Admission | Honors

Guidelines & Criteria:

Any full-time TCNJ undergraduate with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher is eligible to apply for admission to TCNJ’s Honors & Scholars Program. First-year students may not apply in their first semester at TCNJ. Transfer students or students with a full semester of college coursework prior to matriculation may apply in their first semester at TCNJ. Applications for admission must be submitted in the Fall or Spring semesters; there is no option to apply during Winter or Summer sessions.

Process:

To initiate the application for admission, students must submit an Intention to Apply to Honors & Scholars. (Click here for a copy of the required form.)

Students who plan to submit an application for admission at the start of the Fall semester must submit this form no later than 4:00 p.m. on May 15th of the preceding Spring semester. Students who plan to submit an application for admission at the start of the Spring semester must submit this form no later than 4:00 p.m. on January 8th.

By 4:00 p.m. on the first Friday of the Fall/ Spring semester, students must upload an application package to Canvas. Applications must contain all of the following items:

Letter of Recommendation from a college faculty member who is familiar with the student’s work. Click here for the reference form: faculty should submit this form electronically by 4:00 p.m. on the first Friday of the semester.
A previous scholarly or creative work; several possible examples are listed below. In accordance with TCNJ’s Academic Integrity Policy, any work submitted must be the student’s own. Please ensure that any files submitted can be opened, viewed, and assessed via Canvas.
- A scholarly essay of, at most, 2,000-2,500 words (All scholarly work must include appropriate and consistently formatted citations; these citations are not considered part of the total word count.)
- A creative work of up to 2000 words or approximately 10 pages
- A 3-5 minute video
- A website, webpage, or software with instructions
- Sheet music with an accompanying audio/video performance
- 3-5 original photographs
- 3-5 documentation photos of a work of art or art installation
- mathematical work or a problem set
A 500-750-word essay that responds to all of the questions in the following prompt.

Explain how the scholarly/creative product that you have submitted for consideration is reflective of at least 2 of the 3 Pillars of TCNJ’s Honors & Scholars Program: how have Depth, Integration, and/or Purpose informed your creative/ intellectual vision and/or approach to your academic pursuits? (Click here for a description of the Honors Pillars.) What–if anything–would you change about the process that led to the creation of this scholarly/creative product? If you were to return to or continue to pursue this project, what might you revise, expand upon, or do differently now, and why?

Students will be notified of the result of their application no later than 4:00 p.m. on Oct. 15th (for applications submitted at the start of the Fall semester) or March 15th (for applications submitted at the start of the Spring semester). Students denied admission into the Honors & Scholars Program may reapply; however, a student may apply for admission no more than twice.

Applications will be reviewed and evaluated by the Honors & Scholars Program Coordinator, in consultation with 3-4 members of the Honors & Scholars Program faculty, who will receive a stipend for their work. All applications will be scored using the rubric below.

Assessment of Honors & Scholars Program Applications:

Score definitions:

0/ poor or incomplete

1/ fair (occasionally unclear and/or lacks detail)

2/ good (clear, but missing some detail)

3/ excellent (clear and detailed)

Application explains clearly how the academic essay or creative work submitted is reflective of at least 2 of the 3 pillars of the Honors Program.	1	2	3
Application clearly explains how Depth, Integration, and/or Purpose have informed the applicant’s creative/ intellectual vision and/or approach to their academic pursuits.	1	2	3
Application demonstrates applicant’s capacity for self-critique.	1	2	3
Application demonstrates applicant’s commitment to ongoing scholarly/ creative processes.	1	2	3