Major Advising Page: Honors in the Liberal Arts (HLA)

Course considerations

Honors in the Liberal Arts students choose study abroad programs that help them earn credits toward major electives, L&S breadth, LAS intermediate/advanced coursework, certificate requirements, and/or electives of interest. You may or may not need coursework from abroad to count toward Honors in the Liberal Arts requirements.

If you have unmet Honors in the Liberal Arts (HLA) requirements, coursework from abroad may contribute to those requirements in the following ways:

• You participate in an honors-affiliated study abroad program. Some or all of the courses in these programs are automatically designated as honors on a student’s UW–Madison transcript. The current honors-affiliated study abroad programs are:
  • Ecuador: Ceiba Tropical Conservation Semester: Galapagos, Andes and Amazon (11 of 16 credits designated as automatic honors; Spanish and internship credits will not count toward honors)
  • Netherlands: University College Utrecht (all courses designated as automatic honors)
  • Singapore: University of Singapore Honors (Courses completed at NUS College (1-2 per semester) will be designated as automatic honors; remaining coursework completed from the NUS general course listings will not.)
• You participate in a non-honors study abroad program through UW and, upon your return, submit an Honors in the Liberal Arts Study Abroad Petition. The HLA study abroad petition process allows one eligible course per term abroad to count toward unmet HLA requirements. The selected course can count toward total honors credits and honors breadth in the breadth area of the UW course equivalent. The selected course can count toward automatic honors if the study abroad program was at least a semester long. For a year-long program, students may submit two separate petitions (one per semester). For a summer or winter intersession program, the selected course must be at least 3 weeks long. For full details about eligibility and the petition process, view the Study Abroad Petition Information on the L&S Honors Program website.
• Students who wish to enroll in senior honors thesis credits for an L&S major while participating in an IAP study abroad program may do so if and only if they have received permission from the L&S Honors Program’s Associate Director of Advising and Curriculum (Christine Evans) prior to departure. Such permission is rarely granted, and students should generally be advised to complete all thesis credits while on campus in Madison. If permission is granted, the L&S Honors Program Associate Director of Advising and Curriculum will notify IAP and note this permission in the advising notes system. The student could then use IAP’s directed study enrollment process to request enrollment in the thesis credits for which permission was granted, typically 681 in the relevant department.

Honors in the major considerations:

• The Study Abroad Petition does not apply to honors in the major requirements. To discuss if a course from a study abroad program could potentially count toward honors in the major requirements, check in advance with your major advisor. In most cases, the required major-specific honors coursework cannot be completed abroad.
• If you intend to be abroad the semester before your thesis enrollment would begin, discuss thesis plans with your academic advisors and faculty thesis mentor prior to going abroad.
• Plan to be on the UW–Madison campus for the semesters when you will be enrolled in thesis credits. If you are considering a plan that involves thesis enrollment while away from Madison, you must discuss this with the Honors Program’s Associate Director of Advising and Curriculum and obtain permission.