Dates to Know
Degree application deadline: February 23rd, 2024. 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 Commencement Program your degree audit needs to show complete by March (date to come). Follow steps on this page to ensure completion can be reported accurately.
End of Semester Celebration
An end-of-semester celebration for all honors students will be held in 440 BHC (date to come). An email will be sent prior with an RSVP link.
Graduating seniors will receive information about the honors commencement ceremony. Seniors can pick up their honors medal at the 4th-floor desk once approved for graduation. The Honors Program does not provide graduation attire. Phi Eta Sigma students will receive a cord with their medal.
graduation
To commend and recognize students who graduate from the University of Iowa with University Honors, we gather at the end of each spring semester for the University Honors Commendation Ceremony. Honors staff and faculty bestow honorary regalia to recognize our students' extraordinary academic achievements. Information will be shared with spring graduates after the preapproval process described above has been completed. December and August graduates are welcome to participate as well and should contact the program at least a month before spring commencement weekend if they would like to attend.
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 within a month after the degree application deadline.
Students in the College of Engineering do not need to notify us if they plan to use the Engineering Exception. Similarly, students who began in the program prior to Fall 2016 may be following a slightly different coursework and experiential learning requirement. Even though your degree audit will not say "requirements complete", you will still be cleared for graduation if you meet the exception requirements. -
If your honors degree audit shows you have completed the required coursework but does not reflect 12 experiential learning credits*, you will receive an email within a month after the degree application deadline to encourage you to report any missing experiences from your Honors degree audit. If you believe you should have received this email and have not, please contact us at honors-program@uiowa.edu.
*Students completing honors in the major will not see this on their University Honors degree audits. However, your work towards honors in the major should otherwise be clear to us; if you have 12 s.h. of honors coursework and are working towards honors in the major, you should fall into category 1. If, however, you are working towards honors in the major and are not approved to graduate with Honors, it will be imperative to notify Honors in a timely way so that we can clear up the missing information with you and your department or college.