Fountain in downtown London during student Honors trip.

Honors at Houghton

Fearlessly pursue your university career from the start.

At Houghton, the Honors experience propels you to fearlessly pursue the rest of your university career. We approach Honors differently. Our concentrated first-year experiences take you further, faster than anything you could do anywhere else.

You won't believe what you can achieve.

Honors Interview Process Details

When you apply to Houghton, you will automatically be considered for Honors as well as for one of eight Honors Scholarships of $4,500 each, totaling $18,000 over four years.

Red double-decker bus drives down a London street

London Honors

Immerse yourself in one of the world's great capitals with a semester in London.

  • For all majors
  • Experience living in a different country
  • Enjoy arts and cultural experiences
  • Walk away a better reader and writer
  • Live in London the Spring semester of your first year
Explore London Honors
Aerial panorama of El Morro Fort in San Juan Puerto Rico.

Science Honors

Experience hands-on research in Puerto Rico.

  • For those with a strong interest in laboratory or field research
  • Travel abroad to an ecologically diverse area
  • Enjoy working through complex problems with others
  • Walk away with professional research experience
  • Travel during Mayterm, after your first Spring semester
Explore Science Honors

Houghton honor's student standing in red telephone booth in London with Big Ben in the background.

From the stunning artwork to the city's unexplored corners, my learning experience in London was enriched by being immersed in our course material. Whether that meant spending the day at King Henry VIII's palace or taking pictures with Big Ben, every moment was exciting and engaging. After experiencing another culture across the world and diving into its rich history, I feel uniquely prepared for my future studies and one-day career. It may seem daunting to go overseas in only your second semester, but I truly feel I will forever apply the skills I mastered to my studies. I can now see the world from a new perspective and have become a better communicator, writer, and thinker.

Sydney Arnold '27, London Honors

two students handling drone outdoors

Cost of Honors

The basic cost of participation includes Houghton tuition plus program fees, including a $1,500 fee to cover travel expenses. Financial aid can be used for the Honors Program.

James S. Luckey Award

When you apply to Houghton, you will automatically be considered for Honors as well as for one of theย James S. Luckey Awards. Selection for these awards stems from Houghtonโ€™s Honors Interview process, as recipients are selected out of the pool of Honors candidates.

Honors at Houghton is an immersive first-year experience that carries you through your university career and beyond.

Challenging. Interdisciplinary. Experiential.

Qualified first-year students are invited to interview for Houghton Honors upon acceptance to the college. Each track is co-taught, synthesizes multiple disciplines, and includes a significant experiential component.

Transforming Together

Each program is a community as much as it is a courseโ€”a family of exceptionally bright, motivated students bound together by the intensity of a shared experience.

After Honors

Our Honors alumni have pursued masterโ€™s and doctoral degrees at institutions including Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Cornell, University of Chicago, and Indiana University in fields as diverse as neuroscience, molecular biology, law, music, and theology.

Alumni Success and Outcomes

Houghton professor Benjamin Lipscomb.

Honors at Houghton take highly talented entering students, like you, and set before you challenged that are initially beyond your reach. The idea is that, as we help you to rise to these challenges, you become more than you were.

Professor Benjamin Lipscomb
Professor of Philosophy and Honors at Houghton Program Director


Learn more about Houghton's Honor Programs.