The Honors Program provides many benefits to student participants. Our goal is to ensure everything is in place to help you customize you education to match your interests and fuel your ambitions. Your Honors Advisor identifies opportunities across campus to support and enrich your Honors experience and provide you increased access to the people, ideas and support systems you need to do your best work.
Priority Registration
Honors students register for classes in the first group of their respective class years, helping to relieve some of the stress that can come with the demands of balancing a complex schedule.
Unique Courses
Faculty members design unique and challenging courses just for our honors students. These courses are small, discussion-based and allow students to dive into complex subjects in diverse fields without the need to take introductory courses first. Because these courses meet general education requirements that students need anyway, they fit easily into the McDaniel experience. Students help to determine the line-up of courses.
Extended Library Loan
Honors students can check out materials from Hoover Library for three months at a time, sidestepping pesky overdue notices.
Unique Study Abroad Opportunities
Students who participate in the Honors Program are allowed to study abroad at McDaniel Europe in Budapest, Hungary in the spring semester of their first year, a full semester earlier than most other students. That semester they complete their required Honors seminar abroad alongside students from around the world at McDaniel Europe.
Special Trips and Events
From the statehouse in Annapolis to embassy row, think tanks, and cultural centers in nearby Washington, D.C., students rub shoulders and exchange ideas with policy makers and performing artists through Honors Program trips thanks to the connections created by networked professors. In addition, the program hosts an annual honors lecture bringing renowned researchers to our campus. Our students plan and participate in service events such as Night of Nets, Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, and Relay for Life and bring their creative expertise to picnics, banquets, and receptions.
Access to the Honors Alumni Network
Honors students join a network of over 400 honors alumni who provide mentorship to current students and help connect them to post-graduate opportunities.
Leadership Opportunities
On campus, honors students are leaders among leaders and are well-represented in every group from team captains to the first-year council to the student government association. Within the Honors Program, students have an active voice and can run for positions on the student executive board.
Academic Research Opportunities
With the support of faculty and the Honors Advisors, many honors students complete undergraduate research and present their work at Honors conferences. Honors students are mentored on this process, further preparing them for next steps in their educational or professional journeys. Conferences where students present include The Maryland Collegiate Honors Council and the Northeast Regional Honors Council.
Mentorship by the Program Director
The honors director serves as an additional advisor for honors students, meeting with them to put opportunities in their pathways and help them make the most of their McDaniel experience.
Official recognition as a "College Scholar"
Upon completing the program students are officially named College Scholars and this honor is noted on their transcripts. Students wear special cords at graduation and are recognized at the spring awards ceremony and at commencement.
