Welcome to Honors. You found us. We have been serving students like you for forty years. Founded as a liberal arts program in 1979, we have expanded to become a thriving learning community within the College.
What can Honors do for you? We can prepare you to transfer and succeed at a competitive four-year college or university by taking care of your core requirements here before you take on the challenges–and costs–of the four year university experience. Honors has a four decade history of jump-starting the academic and professional careers of an entire generation of students. It's your turn.
"My most rich, rigorous academic experience came here at CCP's Honors Program. I haven't had an academic experience like it yet. It rivals any institution I've been in, and it really prepared me to be a serious thinker, and a serious scholar, and a committed student. And that really served me well at Temple because I went in with a different mindset; I was very focused and oriented towards a specific goal, and I was able to develop that mindset while a student here at CCP.” Hazim Hardeman, CCP’s and Temple’s first and only Rhodes Scholar, currently at Saint Johns at Oxford University studying U.S. History with a focus in issues of race. The Liberal Arts Honors curriculum is designed especially for students hoping to immerse themselves in a rigorous intellectual community at the Community College of Philadelphia, in preparation for a high-powered professional career later. If you enroll in Honors you can expect to significantly improve your academic performance at the four year college or university to which you transfer. Many Honors students—most really—later continue their studies in graduate or professional schools. That’s what the two year curriculum is designed to accomplish.
Students who come into Honors often tell us that they are looking for a more consistently challenging intellectual experience than they’ve encountered elsewhere, and may have grown used to. Honors is specifically designed to change the way students think about themselves as students and future professionals. It works to develop academic styles and skills that will be valuable when the competition toughens down the road.
Honors is a Pathway You can earn the Liberal Arts Honors Option Degree. There are two options: one full time and one part time. The full time option requires two 15 credit semesters of Honors courses taken together as one block (or like one BIG course) on the Spring Garden Campus during the day. For the part time option, students can choose from a series of six credit linked Honors courses to work towards the same degree. Both options situate students within a learning community of diverse individuals with similar academic goals and dedication.
About Honors Students Students in this program are motivated to challenge themselves, become better students, transfer to a competitive four-year college, and even obtain a graduate or professional degree. You do not need to be at the top of your high school class or be an honor roll student to join the Honors curriculum. The program is open to students who demonstrate appropriate Honors placement on the College’s writing and reading comprehensive examinations. If you have already completed courses at the College, you must have a 3.0 GPA in humanities and social science courses in order to enter the program.
What Honors alumni are saying:
UAlumni Success For 40 years, the Honors Curriculum has been assisting students in pursuing their academic and career ambitions. Alumni of the program have an excellent record of transfer success to respected four-year programs. Recent graduates have gone on to attend outstanding institutions: Undergraduate Schools Bucknell University Bryn Mawr College Columbia University Drexel University Haverford College University of King's College, Halifax Mount Holyoke New York University St. Edward’s University, Texas St. John's College, Maryland St. Joseph's University Swarthmore College Temple University Villanova University
Graduate Schools Bryn Mawr College Harvard University University of Michigan Oxford University Princeton University Temple University University of Oklahoma University of Pennsylvania
Law Schools Duke University School of Law Rutgers University School of Law Temple University School of Law University of Buffalo Widener University School of Law