The Rutgers School of Nursing undergraduate honors program is designed to encourage and prepare future nurse scientists or practice scholars. Our honors program is a competitive, invitation-only program that immerses high-achieving undergraduate nursing students in cutting-edge scholarship. Once accepted, you will be paired with a faculty member currently engaged in research or scholarly activities, working together until you graduate. The program consists of five semesters (beginning the spring semester of the sophomore year), culminating with a senior year project, which will be presented at the Senior Honors Research Symposium. This project may focus on research, policy analysis, health promotion, or disease prevention and management.
Objectives
Through the nursing honors program, students will:
- Be part of a scholarly learning community with a small group of peers, developing research that may transition to doctoral study in nursing.
- Be mentored in nursing science research or scholarly activities with a School of Nursing faculty.
- Enhance your leadership skills by learning alongside the best.
- Gain experience in presenting their senior honors project at research conferences and/or other public venues and working toward publishing your work.
Curriculum
| Coursework | Schedule | Credit |
| Sophomore seminar | Spring in Sophomore Year | 1.5 credits |
| Junior Colloquia (I and II) | Fall and Spring in Junior Year | 1.5 credits each |
| Senior Honors Project (I and II) | Fall and Spring in Senior Year | 3 credits each |
| Total Credits | 10.5 credits |
Admissions
This is a competitive admission process by invitation only. Traditional bachelor’s students with a GPA of 3.7 or higher will receive an invitation to apply late in the fall semester of their sophomore year. We expect to accept no more than 10 students. In the application, applicants will be asked to write a personal statement describing why they want to enroll in the honors program and what they hope to gain from the experience in one or two paragraphs.
Program Completion Requirements
To continue in the honors program, students must:
- Remain in good academic standing each semester.
- Maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher.
- Successfully complete the five honors seminars with a grade of B or above each semester.
- Make normal progress toward the completion of their senior year project.
- Present their honors project at the Senior Honors Research Symposium.
If you have further questions, please contact Dr. Nadine M. Aktan, Interim Associate Dean of Entry to Baccalaureate Practice Division, at nmaktan@sn.rutgers.edu.