Academics are at the core of the Honors Program. Honors students may take advantage of any or all of the following academic components of the Honors Program during their years at Carthage. Some students will focus on just one or two of the following components, and will be rewarded with interesting discoveries and challenging learning experiences. Other students, who successfully complete all components of the Honors program and are granted "All College Honors" at graduation, will demonstrate excellence both within a particular academic field and across the curriculum. They are expected to commit themselves to rigorous study of a specific subject, but also to demonstrate intellectual balance and flexibility through their ability to make connections across disciplines.

Foundation Component
This component consists of enriched foundational courses that encourage students to explore their academic options and intellectual abilities. Students will enroll in Honors sections of the interdisciplinary Heritage Program or Honors general education courses taught in various fields. Typically, Honors students complete this portion of the program during their first three or four terms.

Concentration Component
By performing Honors coursework in their chosen discipline, Honors students delve deeper in their studies and work more closely with professors in their major. Such work forms the core of the concentration component of the overall Honors curriculum. By completing just the requirements within this component, students in most departments earn "Honors in the Major" at graduation.

Integration Component
This sequence helps Honors students stretch themselves across the curriculum, and compare or contrast their studies in a particular discipline with other ways of knowing, learning, and doing. The capstone course in the Honors Program is an interdisciplinary senior colloquium designed to provide opportunities for intellectual synthesis and closure, and to cultivate advanced principles of scholarship. Recent presentation titles have included "The 1960s," "The Body and Culture," "Architecture," and "Forbidden Knowledge."

Honors courses at all levels offer additional opportunities and benefits. Almost all courses in the Honors Program parallel regular College requirements, to ensure that Honors students are not required to complete additional credits for graduation. While Honors work is not necessarily greater in quantity, it always involves a higher quality of thinking and understanding. Some Honors courses may offer a more theoretical approach to the subject in question, while other courses may encourage students to apply their knowledge with greater precision. As they seek the challenges and rewards of scholarly life throughout the Honors Program, students will experience the support of faculty members and fellow students.