Dates to Know
Completing your degree application through MyUI will automatically prompt a review for completion of University Honors. You do not need to indicate in any way that you'd like to be evaluated for University Honors as all students who complete a degree application and are currently members of the University Honors program of study will be reviewed. The box that appears on the degree application refers to honors in a major and does not pertain to awarding of University Honors.
For University Honors to appear in the UI Commencement Program your degree audit needs to show complete by March 1st. Follow steps on this page to ensure completion can be reported accurately.
End of Year Celebration
An end-of-spring celebration for all honors students will be held in 440 BHC (date to come).
Regalia
The Honors Program provides medals to graduating seniors that they receive during our Commendation Ceremony. We do not provide cords.
Commendation Ceremony
Honors hosts a separate celebration to recognize our graduates. Many students choose to attend this ceremony instead of university graduation because it is typically much shorter. It is not required that you attend the honors ceremony to graduate with honors. The purpose of our ceremony is to recognize your achievements as an honors student during your time at Iowa.
All graduating seniors have received a survey they must fill out to attend. If you have not received this survey, please contact veronica-sanchez@uiowa.edu.
*MacBride’s auditorium is on the second floor, but there is an elevator located on the east side of the building (left of the front steps) for accessibility.
graduation
Graduating with Honors
There are two ways to graduate with honors at the University of Iowa: University Honors and honors in your major.
University Honors
By submitting your graduation degree application, you will automatically be considered for graduation with University Honors. No extra box needs to be checked at application submission to indicate you would like to be considered for University Honors.
After the degree application deadline, one of two things will happen:
- If you complete your degree application and your honors degree audit shows that you have fulfilled University Honors requirements*, you will receive pre-approval to graduate with University Honors after the degree application deadline.
- If your honors degree audit shows you have completed the required coursework but does not reflect 12 experiential learning credits*, you have until April 1st to submit your reflections in the Honors Program portal on ICON.
*Students completing honors in the major will not see this on their University Honors degree audits. However, your work toward honors in the major will be reported to us by your department at the time of graduation.