About

Find Your Journey
What to Expect When You Apply

  • October 1 at 8:00 a.m. — Applications Open
  • All incoming or current students interested in the Honors College will submit an application.

Two Application Options for Incoming Freshmen

  • Distinguished Applicant
    • Students with a 31+ ACT superscore or 1390+ SAT and a 3.90+ weighted GPA may apply through our Distinguished Applicant process. Applications are open October 1–December 1, and students submit a short response rather than the full application. The deadline to apply as a Distinguished Applicant is December 1st. After that date, all applicants must submit a Standard Review Application.
  • Standard Review
    • Students who do not meet the Distinguished Applicant criteria will complete our Standard Review Application, which includes an essay and two letters of recommendation. The deadline to submit a Standard Review Application is May 1st.

For Transfer Students

  • Verified PTK members with a 3.75+ transfer GPA receive an automatic invitation to join the Honors College. Other transfer students may apply through Standard Review.

https://goto.msstate.edu/portal/apply-honors

About Honors
A community committed to intellectual inquiry

The Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College is an academic community of over 2,500 students from various backgrounds. As a member of the Shackouls Honors College, you will have the best of both worlds: a small, liberal arts college experience at a first-class, R1, research university.

Experience Honors
The Shackouls Honors College offers a distinctive and rigorous curriculum for our students.

Cursus Honorum

General Honors

Experience Honors Points

Community
Live and work alongside dedicated students.

You will have the opportunity to live and work alongside dedicated, talented, and interesting students like yourself - students who flourish as readers, writers, thinkers, speakers, and researchers and active students of Mississippi State University.

Research
Apply what you already know to your interests.

Undergraduate research affords you the opportunity to apply what you already know to new issues that interest you and allows you to develop new skills.

Global Connections
Gain a global perspective and connect internationally.

Develop a global perspective through foreign language study and study abroad. Beyond the exposure to other peoples and other cultures, the Shackhouls Honors College seeks to connect.

From Our Leadership
"Tell me about yourself."
- Dr. Tommy Anderson, Dean of Shackouls Honors College

I hope that visitors to the Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College hear this often. It's a sentence that gets to the heart of the college's mission to know a student's hopes and dreams for their future and then to take those dreams seriously so they might become reality.

Read the full welcome letter

Dedicated Housing for Honors Students
A dynamic social life and attention to academic excellence.

The Judy and Bobby Shackouls Honors College is an Honors Residential College. We do encourage students to live in Griffis and Hurst Halls as they share our office, class, and meeting spaces.

Campus Life
Campus life for honors students