Honors Education Plan Introduction

As a member of the Albert Dorman Honors College, you will create an Honors Education Plan that will enhance your personal, academic, and career development at NJIT. Together with your advisor and freshman seminar leader, you will make a plan that considers the range of course work, research, co-op, leadership, and service activities in which you are interested. As you continue your studies, you will work with your Honors advisor to revise and refine the plan.

The Honors Education Plan Worksheet will help to get you started. Complete all sections of the Worksheet and add any additional goals or activities that you consider appropriate.

Here are the components of the plan and some advice.

Your Major and Possibly a Minor  Each student should select a major that will enable him or her to learn how to think as a professional. During your undergraduate years, you may wish to widen or deepen your career opportunities by adding a Minor, chosen from either NJIT offerings or those offered through cross registration at Rutgers-Newark. Exceptionally well-prepared students may choose to do a Double Major, usually one composed of complementary majors (e.g., Computer Science and Math), but there are other possibilities. Click here for a listing of minors.

Educational Goals Write about what you expect to achieve academically, culturally, personally and socially at NJIT. In addition, discuss the methods you will use to expand your knowledge about your career options.

Course of Study Here you are to create a specific list of courses that you expect to take each semester in order to complete the General University Requirements (GUR), your major, a second major, or minor. Surprisingly, many students begin their studies at NJIT never having seen the curriculum for their major. The curriculum of every major is available on the NJIT web – go to either your major department’s home page or the NJIT online catalog.  It is acceptable to cut and paste your curriculum from one of these sources to the Worksheet, but replace the generic description of requirements (e.g. "elective" or "GUR") with the name of the specific courses that you plan to take. (GUR stands for General University Requirements.) You will be able to modify this plan as time goes by; it is not a binding contract, but rather a guide.

Honors Courses  Consult the Honors Course Requirements.  Honors course requirements are distributed among 4 groups, A through D.  In this section list the Honors courses you plan to take in each of the groups. For a list of Honors courses that are generally given each year, go HERE.  It is acceptable to list a group of courses from which you will choose instead of a single course, but no blank spots are allowed.

Research, Projects, Internships, and Co-op  This category refers to activities related to your major course of study and/or your career plan, but conducted outside of courses. The education of every Honors student is enhanced by engaging in such activities, whether or not you intend to ever engage in research as part of your career.

To begin, list those areas related to your career interests in which you might like to become active. Do not be concerned at this stage with whether you will have the skills necessary, or what opportunities exist; that will come later. At this stage, think about – or, if necessary, research – the kind of activities that people in your career engage in. Then decide which of them you might like to pursue while still an undergraduate. These ideas may eventually turn into projects.

This section includes three categories of activity:

• Research: a student working with a faculty member or research staff on the solution to an original problem.
• Projects: A student working with faculty on non-research activities related to their major field of study (examples: writing computer programs, analyzing data, helping to set up a new course), and
• Co-ops, internships, and community service, which are external placements related to the student’s career plans.

NJIT students carry out such activities both on campus or off. On-campus, you may work with an individual professor or at one of the many research centers (from the NJIT home page, click on Research and then on Research Centers and Labs). It is important to understand that projects usually do not pay a salary. You are doing it for the experience, not for money.

Off-campus, you may wish to work with a medical center or firm or even at another university working in cooperation with NJIT. You will become aware of some of these opportunities during freshman seminar, in your classes, or from your advisor, or the Honors College website's Internships, Fellowships, Research Opportunities.

Through an Internship or Co-op you will have an opportunity to work with a company or agency to apply your skills and knowledge while giving you an additional opportunity to learn about your planned profession and the workplace. These projects may be conducted through the Career Development Services Office, the Honors College, or your major department. Some community service activities also serve the dual function of providing experience in your chosen field; for example, computer programming for a service agency.

List as many thoughts and ideas as you have in this section.

Leadership Development Plan  Leadership skills include strategic planning, effective communication, productive teamwork, and many others.  Such skills are best developed through actual hands-on experiences such as service and extracurricular activities. Many opportunities are available to develop and to understand the critical elements of both leadership and "followership."   In Freshman Seminar we will have activities that will help you understand where your strengths lie and which areas you need to develop.  Use this information to devise a tentative plan to strengthen your leadership skills.

Service to Honors College and NJIT  All Honors students are required to contribute to the intellectual and civic life at NJIT.  The Honors College regards service to the community or campus as an essential component of leadership.  Becoming engaged in service while a student provides a unique means of refining your leadership skills and prepares you to make service an enduring part of your personal and professional life.  One way to begin is to join one of about a dozen Honors College committees or other activities.  Learn about these opportunities at the Honors College website's Student Council & Committees; or at the NJIT web pages for Current Students, under Clubs & Organizations. 

List here those activities that most interest you.  If you have a particular interest that is not listed under any of these sources, try to learn if it exists or make a plan to create it.  Organizations such as Fraternities and Sororities offer many service opportunities, but it is not enough to just be a member; you must be an active participant, and preferably an organizer or leader in some capacity.

A special note for athletes: we recognize that student athletes have a heavy schedule, at least during their season; nevertheless we expect some involvement of a service nature during the off-season if you are an Honors student .

BS/MS and Graduate Education At NJIT, students may complete up to six credits of graduate work while enrolled as an undergraduate student and then subsequently complete a master's degree in a shortened time period. This is possible because the BS/MS program allows you to count up to two graduate courses for both undergraduate and graduate credit.  See BS/MS Program.  A Master’s degree offers a significant advantage both when seeking employment and in advancing your career. 

NJIT also offers doctoral degrees programs in most fields. The PhD degree is primarily for those who wish to engage in corporate or academic research and/or teaching. Consult the online graduate catalog for information on available programs and admission requirements. All Honors Scholars should begin planning, while still an undergraduate student, to attend graduate school, either full- or part-time. While still undergraduates, Honors Scholars should consider enrolling in graduate courses.