Honors students can Earn Honors Credit in several ways. Identify which type of Honors course you are enrolled in and follow the steps below to edit your Honors status in the course.
Honors Optional
- To earn Honors credit, select the Honors Option during enrollment or at the beginning of the semester. Discuss Honors assignments and expectations with your instructor.
- Students who do not discuss Honors requirements with their instructors early in the semester may not be able to fulfill the requirements to earn Honors Optional credit.
- The regular deadline to drop the Honors Option is the Friday of the twelfth week of the semester.
- If you need to change your Honors Optional selection after your initial enrollment, follow the steps below.
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By the Friday of the 12th Week of the Semester
You can edit Honors Optional enrollment using the Course Search & Enroll tool through the twelfth week of the semester. The deadline for the current semester can be found with the Office of the Registrar’s dates & deadlines. To update your Honors enrollment, follow the directions outlined below.
- Log into MyUW and go to Course Search & Enroll.
- Select “My Courses” and then “Enrolled” to see a list of your courses for the relevant term.
- Select the course that you wish to edit.
- Select “See Sections.”
- Click your section to expand the section information.
- Scroll down and click “Edit Enrollment.”
- Select the desired “Take this course with honors” or “Do not take this course with honors” option.
- Click “Save changes.”
After the Friday of the 12th Week of the Semester
After the twelfth week deadline, adding or removing Honors from an Honors Optional course requires special approval from the instructor and an L&S academic dean. In cases where a late change to Honors enrollment is necessary, follow the directions outlined below.
- Log in to MyUW and go to your Student Center.
- Select “Manage Classes,” then select the box for “Course Change Request” and select the correct term. Click “Continue.”
- Look for the desired course and check the “Select” box. You will now see the various change options.
- Check the box next to the desired change: either “Add Honors” or “Remove Honors.”
- Click “Save” to save your request in the system.
- Save the form as a PDF by clicking “Print” and selecting “Save as PDF” as the printer.
- You do not need to obtain any physical signatures.
- Submit your request to the L&S Academic Deans at lsdeans@saa.ls.wisc.edu and copy your instructor(s) on the email. Include your student ID number and attach the PDF of your course change request.
A tutorial for generating a Course Change Request can be found here.
If You Have Received a Q Grade
“Q” stands for “question,” and instructors post this grade if your Honors enrollment does not match your actions for the course. In other words, if you are enrolled for the Honors Option but do not successfully complete the Honors assignments (or do complete the Honors assignments but did not enroll in the Honors Option), the instructor will post a “Q” grade instead of a regular earned letter grade.
To resolve this, you should follow the directions above to generate a course change request and submit your request to the L&S academic deans.
You and the instructor will be informed once your Honors Optional status for the course is updated. At that point, the instructor can update the “Q” to your earned letter grade for the course.
Automatic Honors
Automatic Honors includes Honors Only and Accelerated Honors sections.
- All students in an Automatic Honors section are expected to complete the same assignments. It is not possible to remove Honors credit from an Automatic Honors course or discussion section.
- For courses offered with an Honors Only section, you must be enrolled in the Honors Only section to earn the Honors credit.
- Verify whether you are in the desired section by viewing your section information in the Course Search & Enroll app or by checking how the course appears under the Honors requirements of your DARS.
- Please follow campus deadlines and instructions for swapping courses or sections.
Green Sheets
- You may be able to earn credit toward your Honors degree from a non-Honors course by submitting a Green Sheet proposal by the semester deadline. Please review our Green Sheet information.
- If you received approval for a Green Sheet project but will not complete it, contact Honors advising and follow the instructions from “Honors Optional” to remove the Honors credit.
Do you wish to join or withdraw from the Honors Program?
If you want to change your status with the Honors Program, not just your status in one course, we encourage you to speak with an Honors advisor about your plans, interests, and any concerns. You can also find helpful information on the following pages: