Honors Program Application Fall 2026

The UVU Honors Program seeks students who are creative, reflective, and capable of thinking beyond traditional boundaries. We want to know who you are, what motivates you, and how you think. To help us see beyond your grades and accomplishments, we ask you to engage in composing an innovative response to one of our prompts.

Your response will be evaluated on the focus, originality, and creativity of the content, spelling, grammar, and punctuation matter, too.

We are seeking students who display evidence of curiosity, innovative thinking, and potential for intellectual and personal growth.

DO:

• Draw on your best qualities as a writer and thinker
• Strive to be an effective storyteller
• Take some risks and have fun
• Have someone with experience proofread your writing
• Carefully remove typos, clichéd phrasing, and unclear ideas

DON’T:

• Let anyone erase your unique voice
• Share your darkest thoughts, experiences, fears, or desires
• Preach or lecture
• Plagiarize or use generative AI like ChatGPT to prepare your responses

Essay responses are limited to 300-400 words.

Prompts:

Choose ONE: 

Curiositas: Curiosity

• French novelist Marcel Proust explores a powerful reaction to the taste of a madeleine (a small cake) that called forth a rush of memories from his childhood. Is there a food in your life or in the lives of those around you that carries important cultural meaning? What is involved in this connection? What meaning could you attribute to it that reaches beyond your individual experience? Be bold and speculative in thinking about what that food connection might embody. In the body of your essay, please include a photo of you or another person you know with the food item. Use this prompt to help us understand your potential as a person with curiosity.

Cognito: Thoughtfulness

• Poet Walt Whitman once wrote, “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes).” What contradictions do you contain? Be specific and ensure you draw from your personal experiences. In the body of your essay, please include a photo of you that embodies this contradiction. Use this prompt to help us understand your potential as a person who embraces flexible and expansive thinking.

Diligentia: Effort

• Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly over the Atlantic, said: “Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off. But if you don't have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.” What are your plans for building a runway for yourself and others, and where are you headed once the path has been paved? In the body of your essay, please include a photo of you that shows where you might be headed with this imagined runway. Use this prompt to help us understand your potential to make an impact through the hard work of change-making.

• Create your submission: Compose and revise your 300-word response.
• Submit your response as a PDF: After completing the response and choosing the image, attach the image to the document. Save and upload as a single PDF. Uploads other than PDF, may not be read. 

Curiositas: Curiosity

• French novelist Marcel Proust explores a powerful reaction to the taste of a madeleine (a small cake) that called forth a rush of memories from his childhood. Is there a food in your life or in the lives of those around you that carries important cultural meaning? What is involved in this connection? What meaning could you attribute to it that reaches beyond your individual experience? Be bold and speculative in thinking about what that food connection might embody. In the body of your essay, please include a photo of you or another person you know with the food item. Use this prompt to help us understand your potential as a person with curiosity.

• Create your submission: Make your piece on the paper or document, keeping in mind that it will be the defining first impression of you.
• Submit your page as a PDF: After completing the response and choosing the image, attach the image to the document. Save and upload as a single PDF. Uploads other than PDF, may not be read. 

Cognito: Thoughtfulness

• Poet Walt Whitman once wrote, “Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself. (I am large, I contain multitudes).” What contradictions do you contain? Be specific and ensure you draw from your personal experiences. In the body of your essay, please include a photo of you that embodies this contradiction. Use this prompt to help us understand your potential as a person who embraces flexible and expansive thinking.

• Create your submission: Compose and revise your 300-word response, being certain to discuss how you have fostered curiosity in your life.
• Submit your response as a single PDF: After completing the response and choosing the image, attach the image to the document. Save and upload as a single PDF. Uploads other than PDF, may not be read. 

Diligentia: Effort

• Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly over the Atlantic, said: “Some of us have great runways already built for us. If you have one, take off. But if you don't have one, realize it is your responsibility to grab a shovel and build one for yourself and for those who will follow after you.” What are your plans for building a runway for yourself and others, and where are you headed once the path has been paved? In the body of your essay, please include a photo of you that shows where you might be headed with this imagined runway. Use this prompt to help us understand your potential to make an impact through the hard work of change-making.

• Create your submission: Compose and revise your 300-word response.
• Submit your response as a PDF: After completing the response and choosing the image, attach the image to the document. Save and upload as a single PDF. Uploads other than PDF, may not be read.