Wilkes Honors College: General Education and Graduation Requirements

All students must successfully complete 120 credits to graduate. Of these, at least 36 credits are in the WHC General Education Requirements. The WHC General Education Requirements are devoted to obtaining a broad-based education in the liberal arts and sciences through courses that emphasize critical thinking and communication skills. These courses introduce students to ways of thinking about science, politics, history, ethics, culture, visual images, the environment, and literature. Some of these courses serve as introductions to a specific discipline. Others approach problems and themes in ways that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries. 

Consult with the Florida Atlantic catalog to confirm College and University graduation requirements and policies.

Students who enter Florida Atlantic University without an Associate of Arts degree from a Florida State School must fulfill the Wilkes Honors College's General Education Requirements as described below. A course may be used to simultaneously satisfy a general education and a student’s concentration requirement. All course selections should be made in consultation with an adviser.

Note: For students who entered prior to Fall 2024, please refer to the following requirements here. 

WHC General Education Requirements:

• Written Communication (3 credits, one course; students must also complete 3 additional WAC-designated courses)
• Mathematics (6 credits, two courses)
• Natural Sciences (6 credits, two courses)
• Social Sciences (12 credits, four courses)
• Humanities (9 credits, three courses)

Other Graduation Requirements:

• Foreign Language (4-8 credits, one or two courses)
• Critical Inquiry Seminars (5-9 credits, three courses); at least one must be a 3-credit course
• Internship or Study Abroad (3 credits)
• Honors Forum (1 credit, one course)
• Distribution Electives (6 credits, two courses)
• Concentration with Honors Thesis (36-73 credits; students must receive a "C" or higher in all courses counting towards a concentration)
• Writing Portfolio
• Civic Literacy

NOTE: WHC students do not need to satisfy the 'Intellectual Foundations Program - General Education Curriculum requirements because they satisfy the WHC General Education Requirements instead.

Additional information:

• • Associate of Arts (AA) degree requirements
  • Core Courses list
  • Double Concentrations policy
  • Florida Atlantic catalog and academic policies
  • Non-Honors College course policy

General Education Requirements

Communications

(3 credits required-ENC1101; a grade of "C" or higher required)

Communication courses afford students the ability to communicate effectively, including the ability to write clearly and engage in public speaking.

As part of the Wilkes Honors College’s writing-intensive curriculum, students must take four Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) courses. WAC courses are discipline-based courses students may use to satisfy other core or concentration requirements. They are designated as WAC because they provide special attention to the writing and revision process. In most cases, the Honors Thesis will count as two WAC courses. WAC courses satisfy the State’s Gordon Rule writing requirement. ENC 1101 is taken as one of the four WAC courses.

Writing Portfolio

Honors College students will have a mid-career assessment of their writing at the end of their sophomore year. This involves assessment by a committee of faculty of a writing portfolio. The writing portfolio consists of the student's Forum paper (which the Dean's office keeps on file), and at least one essay.

This essay must meet the following four requirements:

1. It was written in your 1st or 2nd years at the Honors College;
2. It should be a scholarly essay that demonstrates your ability to incorporate evidence from secondary sources and/or analyze a primary text;
3. It should have your professor's comments on it, if possible;
4. It should be at least five (5) pages in length.

If you do not turn in your writing portfolio by the deadline, your advisor will not lift your advising hold for the next registration period until you submit your portfolio.
The point of the writing portfolio is to ensure that you are prepared to write the Honors Thesis in your senior year. You will receive feedback indicating whether you are progressing at a level that indicates you will be ready to successfully complete an Honors Thesis in your senior year or whether you should do additional coursework in writing in your junior year in order to strengthen your writing before embarking on the thesis project.

Humanities

(9 credits required)

Humanities courses afford students the ability to think critically through the mastering of subjects concerned with human culture, especially literature, history, art, music, and philosophy, including selections from the Western canon.

Social Sciences

(12 credits required)

Social science courses afford students an understanding of the basic social and behavioral science concepts and principles used in the analysis of behavior and past and present social, political, and economic issues.

Natural Science

(6 credits required)

Natural science courses afford students the ability to critically examine and evaluate the principles of the scientific method, model construction, and use the scientific method to explain natural experiences and phenomena.

Mathematics

(6 credits required; a grade of "C" or higher required in each course) (For students entering in the 2024-25 academic year and thereafter)

Mathematics courses afford students a mastery of foundational mathematical and computation models and methods by applying such models and methods in problem solving. The Mathematics requirement is intended to give students an appreciation of mathematics and prepare them to think precisely and critically about quantitative problems.

Distribution Electives (6 credits, two courses)

Many students arrive at college unfamiliar with the specialized areas of study within the social sciences and humanities. Students have the opportunity to discover and explore these by taking two additional distribution electives. While these may not be courses that satisfy the Social and Behavioral Analysis and Humanities core requirements, they may be courses from any two distinct disciplines, one within the social sciences and one within the humanities.These courses must be Wilkes Honors College courses taken at the Wilkes Honors College. They may not be courses taken to satisfy other core or graduation requirements or counted for a concentration, but they may be courses used to satisfy minor concentration requirements. 

