Honors Transfer Program

Overview

The Las Positas Honors Program is designed to prepare highly-motivated students for transfer to four-year colleges and universities and to build the intellectual and social skills needed for their success. The program provides opportunities for taking Honors Courses or taking any transferable courses at Honors level, through activities and experiences designed specifically to encourage independent and creative learning. Highly-motivated students have the opportunity to work closely with outstanding faculty and other honors students in doing a wide variety of research projects and other activities.

Program Calendar

Our program runs in the fall and spring semesters. The program is not usually active during the summer term, but there are some exceptions. The program will be closed for Summer 2025.

How Does the Program Work

Step 1: Apply to the LPC Honors Transfer Program. 

To have access to any Honors courses you must be an approved member of the Honors Transfer Program and join the LPC Honors Program CANVAS. You can apply to become a member anytime year round, there is no due date for program application. But you should apply before the semester in which you plan to take any Honors Courses. To read about the application and to apply:

GO TO THE LPC HONORS TRANSFER PROGRAM APPLICATION PAGE

Step 2: Start taking Honors Courses

Approved members of the LPC Honors Transfer Program can take Honors courses in three different ways: 

1. By enrolling in an Honors Section from the course schedule
2. By enrolling in a regular course that has an approved Embedded Honors Component with a Certified Honors Instructor
3. By creating an individual Honors Contract with any instructor of any regular course at LPC. This option means that even if the class you are taking is not an official Honors course, and does not have an Embedded Honors Component, you can still turn it into Honors for you individually. Any course can become an honors course for you by adding an honors contract to that course at the very beginning of the term (see due dates on the right sidebar). 

Check the page on Starting an Honors Course to learn the details about all three options.

STEP 3: Maintain Your Membership

To be a member in good standing:

• Maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher
• Complete at least one Honors course per year with a grade of B or higher

Honors Course Scope and Examples

Honors work should represent a minimum of 25 hours of additional high-level work beyond what is already required in a regular course. The work should consist of in-depth research, demonstration of critical thinking, exposure to additional professional literature on the subject (at least 10 valid sources on top of required readings in class), evidence of high level writing skills in the publication style of the subject field (APA, MLA, etc...), and scholarship of greater breadth or depth than the normal coursework. The specific content and shape of the Honors Courses vary widely depending on the instructor and the course discipline. The Honors work is intended to help prepare the student for work at a four-year institution and beyond.

 Topics are individual and very flexible, but here are some examples:

• an empirical research paper based on experiments, fieldwork or an extensive gathering and analysis of statistical data 
• a traditional review of literature paper or a literary analysis
• a case study or series of case studies 
• a specialized series of lab experiments
• an art project
• a musical composition
• a literary composition
• an original software or hardware creation
• a series of higher level assignments over the course (more complex math problems for a math course as an example)

If the only outcome of the Honors course is a paper (either an original research or a review of literature) then the paper must be 12 pages minimum, based on at least 10 valid scientific sources, and written in the publication style of the subject (APA, MLA, Chicago style...).

If the outcome of the Honors course involves a hands-on product (an art piece, a music composition, a computer program, a website, a series of higher level math problems/assignments), then it must be still accompanied with a written report/reflection with scholarly explanation/sources, however the count of pages can be less than 12 (proportionally to the size of the product created).

Program Benefits

Benefits and opportunities you will have as an Honors student include:

• An "Honors" transcript designation for each Honors course completed - the course will show as "Honors" course on your transcript
• Special recognition as an honors scholar at graduation for students who complete at least 5 honors courses worth at least 15 units and graduating with a GPA of at least 3.5
• Access to honors transfer guarantee and/or priority agreements with a number of the most competitive universities (such as UCLA, Yale, Pomona - check the links in the left navigation panel for the full list) for those who graduate as honors scholars
• The opportunity to do exciting and challenging coursework geared toward those who wish to achieve beyond what is normally required for lower-division classes
• The benefits of working one-on-one with faculty as you engage in your honors work
• The opportunity to participate in the statewide community college honors research symposium held at either Stanford University or UC Berkeley each spring
• A chance to collaborate with other honors students

Please check out this Short Power Point Presentation about the Program.

Follow the links to the left for more information.

Student Interviews

In this video honors students discuss their experience in the Las Positas College Honors Transfer Program.