Our Graduates
"After four years of rigorous coursework, intellectually stimulating debates, and energetic classroom conversations, I look back on my Honors experience with many fond memories and look forward to graduate school with confidence. Choosing the Westminster Honors program was the best decision I made in my academic career. The program emphasizes applied learning, ethical awareness, and high academic achievement. Passionate students thrive in this environment and feel prepared with new skills and confidence to take on the world."
-Robin Hill, 2010 Honors grad & 2011 Stanford University MA grad (International Education Administration and Policy Analysis)
Given the rigorous yet supportive nature of our program, Honors helps students prepare to be successful in a wide variety of post-collegiate careers. Many of our students apply to graduate school and it is part of the mission of our program to prepare students for that experience and support them as fully as possible with their graduate school applications. It is not unusual for graduates of our program to return and tell us how the rigors of the Honors seminars equipped them to excel in their post-undergraduate educations.
Westminster College's Honors program does a particularly effective job of preparing students for graduate school due to the following features:
- The interdisciplinary approach of Honors classes prepares students for the interdisciplinary nature of most graduate programs
- The seminar-style learning environment trains Honors students how to be successful in this rigorous, graduate school style of education
- Close interaction with Honors professors early in their careers allows Honors students the opportunity to establish mentor relationships that will result in research partnerships and strong letters of recommendation
- Emphasis on critical thinking skills and extensive critique of student writing helps Honors students find their own academic voices, a crucial skill for graduate school personal essays and subsequent success in the graduate school classroom
We also offer Honors students $250 grants from the Student Honors Council Fund to help offset expenses associated with travel to graduate schools to investigate programs and interview with admissions committees. Click here for a grant application.
As a result of these advantages and opportunities, Westminster College Honors students have been admitted to the following graduate programs, among others, in recent years:
- American University
- Boston University
- Brandeis University
- Case Western
- Columbia University
- Cornell University
- Creighton University
- Dartmouth College
- Duke University
- Emory University
- Georgetown University
- George Washington University
- Johns Hopkins University
- Lewis & Clark College
- New York University
- Ohio State University
- Oxford University
- Purdue University
- Stanford University
- St. Louis University
- SUNY, Binghamton
- SUNY, Stony Brook
- Syracuse University
- Texas A&M University
- Tufts University
- Tulane University
- University of Arizona
- University of California, Davis
- University of California, San Diego
- University of California, San Francisco
- University of Cincinnati
- University of Colorado
- University of Connecticut
- University of Florida
- University of Illinois
- University of Iowa
- University of London
- University of Michigan
- University of Minnesota
- University of Nevada, Las Vegas
- University of New Mexico
- University of North Texas
- University of Oregon
- University of Pennsylvania
- University of Rochester
- University of San Diego
- University of South Carolina
- University of Southern California
- University of South Florida
- University of Utah
- University of Washington
- University of Wisconsin
- Utah State University
- Vanderbilt University
- Virginia Commonwealth University
- Washington University
- Yale University
Because of its interdisciplinary nature, Honors at Westminster accommodates students from many different disciplines. The programs at the institutions mentioned above include law schools, medical schools, MBA programs, and M.A. and Ph.D. programs in a variety of disciplines.
On the other hand, many Honors graduates enter the workforce directly after Westminster in a wide range of interesting positions. For example, students in recent classes have secured jobs with the National Park Service as an educational park ranger, the Los Alamos National Lab as a researcher, Goldman Sachs as an analyst, as a teacher of English in Egypt, as a lab technician at the University of Utah Medical School, and as an image analyst at a biotech firm, to name just a few. Numerous students have pursued service or fellowship opportunities, like working with children through AmeriCorps or teaching English in Turkey as a Fulbright Scholar.
