Lower-Division Honors Courses
Honors classes adapt the content of many required introductory courses to the capabilities of highly motivated students. Other than the two required Honors Great Texts courses (plus the strongly recommended First-Year Seminar course), Honors students may choose from among a wide variety of Honors classes offered each semester, based upon their interests and scheduling needs. Honors students complete the lower-division portion of the curriculum by earning credit for a total of 7 Honors units (i.e., 7 classes or 21 credit-hours of Honors coursework) during their first two years of study. (The required Honors Great Texts courses count toward this total.)
These small classes allow entering students to explore special topics with some of Baylor's Honors faculty and their colleagues. Offered in fall semesters, the seminars are designed to encourage critical thinking and writing skills and to introduce freshmen to the many opportunities for intellectual engagement in various Baylor departments and schools, and for enrichment within the Honors Program and Waco communities.
During the 2002-2003 academic year, the Honors Program introduced into its lower-division curriculum a sequence of two courses that focus on the reading and discussion of classic texts, chosen primarily from the western intellectual tradition of liberal arts and sciences. Honors Great Texts 2301 and 2302, offered by Baylor's Great Texts Program
, together constitute a required component of Honors Program work, and they can substitute for other basic requirements on students' degree plans.