Honors Scholars Community

Exemption from the Core

Only Honors students are released from the Magis Core Curriculum so they can pursue a highly individualized program of study that meets their specific educational needs. Honors students receive priority course registration, and have tuition waived for over 18 credits. Because Honors has fewer requirements than the Core Curriculum, many students double major (and some triple major).

Top Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Our three 2022 Goldwater Scholarship winners: Tavian Sanchez and Presley Kimball.

Honors Students regularly win top national and international scholarships and fellowships.

• We currently have two Goldwater Scholars who have been awarded the nation's top undergraduate science scholarship.
• Our many Fulbright Fellows have studied around the world, including Germany, Ecuador, Canada, and the Galapagos Islands.

All Honors students are eligible for grant money for travel and research, including Honors summer research grants. Honors students often receive priority placement in labs and internships at Creighton Medical School and Boys Town National Research Hospital.

Community Freshman Year and Beyond

The freshman class of Honors students is invited to live in the Honors Program community, located on the ninth floor of Swanson Hall. The floor provides suite-style living (no community restrooms and showers!), and the floor's resident advisers are upper-class Honors students.

Near the beginning of their first semester on campus, the freshmen Honors students participate in an overnight retreat (see picture from 2014 retreat above).

Our graduates stay friends for life!

• Tim Foster (B.A. 2012, Spanish and Music), Ph.D. program in Spanish and Vanderbilt
• Katie Young Foster (B.A. 2012, Graphic Design), M.F.A. program in creative writing, Vanderbilt
• Shannon Frech (B.A. 2012, English), publicist with an independent publishers group distributor
• Eric Hansen (B.A. 2012, Political Science and Spanish), Ph.D. program in Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Leadership On and Off the Honors Floor

Honors students elect members of the program?s student advisory board, whose members assist with the admissions process and organize campus-wide events. Honors students also participate in the Creighton Students Union, Arts & Sciences Student Senate, Greek life, Fall & Spring Break service trips and other student activities. Several Honors students join Cortina as sophomores and take part in both communities.

One-of-a-Kind Study Abroad Experience

Creighton Honors is part of the Principia Consortium, a group of 26 honors programs that sponsor their own honors study abroad site at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Glasgow reserves some of its top classes for Principia students.

Successful Outcomes for Graduates

Honors has placed graduates in top graduate and professional schools around the world, including Yale, Berkeley, University of Chicago, Harvard, Michigan, Oxford, Sophia (Tokyo), and Notre Dame. Other Honors graduates have taken jobs at top companies and work as business analysts, cyber-warfare specialists, and legislative liaisons.

Here's what Creighton Honors graduates have to say about their experience in the program:

Gloria Larson
BS Biology and Mathematics, 2014
Ph.D. program in Microbiology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison
Past President of the Honors Student Advisory Board

"The Honors Program provided an opportunity to take my education into my own hands, to gain not only breadth of knowledge across various disciplines but also depth of knowledge in both my majors through course work and independent research. And all of this helped me get where I am now: one of the top microbiology Ph.D. programs in the nation."

Erin Triplet
BS Biology, 2014
MD/PhD student at Mayo Clinic

"The Honors Program was the deciding factor that made me choose Creighton University. The Honors Program provided a welcoming and supportive environment in which students were encouraged to think critically and to learn and follow their passions. Being the in Honors gave me the flexibility to take on extra courses and explore disciplines outside my major simply because I was curious or because I was passionate about the subject. For example, I was able to add in a minor in Latin and take extra Fine Arts courses. I found that being in Honors was an essential part of my Creighton experience, and helped me to grow as an individual for and with others. To me, the Honors Program is a living, concrete embodiment of the Jesuit value of "magis"--the more. Honors students are always being challenged to do more, think more, learn more: to become more than they ever dreamed they could be. In return, the program gives back more to their students. The program faculty are highly dedicated to their Honors students, both in terms of ensuring they have the tools to be successful academically but also watching out for their emotional and spiritual well-being as well. Since graduation, I can also say that the Honors Program prepared me well to be successful in life after Creighton. The skills in critical thinking, collaboration, compassion, and sense of personal confidence that I gained as a member of the Honors Program serve me very well in my current capacity as an MD/PhD student at the Mayo Clinic. I would not be studying at such a renowned institution had I not been a member of the Creighton Honors Program."

Brian Martens
BA Classical Languages, Classical Civilizations, and Art History, 2012
PhD program in Classical Archaeology at Oxford

"The Honors Program allowed me to explore my academic interests through a challenging, individualized course of study and a collaborative, cross-disciplinary learning community. I made close, personal relationships with faculty mentors who guided my development, not only as a scholar prepared for graduate study, but also as a person with perspective and concern for others. The friends that I made on Swanson 9 during my freshman year became my collegiate family. Our community didn't end at graduation; nearly a decade after our meeting, they remain among my closest relationships?and we?re still learning and growing together."

Erin Borchers
BS Physics and Economics, 2013
Analyst for the Cost & Profit Systems Group at Union Pacific

"...that the economic research I did for my project helped me immensely in my professional life. Even though the topic didn't directly relate to my current job, the analytical way of thinking that I used in my honors research is something that I continue to use every day. Also, I'm a huge fan of being able to choose your own core classes. The SAMs that I took for Honors had nothing to do at all with my major or my career, but they were some of the most enjoyable classes I took at Creighton and the ones that I find myself internally referencing on a daily basis."

Commitment to Honors Education

Creighton's Honors Program is a member of the National Collegiate Honors Council, which supports Honors education throughout the United States, and participates in the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. By working with faculty and students from other honors programs, our faculty and student leaders strive to keep our program at the cutting edge of honors education.