Academics - Tutorial Alternatives
“There’s something extremely satisfying about living with only a bag on your back, eating sparingly with what little money you have, and sleeping intermittently in the airports, subways, and trains that you can. It was a sort of base survival that tested my human endurance, placing me, in some twisted sense, as a King Lear poised against the brutal elements of nature.”
Tom St. Pierre ’09
Typically, Honors students must complete a third-year tutorial (HON 308, HON 309, HON 311-347,) to fulfill their Honors curriculum graduation requirements. However, in some cases this requirement may be waived based on a Tutorial Alternative which is defined as
an academic or experiential learning opportunity involving small group interaction that is not available at the University of Maine and that is pre-approved by the Dean of the Honors College. Such opportunities include, but are not limited to, semester or year study abroad experiences, congressional internships, participation in Semester at Sea, cultural/language immersions, recognized summer REUs (Research Experiences for Undergraduates).
A tutorial alternative that is offered each Spring Break is Honors 350: Functional Genomics of Membrane Transport which takes place at the Mount Desert Biological Laboratory.
Honors College students wishing to substitute an academic or experiential learning opportunity not available at the University of Maine in lieu of the third-year tutorial must:
- Register your intent to submit an alternative with the Honors College at least one month before embarking on that experience. Click here to submit your application for a tutorial alternative online. [Except in very rare circumstances, you will be notified whether your proposed tutorial alternative is approved within two weeks of submitting the form.]
- If approved, register to take HON 349 when you have returned. HON 349 is a 0 credit, P/F course which requires submission/completion of the following documentation and assignments
- if any coursework is involved in the alternative opportunity, a transcript indicating that you have passed all courses taken abroad,
- at least six (preferably digital) photographs suitable for the Honors College’s web pages, including pictures of yourself, representative of your experience, and
- a three-page reflective essay addressing a topic such as
- How the culture in ______ is different from the culture (in the United States, in Maine, at the University of Maine, etc.)
- Things that I couldn’t have learned at the University of Maine that I learned while participating in this experience.
- How this experience enhanced my undergraduate education.
- Present a ten- or fifteen-minute talk describing your experiences at a study-abroad event (generally a Study Abroad Informational Meeting) during the first two semesters following your return to the University of Maine. You should include stories about your six photographs, a description of the program in which you participated, the application process, the classes (if any) you took and how they differed from Maine classes, and you should discuss what it was like living in a different place, adjustments you made, challenges you faced, food, culture, news, and anything else you found interesting.
NOTE: Students who opt for a Tutorial Alternative may be one or two (depending upon whether they took HON180) credits short in the Human Values and Social Contexts grouping of general education requirements after completing the Civilizations sequence. They will have to take an additional course in one of the HVSC areas to reach the 18 credit requirement.
Timeline explanation: HON 349 should be taken and completed within two semesters of the end of experience on which the Tutorial Alternative is based.