Welcome, New Honors Students!
Welcome, new Dorothy and Bill Cohen Honors College students, to an intellectual community that asks big questions and makes bold plans for the future. We want you to find your passion for inquiry and your reason to engage in more meaningful work.
- Follow the college on Instagram @CohenHonorsWSU and LinkedIn to stay up to date on college news and events.
- Meet students, faculty, and staff on WS-You Day! March 28, 2026 in the Cohen Honors College room
Honors Curriculum and First-Year Advising
Most Honors courses meet university general education or major requirements, and different honors curriculum paths allow you to choose how you earn honors.
- Visit the Types of Honors Courses and the year-by-year sequence of courses pages on our website for more information.
- Honors Colloquium - Required: All new honors students take HNRS 102 in fall and HNRS 103 in spring. This zero-credit course sequence typically meets three times each semester. It's designed to introduce you to honors opportunities and build honors community in your first year. If the meeting times don't work with your schedule, your first-year advisor will let us know.
- First-Year Honors Courses - Many Options: There are many types of honors courses for your first year. These include pre-requisites for your major, such as PSY 111H or ECON 201H, and Honors First-Year Seminars (FYHN).
- You are encouraged to take more than one honors course in your first semester to get to know more honors students and set yourself on a path to success.
- Fall honors FYHN topics include:
- Me and My Place in the World
- Community & Cultural Connections
- First-Year Advising: Your first- year advisor will place you in an honors course in your fall semester when possible. It doesn't always work with your schedule, so you may take your honors course in your spring semester instead.
If you can't find an honors course that fits your schedule and your course of study, you may work with a faculty member to turn one of your regular courses into an honors course with an honors option agreement. We recommend the honors option only for your second semester and beyond.
Additional Benefits and Opportunities
- Honors has 24/7 student space in Shocker Hall with multiple study areas, a break room with a microwave and lockers, a dedicated classroom, computers and free printing. All Honors students, whether living on campus or off, have 24-hour keycard access to this space.
- First-Year Research opportunities in spring.
- Look for more information in September about the spring First-Year Research Experience program. Applications are typically due October 1st.
- Student Leadership opportunities throughout the year:
- Honors Ambassadors recruitment group, Honors Student Council, and the First-Year Honors Advisory Board welcome new members each year. Applications open in late spring.
- Lead for Tomorrow Leadership Academy students participate in an 8-week course in the spring semester, a Place as Text travel experience, and a design-thinking focused retreat culminating in solutions pitches to the faculty thought leaders.
Save the dates!
- Honors Ambassador and Student Council Applications Open - March 27, 2026. Students seeking involvement opportunities within the college may apply to these separate organizations.
- Cohen Enhancement Funding - due Oct 15, Feb 15, and (if funds are available), Mar 15 each year. Apply for funding support for applied learning such as study abroad or presenting at research conferences.
- Honors General Assembly - April 8, 2026. All honors students, friends, faculty, staff are invited to the annual College General Assembly to celebrate and connect. The General Assembly is required each year by the student-written college by-laws and ensures that students have a chance to meet each other and give their feedback to college student, faculty, and staff leadership.
Program Fee
The expanded Honors student space in Shocker Hall, technology, programming, and some teaching are supported in part by a $50 per semester program fee for all Honors students.