Scholars | Prospective Students

More than just an honors program

The Scholars Program is a program of intellectual formation designed for Benedictine University’s best and brightest undergraduate students. It provides these students with special opportunities and resources while requiring them to meet special challenges.

Scholars in good standing receive a substantial tuition award each semester. These funds are a gift from Benedictine University and its benefactors—an investment in the education of highly promising students.

Students complete the requirements of the Scholars Program while completing the requirements of their majors (e.g.., Biology, Health Science, Finance, Marketing, Elementary Education, Political Science, Psychology, History, Literature, etc.).

At the heart of the Program are the Scholars Seminars. There are eight such seminars, one for each semester in a four-year academic program. A typical Scholars student takes one such seminar each semester, as part of a load of 4-5 other courses. Participation in these seminars is limited to Scholars students. Discussion-based and reading- and writing-intensive, they are taught by experienced faculty and dedicated to the study of great books.

One may think of the Scholars Program as a course of study that parallels and yet differs from the course of study required of other Benedictine undergraduates. Scholars seminars meet the same “Basic Skills” and “Cultural Heritage” requirements that non-Scholars courses do, albeit in a different way.

This page outlines the six requirements for completion of the Scholars Program. Fuller discussion of these requirements and of the Program in general occurs in the Scholars Orientation Sessions and in the resources on this website for Current Students.

1. CURRICULUM
There are eight courses in the Scholars Curriculum. They are ordinarily taken in sequence according to the following plan:

As mentioned above, participation in these seminars is restricted to Scholars students. Class size rarely exceeds 20 students. Students complete most courses with the same cohort of gifted students.

Students who enter the Program after Fall semester of the Freshman year are generally required to enroll in the Scholars course that corresponds to their academic standing (e.g., first-semester Sophomore = HNRS 220), and to complete only the remaining courses.

(FYI: Most Scholars courses correspond to courses required of Non-Scholars. These fall into two basic groups: “Basic Skills”-courses and “Cultural Heritage”-course Click here for the list of correspondences).

2. COMMUNITY SERVICE
Scholars are required to complete 40 hours of community service—i.e., volunteer work on behalf of the common good. In recent years, Scholars have donated their time to help the poor, the homeless, the sick, the imprisoned, the sick, the elderly, and others, throughout Chicagoland.

(FYI: Benedictine students not enrolled in the Scholars Program are required to complete 10 hours of Community Service.)

3. LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY
Scholars are required to demonstrate the ability to speak, read, and write a foreign language at a level equivalent to six semesters of college-level study. Proficiency can be established by passing courses at the requisite level or by success on a proficiency examination.

It is possible to demonstrate proficiency in a large number of foreign languages. The Scholars Program currently offers proficiency examinations in Spanish, French, German, Hindi, Punjabi, and Arabic. Proficiency examinations in other languages can be arranged through neighboring institutions. Outstanding performance on the language placement examinations administered to incoming students can also serve to establish language proficiency. For information about scheduling a Proficiency Examination, contact the Scholars Program Assistant.

Over the years, many Scholars have earned major or minor degrees in Spanish and French. In doing so, they also complete the Program’s language proficiency requirement. Benedictine University students can utilize the University’s tuition-sharing arrangements with North Central College and Aurora University to take language courses not offered at Benedictine.

(FYI: There is no University-wide graduation requirement in foreign language for students not enrolled in the Scholars Program. However, several degree programs, notably in the Humanities, require some study of foreign language.)

4. MATHEMATICAL PROFICIENCY
Scholars must earn course credit for a Mathematics course at a level equivalent to or higher than one of the following:

Math 111 College Trigonometry
Math C115 Business Calculus
Math C170 Introduction to Calculus I
Math C210 Calculus with Analytics I

(FYI: This exceeds the University-wide requirement in mathematics for students not enrolled in the Scholars Program. Non-Scholars must earn a course credit for a Mathematics course a level equivalent to or higher than one of the following: Math 105 Finite Math, Math 108 Quantitative Reasoning, or Math 110 College Algebra).

5. ETHICS COURSE
Scholars must earn course credit for a one of the following Philosophy courses:

PHIL C240 General Ethics
PHIL 245 Biomedical Ethics
PHIL C250 Business Ethics

(FYI: The Graduation Requirement for Non-Scholars is one Philosophy core course; it need not be an Ethics-course. Also, PHIL 245 does not suffice to meet the University’s core requirement in Philosophy; it is not a “C-course”. For this reason, any Scholar who registers for PHIL 245 must earn a passing grade in another Philosophy course that is a C-course in order to satisfy the University’s core requirement in Philosophy.)

6. INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH PROJECT
The Interdisciplinary Research Project (IRP) culminates in a 20-30 page research paper that makes uses of sources and methods from two distinct academic disciplines (e.g., Biology and Philosophy, English Literature and Political Science, Psychology and Physics, etc.).

Click here for a list of the disciplines involved in the IRPs of current students.

Scholars complete the IRP in stages, under the guidance of two faculty mentors over the course of five semesters. The final paper is presented before an assembly of students and faculty. Parts of the project are graded; these grades influence whether a student graduates with the honorary designation “Benedictine Scholar” or “Benedictine Scholar with Distinction”.

(FYI: Although some undergraduate degree programs require a thesis, none requires a thesis like the Scholars IRP.)