Foreign Language (4-8 credits, one or two courses)

Learning foreign languages provides access to other cultures and worlds, to other ways of thinking. As this is an important objective of the Honors College, students are expected to take two courses in a language, and are encouraged to incorporate the study of language into a study abroad experience. Foreign Language: 4-8 credits, one or two courses. Two courses: XXX 1120 and XXX 1121; OR one course XXX 1121 or above.

Critical Inquiry Seminars (5-9 credits, three courses)

Students take three Critical Inquiry Seminars. These seminars are specially designated one or three-credit team-taught courses that engage in interdisciplinary inquiry. At least one of the three courses must be a 3-credit course. The aim of these courses is to explore problems from a variety of perspectives and to reflect on the connections and shared concerns of scholars from distinct disciplines. For example, a psychology professor and a philosophy professor may team-teach a course on free will; or a political science professor and an anthropology professor may team-teach a course on indigenous religion and trans-nationalism in the Americas.Team-taught courses used to satisfy the critical inquiry seminar may not be used to satisfy other Core requirements but may satisfy concentration requirements.

Honors College Forum (1 credit, one course)

Students meet faculty and other leading scholars and artists who present their work and introduce the leading ideas and controversies in their areas of expertise. Students take this weekly one-credit seminar their first semester.

Internship (minimum 3 credits) or Study Abroad (minimum 4 weeks and 3 credits)

Further information is available online for study abroad, and for internships.

Additional University Graduation Requirements

Consult the Florida Atlantic catalog for graduation requirements here (Note: Honors College students do not need to fulfill the 'Intellectual Foundations Program' requirement as they fulfill the Honors College Core requirement instead.)
Key requirements are:

Civic Literacy Requirement - Refer to University Policy Here

Summer Credit Requirement (9 credits): Earn a minimum of 9 credits by attending one or more summer terms at either Florida Atlantic or another university in the Florida State University System.  This requirement applies only to students admitted to Florida Atlantic as freshmen or as transfer students with fewer than 60 credits (Florida Board of Governors Regulation 6.016).  For those students enrolled before fall 2011, credits earned and transferred through the Advanced International Certificate in Education (AICE) Program, Advanced Placement (AP) Program, College Level Examination Program (CLEP), Dual Enrollment (DE) Program or International Baccalaureate (IB) Program may be applied toward the 9-credit summer requirement, thereby reducing students' summer credit requirement total.

120-credits to graduate. A minimum of 45 of these credits must be at the upper division (3000 or 4000-level). Earn the last 30 upper-division credits in residence at Florida Atlantic.

Minimum G.P.A. requirement: Undergraduate students who fail to earn a satisfactory grade point average (2.0 or higher) on all work attempted in any term are considered to be on academic probation. Students on academic probation who fail to earn a 2.0 grade point average on all work attempted in any term but have a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or higher at Florida Atlantic will be continued on academic probation. Students on academic probation who earn a 2.0 grade point average or higher in the next period of enrollment but whose cumulative grade point average at Florida Atlantic is lower than 2.0 will be continued on academic probation. Undergraduates on academic probation should seek assistance from their academic advisors in improving their academic performance.

Non-Honors College courses: No more than 15% of the credits taken to satisfy the 120-credit requirement, less AP, IB, and transfer credits, may be taken outside the Honors College without permission of the Dean. Students must, prior to the start of the course, get the approval of their advisor: a course will be approved only if it is not offered at the Honors College or if offered, it could not be taken because of a scheduling conflict. Click here for further information.

Course Load: Full-time undergraduate students are those who are registered for 12 or more credits in the Fall or Spring terms. In the Summer term full-time is 6 credits or more in each of A, B, or C term. Students who drop courses during a semester and fall below these levels will be considered part-time and they may be risking scholarship, housing, and athletic eligibility.

 

Associate of Arts Degree Requirements

1. Students must earn 60 credits in academic courses acceptable toward the degree with at least a 2.0 cumulative Florida Atlantic GPA.
2. Earn a minimum of 40 of the 60 credits at the lower-division (1000-2000) level as indicated by the Statewide Course Numbering System designations or their equivalents.
3. Students can apply no more than 30 credits of nontraditional credit toward the degree. This includes Advanced Placement, College Level Examination Program, and International Baccalaureate credits. Credits earned in this manner are transfer credits.
4. Students must earn at least 30 credits in residence at the Honors College and complete the last semester in residence at the Honors College.
5. Students must fulfill the Honors College Core/General Education requirements. This includes satisfying the Writing Across the Curriculum/Gordon Rule requirement, including ENC 1101, the Gordon Rule computation requirements, and Forum. Students need not complete the Critical Inquiry Seminar, non-classroom learning, distribution elective, concentration, or foreign language requirements in order to receive an AA.
6. Students must submit an Associate of Arts Degree application to the Honors College Director of Academic Support Services. Students cannot apply for an AA degree during a semester in which they are awarded a baccalaureate degree. Non-degree students and students who transfer with 40 or more credits may not apply for the A.A. degree at Florida Atlantic. Additionally, students with an "I" (incomplete) grade on their transcripts may not apply for the A.A. degree until the "I" is removed.