Honors Distinction FAQ

Honors Distinction is a commemorative title and award given to exceptional students who make significant contributions to the Honors community by going above and beyond what is required of them in the classroom. A student who earns Honors Distinction has displayed dedicated commitment to their Honors community by attending and participating in Honors-hosted events, serving their fellow Honors students in a leadership capacity, and contributing to the scholastic legacy of the Honors Program through independent research.

Aside from the immeasurable intrinsic growth that comes from engaging with and contributing to your Honors community, there are several material benefits that come with earning Honors Distinction. Students who are awarded Honors Distinction will have this achievement individually recognized at Honors graduation and receive a special Distinction cord and medallion in addition to the standard Honors cord to wear as part of their graduation regalia. Distinction Students will then have their name permanently commemorated on a plague forever displayed with great pride in the DePaul University Honors Office. It is a great honor to achieve Distinction, and being awarded this title will make your graduation from DePaul University all the more special.

Earning Distinction on top of completing the rigorous Honors curriculum is an extraordinary feat: only 5-10% of students achieve it by graduation!

Earning Honors Distinction is just an optional ‘cherry on top’ that you can choose to add to your Honors education if you so wish. You do not need to earn Honors Distinction, or achieve any of the milestones of Honors Distinction, to remain in or graduate from the DePaul University Honors Program. The only thing you need to do to stay in the Honors Program and graduate with Honors from DePaul University is to complete and pass your Honors curriculum requirements. However, immersing yourself within your Honors community outside of the classroom will provide you with so many benefits beyond just Distinction, including expanding your world view, developing leadership skills, and even adding valuable experience to your resume to help you begin your professional journey beyond DePaul.

Earning Honors Distinction requires students to meet criteria from three distinct ‘milestones,’ or aspects of the Honors community. We call these milestones Partnership, Leadership, and Scholarship. To achieve all three milestones, a student must earn at least 10 Honors Points (aka participate in an Honors event or opportunity 10 times), hold one of the specified leadership positions in the Honors Program, and participate in the annual Honors Research Conference. If a student achieves all three milestones by graduation, they will earn Honors Distinction.

The milestones of Honors Distinction are Partnership, Leadership, and Scholarship.

Students can generally achieve the milestones of Distinction in any order they choose. The only thing to keep in mind is that Honors points may be taken into consideration when fulfilling some leadership roles as part of a holistic recruitment process.

Students earn Honors Partnership by accumulating 10 Honors Points. Honors Points are earned by attending Honors events. For every event you attend, you earn a point. The Honors Program hosts events almost every week, so there is ample opportunity to earn Honors points! Sometimes, points are offered for participating in opportunities, as well. For more information on what kinds of events and opportunities are available to earn an Honors Point, please see our Honors Partnership page.

Check your email, follow us on Instagram @dpu_honors, or check out the Events page for updates on upcoming events and opportunities that offer an Honors point.

Honors Points are awarded every time you attend an event or participate in an Honors-sponsored activity. It is essentially a way to keep track of students’ attendance and participation. 1 Honors Point is awarded for every event attended. Accumulating 10 Honors Points earns you Honors Partnership.

To see how many Honors Points you have, visit the Honors Program Points Page on D2L.

Honors Leadership is earned by holding a role of mentorship or responsibility within the Honors Program. There are many roles that can account for leadership, and they are often announced throughout the year, so be sure to regularly read your Honors Program emails and follow us on Instagram @dpu_honors to be the first to know when these opportunity arise.

Examples of Honors Leadership includes:

-Serving as an Honors Advocate to incoming freshmen and Transfer Students

-Serving as an Honors Practicum Mentor in an Honors Chicago Quarter class

-Serving as an Editor for the Honors Blog or Honorable Mentions

-Publishing 10 pieces with any combination of our Honors Publications

For more information on Honors Leadership roles, please visit our Honors Leadership page.

Since every Honors Leadership role is unique, each role therefore has its own unique process of choosing leaders. Often, an interview is involved (especially for paid roles like Honors Advocates and Honors Practicum Mentors). The best way to learn what the selection process is for a leadership role is to read the emails and dpuhonors.com posts about that specific opportunity when it arises.

A student can earn Honors Scholarship one of two ways, but both involve presenting original research at the annual Honors Research Conference, held every year in Spring. To earn Scholarship, students can either present an original research project or paper that they created in Honors class or they can pursue an Honors Senior Thesis. For more information, visit our Scholarship page or learn more about the Research Conference & Thesis.

Email us at honorsprogram@depaul.edu!