HNRS courses are small, discussion-based classes designed to provide an enriching experience to any Honors Program student on a wide variety of topics, regardless of their major. HNRS courses offer highly unique topics, not offered elsewhere at the University, and are often cross-disciplinary in their approach to course content. Classes are kept small to encourage peer-to-peer learning through conversation and collaboration. Examples include:

• Honors Seminar: Designed for first-year Honors students, this 1-credit course provides a forum for students to engage with Drexel faculty and Visiting Scholars across a variety of topics related to the annual theme of the Symposium.  
• Honors Colloquia: Variable topics in 3-credit Honors colloquium draw upon fields such as Arts and Culture, STEM, Sociological and Behavior Studies, History and Philosophy, or Business, among others, to promote critical intellectual reflection and exchange of ideas among students across different disciplines.  
• Great Works Seminar: The Great Works Seminar is designed to focus on a great human achievement, which may be literary, technological or social, such as The Atomic Bomb, The Internet, The Bhagavad-Gita, The Brooklyn Bridge, or Christmas. 
• Global Perspective Coursework: As a pillar of our mission, the Honors Program offers courses that center around expanding student’s world-view and understanding community and society from a global perspective. Courses include Global Classrooms, Honors Alternative Spring Break, or Honors Intensive Courses Abroad (ICAs), and are often listed under the special topics series, HNRS T280 or T380. 

To view the full HNRS course inventory, please explore the University catalog here. 

The Symposium is an interdisciplinary, project-based course series hosted by Academic Programs. This course series explores subjects of the broadest possible interest and greatest societal impact. Through intensive examination of a different major theme every year, it brings Drexel University students, teachers, and visiting expert lecturers into collaboration. The Symposium strives to avoid the "textbook approach," with an emphasis on developing in students the active skills of interdisciplinary inquiry: reading, writing, critical thinking, methodological creativity, and argument. Four new courses are offered each year, designed to elaborate different dimensions of the theme. Through these courses, students are encouraged to see the University as an interconnected enterprise, and to imagine the University as one part of a larger spectrum of scholars in the communities of the city, the nation, and the world.

Symposium courses are open to both Honors Program students and non-Honors Program students and are listed as HNRS 301 or HNRS 302 courses. For information on the current theme, please click here.

Honors Program students may earn a maximum of 3 Honors credits from Honors Independent Study course(s). Contact Dr. Kevin Egan for additional information about creating an Honors Independent Study course.

Honors Options allow Honors students to earn Honors credit in 300- and 400-level non-Honors courses at Drexel. A student works with their professor to design additional research, writing, or creative project worthy of Honors credit. Honors Options enrich and expand the student's depth of knowledge while encouraging collaboration and exploration beyond the standard coursework.

How to Submit an Honors Option

Honors Sections are enriched sections of some major core courses that are open to Honors Program students interested in building their depth of knowledge in a particular subject. Honors sections are typically offered in introductory-level courses at Drexel and are identified by the “H” following the course section number. (Example: BUSN 101 section 12H is an Honors section).

If you register for an Honors section of a course, you’ll most likely have an extra project or lab assignment that you will complete as part of the course requirements. When you complete the course with the grade of a B or higher, the course credits earned will also be counted as Honors credits.

Up to 6 Graduate level credits may be used towards your Honors credits (to graduate with Honors), or a maximum of 12 credits towards the requirements to graduate Honors with Distinction. You must earn a B grade or higher. Students who are NOT a part of an accelerated degree program will need to discuss taking graduate-level courses with their academic advisor. There is no additional paperwork, the credits are counted automatically.