High School Students
This application is meant for students who are currently seniors in high school, or who have graduated early but not yet attended any post-high school college in a full-time basis.
Students who have a high school GPA of 3.5 or higher should consider first applying for the University's Meridian Scholarship. More information on that can be found here.
Application Deadlines
Students are typically admitted for the fall semester. If you plan to enroll for a spring semester, we will work with you on an individual basis.
We do offer an option for an early application submission.
Application Standards
Generally speaking, successful applications will meet or exceed the stated GPA and then meet one of the Additional Criteria as outlined below.
Standard Criteria
- GPA: High school cumulative GPA of 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale). Weighted or unweighted.
Additional Criteria
- ACT Composite score of 25 or higher
- Combined SAT score of 1200
- Top 10% of high school graduating class
- Valedictorian or salutatorian of high school class
- Completion of 15 credit hours or more in dual enrollment or college-earned credit (excluding AP)
- Completion of a summer or semester-long student exchange/semester abroad program
- Completion of 100 service hours in high school
- Significant engagement in activities (school, community, faith community)
- A strong letter of recommendation from a high school teacher in an academic subject
Application Content
The contents of our application ask you about your engagement, involvement and what you’ve learned. You can click into the proper application in each of the sections below. There are three parts to our application:
- Basic application information (name, contact information, etc.)
- A description of your involvement and accomplishments through your school and community. The application encourages you to highlight and describe your participation in these areas:
- Academic Achievements and Recognition
- Organizations and Activities
- Athletic and Artistic Endeavors
- Community Activities
- Volunteering and Community Service
- Work and Internship Activities
- Other Activities
- An essay
Essay Prompt and Questions
This is the actual essay prompt and options found in the application. The essay is the place where we learn the most about you, so we strongly encourage you to think about our guidance here before you write, and to be sure to capture the content and spirit of the prompt.
People make decisions in new, ambiguous settings and circumstances all the time. The world constantly shifts, providing us opportunities to experiment, to reflect, and to grow (or to remain stagnant). Along the way, we will make mistakes and experience failures. It is in these moments, the choices a person makes can reveal a lot about who they are, how they think, what they value, and how they interact with the world.
In honors, we value experimentation and risks that can lead to good mistakes (mistakes that are bold; mistakes that are specific; mistakes that are a result of a real try; and mistakes that help us learn and re-try). Your success in honors is based, not only on your current skills and learning, but on how you can grow.
For your "essay," we offer a choice of questions. Each will allow you to showcase your writing and presentation skills. They present no option for a "correct" answer. Instead, they give you a chance to demonstrate your boldness, your ability to communicate, your openness to creative thinking and presentation, and your ability to deal with ambiguity itself. We invite you answer ONE of these questions:
A. Tell us about a specific time you failed at something? How did it affect you? How did you respond? What did you learn? Were you able to turn this challenge into a victory?
B. As you prepare to graduate from high school, we invite you reflect on how you have grown as a human being and learned more about the world over the last four years. Think about your successes and failures, the ways you are happy with yourself and the ways you need to grow, the ways the word is overcoming its problems (or not). Now, write a letter to an incoming first-year high school student. What concrete and specific advice will you offer them about how to succeed?
C. What don't you know about yourself or the world; and how do you intend to learn about it?
D. Embrace your creativity and ambiguity as you answer: Red? Green? or Blue?
Essay Submission Options
A unique question necessitates a unique presentation option.
- You can submit a written response with your application. While there is no minimum or maximum page length, most successful submissions have ranged from 2-3 pages.
- As an alternative to a written essay, we also provide an opportunity to submit a video essay. There are no specific restrictions on your presentation, but we do ask that you do not go to any expense in creating your video. (Using commonly available recording and editing software is sufficient). The video should be between 3-5 minutes, and you should be sure to address your chosen prompt.
NEW: 3 OCTOBER 2022! The Application for High School and First-Time Applicants is open NOW! Click here to begin.
