close up of a male student smiling amid a group

You’re guaranteed a scholarship

All Cook Honors College students receive four-year, renewable scholarships. We invest in all of our students and value every student’s contribution to our community.

two students riding a camel

You can apply for additional funding for development

You'll have the advantage of our Cook Achievement Fund, which helps our students pay for additional learning opportunities such as studying abroad, attending a professional conference, or doing an internship. Students have visited and studied in a variety of countries around the world with help from the fund.

a professor talking to students in a classroom

You’ll receive support and advising

You’ll get the kind of mentorship that makes all the difference. We think going to college is about more than just earning a degree—it’s about what happens to the whole of you during these four years of your life. We help you work out a four-year plan that makes the most of this time and places you on your own personal path toward your goals.

a small class of students in the honors college sitting around a table

You’ll enjoy small class sizes

You’ll enjoy the benefits of our selective admissions policy, which limits the number of students in the program (freshman to seniors) to around 400 total. This gives you a big advantage compared to students in other honors college programs that, in some cases, admit more than three times as many students.

close up side profile of students standing in line at graduation

You’ll be extra-prepared for life after graduation

You’ll have the kind of scholarly preparation that has helped our alumni go on to study at a long list of graduate schools and law schools, including Harvard, Stanford, and the University of Chicago and find career success at employers like Alcoa Inc., Bayer Corporation, NASA, Chevron, the Cleveland Clinic, and KPMG.

exterior of Whitmyre Hall

You’ll have access to best-value housing

All Honors College freshmen live together in Whitmyre Hall to build friendships and support each other. Whitmyre Hall will be your home at IUP, including cozy lounge areas, a kitchen, a music practice room, a game room, a science resource room, and the central Great Hall. After the first year, you’ll still have 24/7 access to Whitmyre regardless of where you live

close up of two students sitting with laptops open in class

Our Typical Student

At its heart, you’ll find the Cook Honors College is a strong, inspiring place because of students like you. Intelligent, dedicated, amazing students choose to come here, year after year, and reject the old-fashioned, stereotypical, stuffy model of higher-level learning for one of openness, scholarly debate, hands-on experiences, service to others, and leading-edge thinking. 

It’s not just a matter of welcoming you into “our” community, but rather having you join us as a member of the CHC family. You and your friends in the Cook Honors College build your own dynamic as you come together as a connected, collaborative, accepting group, creating an intellectual climate of your own.