Honors Academy

The invitation process for both the Honors College (HC) and the Honors Academy is very selective. Each program has an invitation process based on several factors regarding your performance in high school.

Please refer to the HC FAQ for any questions regarding HC admissions.

While merit-based scholarships are awarded to students with high academic achievement, an invitation to the Honors College or the Engineering Honors Academy does not guarantee a merit-based scholarship offer. So we have honors students who did not receive merit aid scholarships, and some scholarship recipients were not invited to our honors programs.  

Congratulations on being accepted into the Rutgers School of Engineering! The profile quality of our student body has been increasing at an unprecedented rate for the past several years, and you are presently in a very competitive pool of students that have been accepted to Rutgers University.

This year’s applicant pool for the Engineering Honors Academy was even more competitive than in previous years. Based on your student profile in comparison to your peers, the Engineering Honors Academy Application Review Committee has decided not to extend you an offer.

Keep in mind that the Engineering Honors Academy is not the only honors entity that exists within the School of Engineering. In our School of Engineering, nearly every engineering discipline has an associated Honor Society. If you maintain exceptional grades in comparison to your peers in your major, you will be invited to be inducted into the Honor Society related to your major. Furthermore, if you maintain exceptional grades in comparison to your peers, you will be invited to be inducted into the very prestigious Tau Beta Pi. Tau Beta Pi is the oldest engineering honor society for honors engineering students who have shown a history of academic achievement and a commitment to personal and professional integrity.

Again, congratulations on your acceptance into the School of Engineering, it’s no easy feat!

Due to the limited space, Honors Housing for continuing students is limited to Honors Students only. For more information related to honors housing for continuing students please refer to Honors College website.

If you choose to live with a non-honors student, you can enter the general housing process.

Selection to the Honors College differs for the School of Arts and the School of Engineering based on where your student profile stands in comparison to the other students applying to those schools as well.

Entrance into the Engineering Honors Academy is upon admittance to the School of Engineering. There is no other entry into the Engineering Honors Academy. The Honors Academy, not unlike the Honors College, is a community built of first years and extending until graduation.

Keep in mind that the Engineering Honors Academy is not the only honors entity that exists within the School of Engineering. At the School of Engineering, practically every engineering discipline has an Honor Society associated with it. If you maintain exceptional grades in comparison to your peers in your major, you will be invited to be inducted into the Honor Society related to your major. On top of that, if you maintain exceptional grades in comparison to your peers in your graduating year, you will be invited to be inducted into the very prestigious Tau Beta Pi. Tau Beta Pi is the oldest engineering honor society which honors engineering students that have shown a history of academic achievement as well as a commitment to personal and professional integrity.

If you are invited to take part in any Honors program, you will receive an email regarding your acceptance into the Honors Academy or College by mid to late January. Students will also receive a subsequent email with an invitation to the Engineering Honors Academy admitted students sessions.

The Engineering Honors Academy admitted student sessions is only open to prospective Honors Academy students, who receive an invitation.

Both the Engineering Honors Academy and the Honors College are exciting opportunities for high achieving students. 

The Rutgers School of Engineering Honors Academy is designed to challenge, inspire, and sustain a select group of highly self-motivated engineering students who have demonstrated remarkable academic ability, enthusiasm, intellectual curiosity, and a clear potential to make a difference as a leader in whatever field of engineering they pursue. During their first year, it is strongly recommended that Engineering Honors Academy students live on the second floor of Barr Hall (an All-Engineering Residential Hall) on Busch Campus. Through the Engineering Honors Academy, students will be exposed to various dimensions of the engineering field. The environment also offers a collaborative community of academically focused individuals.

The Honors College is a unique interdisciplinary experience, where students of various disciplines live and work together to tackle global issues. During their first year, Honors College students reside on College Avenue in the Honors College building built exclusively for Honors College students.

These are the required courses unique to each program:

During the first year, both programs offer Honors sections of Math, Physics, and Honors Mechanics-Statics.

All Honors students MUST follow the engineering honors curriculum (math/physics/statics). Exceptions may be made by the Honors Academy Director based on extenuating circumstances. However, no course in the honors curriculum may be taken outside of Rutgers.

In general, merit-aid scholarships do not transfer when students transfer between schools at Rutgers. School of Engineering (SoE) honors the merit-aid award that students were eligible to receive based on the School of Engineering standard at the time of their admission to Rutgers. Since SoE may have a higher standard for merit-based awards, school-to-school transfer students may lose their scholarships or qualify for a different award with a reduced amount. 

If you receive less than a "B" in any of your Honors courses, you will receive an Honors Academy warning in your profile. Honors Academy students that receive below a "B" in a Calculus course are required to take the next Calculus course in the sequence as a non-Honors course (and must receive an "A" in that course). Students in this specific scenario, can only take one Calculus course outside the Honors sequence. In the event a student receives less than a "B" in Calculus, will receive a "warning" in the student's Honors Academy profile. Honors Academy scholars with "warnings" in their profiles will receive less favorable references from the Honors Academy.

If an Honors Academy student receives a cumulative GPA of less than 3.25 during a given semester, the student will be placed on probation the following semester. If the student is unable to raise their cumulative GPA above a 3.25 during their probation semester, they are dismissed from the Honors Academy.

We recommend Honors Academy students share with employers that they have been advised to complete on-campus recruiting through the end of November (for Fall semester offers, and through the end of February for Spring semester offers) prior to accepting any offers, which lessens the amount of reneging that occurs and could negatively reflect on the university.