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There are three ways to enter Commonwealth Honors College:

1) Admission Based on High School Performance

First-year admission to Commonwealth Honors College is by invitation through the UMass Amherst admissions process. There is no separate application for entering first-year students.

Average first-year honors students entering in fall 2015 ranked in the top 4 percent of their high school class, attained a weighted high school GPA of 4.3 in their academic coursework, and scored 1358 on their combined critical reading and math SAT I tests.  Achieving a specific GPA or SAT score does not guarantee admission to Commonwealth Honors College.

2) Admission Based on University Performance for Current UMass Students

Admission to the honors college is competitive. UMass Amherst students may apply after they have completed one full-time semester of 12 or more graded credits at UMass Amherst and earned an overall and most recent semester GPA of 3.400 or higher at UMass Amherst. However, meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission to Commonwealth Honors College. Applications are accepted via an online process. More information on application requirements and deadlines is available at www.honors.umass.edu/admissions/apply-current-students.

3) Transfer Admission

Entering transfer students are admitted to Commonwealth Honors College by invitation after a thorough review is completed by Office of Admissions counselors of each student’s academic credentials required for general admission to the university. To be considered for honors admission, students must have an overall GPA of 3.500 or higher, semester grades of 3.500 or higher for all semesters, and a grade of B or higher in College Writing. Meeting the requisite 3.500 and other minimum standards does not guarantee a transfer student admission to Commonwealth Honors College. Qualifications of students who have completed fewer than two full-time semesters at the college level at the time of application will also be evaluated on the basis of high school achievement and test scores.

Students accepted to UMass Amherst who have graduated from a certified Commonwealth Honors Program (CHP) with an associate's degree are eligible to join Commonwealth Honors College during their first semester at UMass Amherst. These CHP students must meet, as soon as possible in the first semester at UMass Amherst, with a Commonwealth Honors College adviser regarding both admission to Commonwealth Honors College and specific honors requirements as these requirements vary depending on the type of honors being pursued.