The Honors College brings together curious, engaged students from every major who want to challenge themselves, explore ideas across disciplines, and learn alongside faculty and peers. If your unweighted high school GPA is 3.5 or higher, we invite you to apply.

How to Apply

  • Apply to App State
    • Aim to submit your Common App by November 1.
    • While your full application is not due until November 15, submitting your Common App by November 1 gives you time to access and complete your Honors College essay by that deadline.
  • Complete your Honors College essay
  • Submit by November 15

App State admissions decisions are typically released 2–4 weeks after you apply. Honors College decisions will be sent by January 25. Students invited to join the incoming Honors class have until March 25 to confirm their spot, with extensions available through May 1.

2027

Honors College Essay Prompt

While you can’t access the portal until you’ve submitted your App State admissions application, we don’t make you wait to see the Honors essay prompt.

Application Advice

Our admissions process is holistic. Use your Common App materials and Honors essay to tell your story. Share specific examples that highlight your goals, values, and potential. We’re not looking for perfection. We want to see your drive to discover, create, learn, and grow together. Here are the four areas we focus on, and how you can help us see your strengths:

Intellectual Engagement & Academic Exploration

We’re interested in how you approach learning. Help us understand what sparks your curiosity, how you think through complex ideas, and where you’ve pushed your thinking. 

  • 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

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.