The Chandra Family Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Honors Program is an honors program for outstanding and highly motivated ECE undergraduate students. The ECE Honors Program provides a rigorous, challenging, and faster-pace curriculum and environment to a cohort of students who have the background, ability and the desire and motivation to pursue a more demanding track.
Curriculum
The ECE Honors Program includes a minimum of 17 hours of ECE Honors section courses. During Honors ECE courses, students participate in hands-on labs and group projects, learning to solve complex engineering problems with real-world applications. In small classrooms of 15-20, students master foundational ECE concepts, including circuits, linear algebra, MOSFET, and thinking about problems in the linear domain.
Later curriculum incorporates hands-on programming assignments, understanding how embedded systems can solve engineering problems, and an in-depth treatment of the design and analysis of linear electric circuits. Honors students can expect an accelerated curriculum, dynamic group projects, and a depth and breadth of knowledge about the engineering field.
Honors students are expected to enroll in all "H" courses they qualify for and must meet a minimum of 17 hours of H courses to graduate.
Class options include:
ECE 302H Introduction to Electrical Engineering: Honors
ECE 107H Engineering Leadership: Honors
ECE 319H Introduction to Embedded Systems: Honors
ECE 312H Software Design and Implementation I: Honors
ECE 411H Circuit Theory: Honors
ECE 313H Linear Systems and Signals: Honors
ECE 351H Probability and Random Processes: Honors
ECE 464H Honors Senior Design Project*
*enrollment contingent on involvement in an Honors senior design project started in ECE 364D and is directly managed by the ECE advising office. For questions regarding Honors projects, consult with your ECE 364D instructor at the beginning of the term.
Honors students also have the option to substitute graduate-level ECE courses taken for undergraduate elective credit toward their 17 hours of honors hours in lieu of undergraduate electives. Any such substitutions must be approved by the Honors committee- information incoming Fall 2024.
For information about how to select a graduate elective, we recommend students consult with their assigned faculty advisor (this can be accessed in my.utexas.edu via Secured Academic Notes or SANs). For information about how to register for a graduate course or the course substitution process, please visit our academic policies page.
Students in the ECE Honors program will be enrolled in a First-Year Interest Group (FIG) with other ECE Honors students their first semester, and will be invited to participate in ECE Honors events and professional development throughout their time in ECE.
Admission
Prospective Freshman Applicants
Prospective freshman applicants may apply to the ECE Honors Program via the Common App.
All freshman applicants must have received credit for M 408C via an exam or by taking an equivalent course at another institution.
Exams accepted include:
- AP Exams
- Mathematics AB
- Mathematics BC
- IB Exams
- Mathematics (HL)
- Mathematics: Analysis & Approaches (HL)
- Mathematics: Applications and Interpretation (HL)
- UT CLEP exam in Calculus
For more information on what scores would be needed to be awarded credit for M 408C, please consult the Student Testing Services webpage.
Please note there is an additional honors essay question as a part of the application that must be completed.
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For Current UT Students
If you are interested in joining the Electrical and Computer Engineering Honors Program and have excelled in your current ECE and math courses at UT, please consider applying to the program!
Join the ECH Program
Current ECE majors can apply for admission to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Honors Program at the end of each semester by submitting an online application.
The Application system will open April 15 and applications will be accepted until May 15 for students wanting to begin the program in the following Fall semester.
How to apply
- Complete the ECH application.
- Students must submit an updated resume and answer the following question in 500 words or less: “Describe how your education will change the world”.
Enroll in individual honors courses
Our ECE honors courses typically have a limited number of spaces available for non-honors students. Enrollment in honors courses is particularly useful for students who wish to transfer into the ECH program, since they give the admissions committee an excellent way to evaluate your potential.
Remaining seats in ECE Honors courses will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis starting on the 3rd class day after current Honors students have registered for their coursework. Some courses/sections are restricted to currently enrolled ECH students only. This information will be disseminated by the ECE Advising office via emails during the registration period. All students wishing to take honors courses must have fulfilled all prerequisites, including earning a B or better in any prerequisite ECE coursework.
ECE 302H is restricted to current ECE Honors students only.
ECE Honors courses are not open to non-majors.
GPA Requirements
- All ECE Honors students are required to maintain a minimum 3.3 GPA in all ECE coursework (both honors and non-honors coursework).
- Current students who fall below the threshold of 3.3 will be placed on review for one long semester and will work with their ECE Honors Coordinator to stay in the honors program.
- Students who leave the ECE Honors program will retain their major status in ECE provided they adhere to Cockrell School internal GPA requirements. These students will be allowed to re-apply to the honors program once their ECE GPA returns to a 3.3 or above.
Contact
Brittney Outlaw
Academic Advising Coordinator
b.outlaw@austin.utexas.edu
Current Honors students may schedule with Brittney in Navigate.
