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Details & Requirements

Students entering in the Fall 2009 are expected to enroll in one SCS Colloquium and one SCS General Education course in the Fall term. For a list of current courses, please see SCS Current Courses.

During their four years in the program, students must complete:

• at least two of our Freshmen Colloquia, and
• two of our Sophomore Circles courses, and
• four of the SCS Gen Ed courses.

To obtain a letter of recognition from the Dean indicating successful completion of the program, students must also complete either Departmental Honors or the UO Professional Distinctions program. These requirements are spelled out in more detail below in italics.

All UO students must complete a number of group-satisfying courses in arts and letters, social sciences, and natural sciences. These are called General Education (Gen Ed) courses. To enable College Scholars to fulfill these requirements in a small class setting with fellow Society members, we offer two to four special Gen Ed courses each term, exclusively for College Scholars. Students entering the UO in the Fall Term of 2008 are required to take one colloquium and one of the College Scholars Gen Ed courses in their first (fall) term. Exceptions can be made by permission of the SCS director, for example in the case of schedule conflicts. More information about those courses will be available by 15 March 2009.

Scholars must enroll in one SCS Gen Ed course in their first quarter at UO, and must complete three more during their first two years at UO.

First and Second Years: Colloquia and Circles:

As freshman, Scholars should complete a one credit Colloquium each quarter. These Colloquia meet for an hour a week, and typically involve a guest lecture and structured discussion with a small group of other SCS students. Colloquia are specialized in physical science, liberal arts, or social science, and we encourage students to try a variety of these areas as freshman. The Colloquia are useful for exploring the wide variety of topics that a university education can cover. Students report that the exposure to a wide variety of professors in an area is very helpful in selecting courses.

As sophomores, Scholars should take a one credit "circle" course each quarter. The Circles also focus on physical science, liberal arts, or social science, but they are more specialized than the Colloquia. It makes sense to take the circle that relates to the academic area that you plan to major in.

In their first two years Scholars must complete two Colloquia and two Circles, but we strongly advise taking one every quarter for the freshman and sophomore years.

Third Year: Practica and Internships:

In the junior year, College Scholars participants are encouraged to enter an internship program. The Society provides assistance in identifying what internships are available and in many cases may also provide a stipend and college credits for the experience.  There are a wide variety of options: some Scholars may prefer to work in a science lab, others to undertake a field project abroad or with a business, government agency, or non-profit.  The third year program is designed to provide students with practical experience that may become a critical component of a senior honors thesis, leading to graduation with departmental honors, or provide the basis for completing the UO professional distinctions certificate.  

While we encourage Scholars to take advantage of the practica and internships, this is not a requirement.

Fourth Year: Honors or Professional Distinctions

In their fourth year students complete the program by choosing either Departmental Honors or Professional Distinctions (or both). These are capstone programs, designed to ensure that you graduate from UO prepared for a professional career or for academic work as a graduate student. Completion of either Professional Distinctions or Departmental Honors is required for finishing the Scholars program. More information on the Professional Distinctions program is here, and a listing of Departmental Honors programs is here.

Departmental Honors or Professional Distinctions are requirements for completing the program.

Recognition:

Upon graduation and completion of these requirements, each College Scholar will receive a letter from the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and a Society of College Scholars cord to wear at graduation.