The Honors Experience at LSUA

The Honors Experience at LSUA is a unique opportunity for qualified students to obtain valuable experience that will help them establish, pursue and achieve long-term goals. Significant scholarship funds are provided to help students as they design their paths to success.

The goal is not to challenge students with more work, more rigor or added levels of difficulty. Instead, The Honors Experience adds extra dimensions of learning in the form of practical experience. The best candidates for employment or graduate school have more than a history of good grades; they have engaged in activities that contribute to thinking critically, working collaboratively, and being visionary, transformative leaders.

Eligible students are incoming first-time, full-time, degree-seeking freshmen who are on campus (rather than 100% online). Full-time students are enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester. Students from all bachelor’s or associate’s program at LSUA will be considered for admission.

Apply to the Honors Experience

About the Honors Experience

At LSUA, “Honors” is not focused solely and rigidly on studious classroom work. 

What The Honors Experience IS

Unlike regular honors programs at other universities, The Honors Experience at LSUA is about special opportunities beyond the classroom – opportunities usually reserved only for students in graduate school or in highly specialized programs of study. Along the way, significant mentoring and guidance are provided to ensure maximum impact.

What The Honors Experience IS NOT

  • It is NOT about more difficult coursework. That may be true elsewhere, but that’s not what we’re all about. The coursework for The Honors Experience at LSUA is different – more discussion-based, more conceptual, more analytical – but it is not more difficult. In fact, course grades are often higher because the approach is more engaging and interesting.
  • It is NOT about a greater quantity of work. On the contrary, there are usually fewer assignments because “busy work” is eliminated in favor of deeper, more meaningful analysis.
  • It is NOT about taking more classes. No additional credit hours are needed to graduate from The Honors Experience at LSUA. All academic requirements are built into the program of study.

Why The Honors Experience is AWESOME

Start withthe community, including the friendships that will be forged among similarly motivated, like-minded students.

Consider also the fun events, including trips, that are part of the social experience.

Understand that completing The Honors Experience will mean being more likely to land an outstanding job or a coveted spot in graduate school.

AWESOME truly describes this unique combination of benefits! 

"Experience" LSUA

Leadership

Leadership experience can come in many forms. Some students are teaching assistants or peer mentors; some serve in student government or as officers in student organizations on campus; some coach youth sports off campus or represent the university to the greater community in other ways. Academic credit can be awarded to students who reflect on their leadership experience and carry forward what they have learned to other endeavors.

Citizenship

Citizenship experience can be through volunteering in the community, assisting with campus activities, working together for a social cause, and much more. Academic credit is available for students who engage in citizenship initiatives.

Scholarship

Scholarly experience comes from the curriculum, which includes special seminars and research projects. Students will have the chance to present their scholarship at campus events or at professional conferences elsewhere in the country. 

Community

Friendship

Friendship is a core pillar of The Honors Experience, along with leadership, citizenship and scholarship. Through the many special activities designed especially for these students, friendships are developed among students from all majors and across the entire university – friendships that would never have been realized but for membership in The Honors Experience community.

Events

Students in The Honors Experience will bond while enjoying various social, cultural and intellectual activities. Possibilities include guest speakers, game nights, outings in town, movies, cookouts, and other fun things students might want to do.

Travel

In an effort to introduce new and diverse perspectives, there are opportunities for students to travel together and attend special events elsewhere in the country, present their work at professional conferences, and attend national honors conference in cities such as Orlando, Boston and Seattle. Special seminars on other states or other countries are available during spring break or during part the summer.

Housing

The Oaks offers comfortable, apartment-style residential living on campus. Students in The Honors Experience choosing to live in The Oaks will benefit from an even stronger sense of community. They will also benefit from an additional $1000 per year as part of the Honors Scholarship.

Curriculum

Students in The Honors Experience will earn 15 credit hours of Honors coursework (9 credit hours if pursuing an associate’s degree), but these will not be additional courses. Rather, they will be built into the existing plan of study for each degree program.

Experiential Learning

The heart of The Honors Experience, these are special opportunities to obtain course credit for engaging in Leadership, Citizenship, Teaching, and Research.  Some of these experiences will be on campus, though options will exist for off-campus 

Special Seminars

Students in The Honors Experience can earn general education credit and take elective options that are nontraditional, experimental, low-risk, and (most importantly) fun! Seminars will be largely discussion-based and may deviate from traditional assignments such as tests or papers. Examples of possible seminars include: The Meaning of Life; The Supernatural; You Tube in Contemporary Society; Country Music vs. Rock-and-Roll; The Physics of Billiards; Chemistry in the Kitchen; Zombies in Film; Theories of Justice; Squirrel! (The Art of Distraction); and many others.  The possibilities are endless, and students will have input into which courses are offered. 

Research Contracts

At least one course (3 credit hours of Honors work) must be through a research project in a course that the student is already taking. Working with the professor, the student will propose a project, carry out the needed research, and present his/her findings at LSUA’s Scholar Day or similar campus event. Options exist for students to travel out of state and present with faculty at professional conferences.

Contact Us

Send us your questions! We will be happy to provide additional information about our the Honors Experience.

The Honors Experience
Office of the Provost
LSU at Alexandria
8100 Highway 71 South
Alexandria, LA 71302
Email: honorsexperience@lsua.edu
Phone: (318) 743-6446