn about the academic, residential, and financial opportunities for those admitted to the Schedler Honors College.
You will listen to a large-group lecture, be asked to complete a quick, on-site writing assignment (7% of the total admission points), and then with three or four other candidates participate in a small-group discussion led by a Schedler Honors College faculty member. This process is modeled after our introductory seminar course (which meets once per week in large group and twice weekly in small group seminars). We aim to give you a good feel for the experience of being in an Honors class. Your participation in the small group discussion will be evaluated (17% of the total admission points) based on the following criteria:
- Engagement
- Interest
- Enthusiasm
- Resourcefulness
- Adventurousness
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Professionalism
Step 5. After final spring grades are available, the faculty will examine scores of all participants and decide whom to invite into the Schedler Honors College, taking into account your scores in each of the categories described above. The evaluation will also generate a rank-ordered waiting list. You will hear from the Schedler Honors College by the middle of May. That notification will make plain whether you are being offered admission, being put on a waiting list, or are no longer being considered for admission. If you are offered admission, you will be asked to confirm your acceptance to the Schedler Honors College no later than June 1.
