Dates to Know
All students needs to apply to graduate by the end of the 6th week of your last semester.
When you apply, you do not need to indicate in any way that you'd like to be evaluated for University Honors. Evaluation for University Honors is automatic. The box that appears on the degree application refers to Honors-in-the-Major, not University Honors.
To ensure conferral of University Honors on your transcript and diploma, you will need to submit any last experiential learning questionnaires/reflections 6 weeks prior to graduation.
Fall graduates:
submit reflections by Nov 1st.
Spring graduates:
submit reflections by Apr 1st.
Summer graduates:
submit reflections by July 1st.
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.
Graduating members of Phi Eta Sigma who satisfactorily meet requirements will receive a cord through Phi Eta Sigma.
Commendation Ceremony
Honors hosts a dedicated celebration to recognize our graduates in May. This ceremony is typically held in MacBride Autidorium* and lasts about an hour. 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. Many students choose to attend this ceremony instead of university graduation because it is typically much shorter.
All graduating seniors receive a survey in early April they must fill out to attend. If you have not received this survey by April 15th, 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
For the honors notation to be conferred with your degree, you must have completed at least 12 s.h. of honors coursework, 12 credits of experiential learning, and have a cumulative Iowa GPA of 3.33. Students should refer to their University Honors degree audit to confirm completion of these requirements.
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 six weeks before graduation to submit your questionnaires/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.