HSS is not your typical honors program for future health professionals. Here's why.
service
A life in the health professions is a life in service. All students in HSS arrive with a long track record of community service in high school, and they continue serving each semester at the University of Texas, whether in health care or another area of need.
communication
Health professionals should be able to communicate clearly and persuasively. From their first semester, students in HSS are required to write papers in the sciences and the humanities, and to present their work orally. For their culminating project, they write a substantive research thesis and present their findings at either the CNS Honors Symposium or another research forum open to the public.
community
Students in HSS collaborate extensively inside and outside the classroom. Inevitably, they wind up teaching each other in ways big and small. Though all share a passion for service and the health professions, they come from a diversity of backgrounds. These characteristics – shared values and aspirations on the one hand, a jumble of home environments on the other – are what most distinguish the HSS community.
There are many ways to earn an honors degree in the sciences at UT-Austin. Most don't require a comparable amount of writing, and none requires a demonstrated and ongoing investment in service. But if you're committed to a future in the health professions, to improving your writing and speaking skills, and to becoming a better citizen, Health Science Scholars might be the community for you. You can learn more under "Prospective Students" above and at the student-run site.
