Admission and Advanced Credit

Admission

To be admitted to the University Honors College as an entering freshman, a student must have a high school GPA of 3.5 or higher, and an ACT composite score of 25 or greater (SAT equal to or greater than 1200). There is no essay to write or separate admission form to complete (with the exception of the Buchanan Fellowship). Transfer students or established MTSU students who have completed at least 12 semester hours are eligible to enroll in Honors courses provided that their cumulative GPA is greater than or equal to 3.25. Eligible students are encouraged to enroll in Honors courses even though they may not plan to graduate from the University Honors College.

Applying AP/IB/Governor's School Credit toward Honors Requirements

Students can defray a maximum of nine (9) hours of the 18-hour Honors lower-division coursework with AP/CEEB credit, IB credit, or Tennessee Governor's School credit as detailed below. In order to apply these credits, the student must meet with his or her Honors College advisor. Students should keep in mind that if approved, these credits will not appear as "Honors" courses on their official transcript but they will be credited towards the Honors requirements as applicable.

The MTSU Admissions office must have the official AP or IB scores on record in order for these courses to be added to the official transcript. Transfer students who received AP or IB credit at their previous institution will need to provide their Honors College advisor with a copy of their scores so honors credit can be verified. The MTSU Admissions office determines which tests can receive course credit at MTSU and what score is required for each subject. Please refer to the MTSU undergraduate catalog for the most updated policies. 

AP Credit: A score of four or five on Advanced Placement/College Entrance Examination Board (AP/CEEB) exams may be used towards Honors College graduation requirements. 

IB Credit: Students who receive course credit at MTSU for Higher Level (HL) IB tests can utilize those courses towards Honors College graduation requirements. 

Students who receive course credit at MTSU for Standard Level (SL) IB tests must receive one point higher than the MTSU requirement in order to receive honors credit for that course. 

Tennessee Governor's School:  Students who attend a Tennessee Governor's School session and receive a minimum of 3 college level credit hours with a grade of "A" may apply those 3 hours towards their Honors requirements. The student must have the University who sponsored the Governor's School send official transcripts to the MTSU Admission's office so that the applicable credit is applied to their MTSU transcript and the final grade can be verified by the Honors College.

A maximum of nine (9) hours from all three categories combined may be applied towards Honors requirements.