The Honors College at Appalachian State supports a collaborative community of about 600 highly motivated students from all majors. If your unweighted high school GPA is 3.5 or higher and you are excited by challenging ideas, interdisciplinary learning, and working closely with faculty and peers, we encourage you to apply.

University Honors is a rich, multi-year experience that integrates with your major and broader App State experience. We strongly recommend planning to spend three to four years at Appalachian to get the full benefit from your Honors experience. This timeline gives you space to build relationships, engage deeply across disciplines, and develop your research or creative work.

How to Apply

  1. Apply to App State via the Common App or claim your spot through NC College Connect by Nov 15.
  2. If you submitted a Common App to App State, you can skip this step. Otherwise, complete the College Connect Additional Information Form and the Scholarships Essays and Activities Form in your MyMountaineer portal by Nov 15.
  3. Complete your Honors College essay. After you’ve submitted your application or claimed your spot through NC College Connect, and if your unweighted high school GPA is 3.5 or higher, you can access the Honors College essay through the Forms tab in your MyMountaineer portal or directly through this Honors College essay form. Submit your Honors College application by Nov 15 to apply to the Honors College and the Chancellor’s Scholarship.

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Honors College Essay Prompt

While you can’t access the portal until you’ve submitted your App State admissions application or officially claimed your spot through NC College Connect, we don’t make you wait to see the Honors essay prompt.

Deadlines

  • Submit your App State application or claim your spot through NC Connect by November 15.
  • Submit your Honors College Essay by November 15.
  • If you connected with App State without submitting a Common App, you'll need to complete the College Connect Additional Information Form and the Scholarships Essay and Activities Form by November 15 as well.
  • Receive your App State admissions decision 2-4 weeks after completing your application
  • Receive your Honors College decision by January 25
  • Secure your spot in the incoming Honors class by March 25, or ask for an extension up to May 1

Application Advice

We’re looking for students who are curious, motivated, and ready to grow—and who will thrive in and contribute to the Honors College community.

Admission to the Honors College at Appalachian is holistic. In our first round of review, we carefully read applications from students with an unweighted high school GPA of 3.5 or higher, as well as those whose high schools do not provide a GPA (often because they do not issue grades). While GPA helps us determine which applications we review carefully, it’s only a piece of the picture. We look closely at your Common App (or Scholarships Essays and Activities Form responses) and your Honors essay to see your ambitions, intellectual curiosity, leadership, resilience, and your commitment to learning and contributing in meaningful ways.

Here are the four areas we focus on, and how you can help us see your strengths:

Intellectual Engagement & Academic Potential

We’re interested in how you approach learning—what sparks your curiosity, how you think through complex ideas, and where you’ve pushed yourself intellectually.

  • Share what excites you intellectually—inside or outside the classroom
  • Let us know about challenging courses, independent work, or creative projects
  • Use your activities list to show academic curiosity and initiative
Perspective-Taking & Collaboration

We’re looking for students who engage across differences, listen actively, and contribute to a collaborative learning environment.

  • Talk about teamwork, volunteering, or group activities you’ve contributed to and grown from
  • Reflect on how you've engaged with and learned from people with different viewpoints and experiences
Holistic Development & Initiative

We want to see how you’ve grown—academically, personally, or otherwise—and how you take initiative in shaping your experiences and learning.

  • Reflect on experiences that shaped your values, creativity, or self-awareness
  • Use your activities list to show us how you’ve taken initiative, whether through leadership, service, or self-directed projects
Contribution to the Honors College

We’re interested in what draws you to this community—what you hope to bring to Honors, and what you’re excited to discover, create, and learn here.

  • Share your excitement about the Honors community
  • Be specific about how you’d like to get involved

Use your Honors essay as well as the essay, interest statement, and activities list you share through the Common App (or Scholarships Essays and Activities Form) to tell your story. Specific examples help us see the real you—your goals, your values, and your potential. We’re not looking for perfection.  We want to see your commitment to discovering, creating, learning, and growing together. 

We’re here to help

Have questions or want feedback?

If you have questions or want personalized feedback, reach out to our Associate Vice Provost for the Honors College, Vicky Klima, at klimavw@appstate.edu for guidance and support.