Application Process

Eligibility

All first-year Vanderbilt students in the College of Arts & Science are invited to apply to the College Scholars program at the end of fall semester. The College of Arts & Science must be your current home school for you to apply this fall. Only first-year students are eligible, and neither external nor internal transfer students are not allowed to apply.

Application

The application consists of:

1) a brief form of personal information,
2) two short essays of 2 pages each, and
3) your grades from the fall semester at Vanderbilt.

Applications are due before grades are posted, so you will not submit them. Rather, they will be pulled by the University Registrar from your academic record once they are available. You will also have the opportunity to rate your top three preferred Honors Seminars for spring 2024, but this does not constitute registration for the courses or admission into the program.

Applications for fall 2023

Applications for fall 2023 are due by Monday December 18, 2023 by 5:01 pm. Please see the Application 2023 page for the online application and more details (login required).

Selection

Applications are reviewed over winter break and approximately 30 students are selected for admission to the program based on their academic records from the fall semester, their creative and reflective essays, and their promise for continued academic success at Vanderbilt.

Information Sessions

To learn more about the program, we’ll be hosting a few information sessions on the Commons. At these, you’ll be able to hear from current students in the program and learn how they’ve engaged with the College Scholars program. These are scheduled for:

• Wednesday November 15, 7:00 pm in Commons Center 320
• Monday, November 27, 6:00 pm in Commons Center 335
• Monday, December 4, 7:30 pm in Commons Center 335

Please register for an information session here. Registration is not required, but we’ll send you a reminder about the event. All information sessions will cover the same topics, so you need only attend one.

Fall Scholars

Each year, about thirty incoming first-year students of exceptional promise are admitted to the College Scholars Honors Program at the beginning of the fall semester by the Dean of the College. These students are nominated by the Admissions Committee during the merit scholarship selection process when they apply to Vanderbilt. These students do not need to reapply to the program in December.