As an Honors Scholar, you’ll enjoy several benefits and advantages, most of which are extended exclusively to students in the Honors College.
We’ll help you make a quick adjustment to UB, offer enhanced educational opportunities suited to your talents, and assist you in creating a unique educational experience that meets your individual goals.
You’ll register for classes first, before all other university students - ensuring that you’ll receive the courses you need each semester.
The university reserves a section in the Governors Residence Halls for Honors Scholars. Many of our students choose to live there together, developing a feeling of community. We offer Honors Scholars preferred housing in Governors throughout their four years in Honors.
The Honors staff will help you with academic advisement. They’ll arrange for mentors and serve as a resource to answer questions and solve problems. They’ll be your general guides, facilitators, and friends throughout your undergraduate years at UB.
Honors staff will help you take advantage of unique educational, research, and internship opportunities inside and outside of UB. Our undergraduates have participated in the Space Life Science Training Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, studied international issues at the United Nations, interned at the White House, and worked at U.S. Department of Energy research laboratories throughout the world. Taking advantage of an amazing array of SUNY Study Abroad programs, Honors Scholars have traveled to study at the University of Oxford in England, to the Sorbonne in Paris, and to Italy, Australia, Germany, Japan, and China, to name just a few destinations.
You’ll also receive personal guidance in applying for national fellowships and scholarships. Many UB students have been recipients of National Science Foundation fellowships, Udall Scholarships, Department of Defense scholarships, Marshall scholarships, and Goldwater scholarships.
Academically talented students often come to college seeking a broad undergraduate education and do not want to be limited to a specific discipline. The Honors College has designed a special major in the liberal arts (PDF) that allows students to define, explore, research, and begin to comprehend the many facets of the world around them.
Faculty members host informal gatherings for Honors Scholars in their homes, allowing for a level of personal interaction rarely experienced at the undergraduate level.
During your first year as an Honors Scholar, you will be assigned a faculty mentor from your major. Mentors serve as teachers, academic advisors, and confidants.
The Honors College publishes its own blog, the Honorable Mention, which carries news about scholarships, internships, and special events on campus.
Honors staff help organize social events and invite Honors Scholars to receptions for visiting lecturers.
When you graduate from UB, your transcript will include a permanent notation indicating your special status as a University Honors Scholar.
The University Honors College provides scholarships for Honors Scholars who plan to study abroad through the John D. Gallatin and the Jeremy M. Jacobs Study Abroad Scholarships. The maximum award amounts are $500 for summer, $1500 for one semester, $2500 for a full academic year and are in addition to your regular Honors scholarship.
Working closely with faculty, you may have the opportunity to develop your own research projects during your undergraduate career. Through the Honors College’s Research and Creative Activities Fund, Honors Scholars may receive up to $5,000 to conduct independent study. Recent recipients have studied Assyrian art at museums in New York and England, constructed their own robots, worked with faculty to improve computer graphics technology, and traveled as far as Ghana to document the economic realities of women in that region.
Through the Alumni Internship Program, Honors Scholars interested in gaining valuable experience through internship opportunities will be able to work with some of our successful Honors alumni in a variety of exciting fields.
UB offers chapters in nineteen professional honor societies, including Phi Beta Kappa (liberal arts and sciences), Alpha Epsilon Delta (premed), Beta Gamma Sigma (commerce and business administration), Beta Alpha Psi (accounting), Tau Beta Pi (engineering), and Phi Eta Sigma (for superior undergraduate achievement in any major).