About

Why Choose Plan II Honors?

Plan II is education without boundaries. It is a four-year degree program that leads from a broad core curriculum in the early college years to a student's own choice of coursework in the later ones. Small classes and a common curriculum develop a sense of intimate community among students, while the size of the University of Texas gives them an enormous range of freedom in pursuing their interests and the library and computing infrastructure to do it well.

Plan II's goal is to prepare students to be ideal citizens by setting their minds on lifelong learning. Dean Parlin, who founded the program in 1936, believed that students should study broadly, without narrowing themselves to the requirements of a specialized major. Plan II excites all curiosities. Its core is the study of literature, philosophy, society, and natural science, all in the form in which they have the most meaning for the lives of real individuals. Its spirit is the freedom to cross intellectual boundaries and to seek understanding wherever it is to be found. Plan II students have explored everything that makes us human in the best sense, from poetry to the latest discoveries in physics or cosmology.

About a third of the courses required for a Plan II major are core courses. Many of the core courses are intimate seminar classes emphasizing writing and public presentation skills and offering a great deal of close interaction and discussion, particularly in the first year. Plan II students choose their non-core classes from the extensive list of the University's exciting and challenging departmental offerings, depending on the individual's academic interests and career goals.

The core of Plan II comprises a year of world literature and a year of philosophy. Both courses read great books in connection with contemporary issues and emphasize clear writing and thinking. Each student also chooses three seminars on interdisciplinary topics from a list of 36 courses especially designed for Plan II. On the science side, the Plan II core consists of special courses in logic, math, biology, and physics. In the social sciences, unique courses on the individual in society reflect Parlin's dream of an education for citizenship. An individual thesis project rounds out the senior year. Theses may be based on research or they may be original creative work. Recent topics range from software design to African music, from a historical monograph to a showing of paintings, and from marketing to political philosophy. Although the Plan II program is interdisciplinary, students concentrate in the areas of their theses and are well-prepared for graduate schools in their chosen subjects.

Study Abroad Opportunities

Where you learn can be as important as what you learn. That's why the University of Texas at Austin extends learning opportunities around the globe. The University offers reciprocal exchange programs with foreign universities, affiliated studies through organizations and institutions,undergraduate study abroad research programs and faculty-led programs. Find information, including information about available funding resources, at the site of the University's Center for Global Educational Opportunities (C-GEO).

Plan II Honors supports students wishing to study abroad with a number of travel grants. Thanks to a recent gift from 1973 alumnus and founder of CarMax, Austin Ligon, Plan II will help send hundreds of Plan II students abroad each year through 2011. Mr. Ligon's gift of $1 million to be spent over 5 years helps us move closer to our goal of providing support for study abroad experiences for every Plan II student.

Plan II Study Abroad Program in Rome

In the summer of 2008, Plan II Honors initiated the first Plan II Study Abroad Program in conjunction with the American Institute for Roman Culture in Rome, Italy. The American Institute for Roman Culture (AIRC) is an independent American non-profit organization with offices in Massachusetts and Rome. Founded in 2002 to promote and defend the cultural heritage of Rome, the institute carries out cultural heritage projects and organizes a variety of education programs, exhibits, publications and other scholarly activities. For more information on the AIRC, visit the Institute website: http://www.romanculture.org/

The program is restricted to a group of 15 Plan II students participants studying in Rome for one month. Professor Karl Galinsky, Cailloux Centennial Professor of Classics, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, was the guiding faculty member. Dr. Galinsky has directed numerous study abroad projects, including in Rome where he has spent more than five and a half years. Student participants receive transfer credit for a Plan II Junior Seminar (TC 357) and an upper-division Humanities Courses (HUM 350); both courses can be used to fulfill Plan II degree requirements.

More Plan II Study Abroad programs are in the planning stages, including a eco-biology course of study in Costa Rica and a medical ethics study in Europe, probably in Amsterdam.

Plan II Students Succeed:

See all the important Awards and Distinctions Earned by Plan II Honors Students, this year and in years past.

Student Resources

• The Joynes Suite with high-tech classrooms reserved for honors seminars and the Joynes Reading Room browsing library and DVD collection, laptop check-out, home to the Joynes Literary Society and sponsor of visiting authors, poets, films and other events.
  
  
• Undergraduate Writing Center which provides individual, professional advice on all aspects of writing to UT undergraduates on a drop-in basis or by appointment.
  
  
• Recreational Sports offers programs in: intramural activities, sports clubs, outdoor recreation, fitness and wellness, and informal recreation. (See photos of the gorgeous new Aquatic Center; photogallery)
  
  
• Computer Resources and Services offer email and accounts, help/support and training, labs and facilities, systems and software, security, network connections, voice and video....
  
  
• University Learning Center provides a range of services designed to enhance both individual learning and in-class performance and is committed to helping students achieve success in scholastic endeavors.
  
  
• Career Exploration Center and the College Liberal Arts Career Services is a vehicle for career self-management where you can actively learn to build on the strengths of your education and experience and use your inner capacities for creating your future. Let LACS be the bridge between where you are and where you want to be. Translating a Liberal Arts Education into a World of Opportunities
  
  
• *Eureka! (enhancing undergraduate research experience, knowledge and access)

Check out all the Plan II Student organizations!

Plan II has something for almost everyone. Students are encouraged to start an organization if one does not already exists. Just in case Plan II student don't have an organization that suits your interests, there are another 750+ University student organizations registered through the UT Dean of Students office. Only a campus the size of UT Austin can offer so many opportunities for involvement, spirit,public service and social and cultural interaction.

Media Reports

• 2006 Fiske Guide to Colleges says, "The Plan II (liberal arts sic) honors program, a national model, is one of the oldest honors programs in the country, and one of the best academic deals anywhere. It offers qualified students a flexible curriculum, top-notch professors, small seminar courses, and individualized counseling, and provides them with all the advantages of a large university in a small-college atmosphere.
  
  
• The University of Texas at Austin recognized in numerous national rankings as one of the nation's best values in terms of its cost and the quality of its academic programs and reputation including the 2006 survey of America's Best Colleges by U.S. News World Report magazine.
  
  
• UT Austin wins 15th place in world list of 200 best universities in 2004 The University of Texas at Austin is the 15th-best university in the world, according to a new global ranking produced by The Times of London newspaper in its Nov. 5, 2004edition. Among U.S. public universities, only the University of California at Berkeley, which is listed second in the world, ranked higher than UT Austin. November 2004

Enrichment!

See all the academic and extra-curricular activities available for Plan II students.

View of Plan II

The core of Plan II comprises a year of world literature and a year of philosophy. Both courses read great books in connection with contemporary issues and emphasize clear writing and thinking. Each student also chooses three seminars on interdisciplinary topics from a list of 36 courses especially designed for Plan II. On the science side, the Plan II core consists of special courses in logic, math, biology, and physics. In the social sciences, unique courses on the individual in society reflect Parlin's dream of an education for citizenship. An individual thesis project rounds out the senior year. Theses may be based on research or they may be original creative work. Recent topics range from software design to African music, from a historical monograph to a showing of paintings, and from marketing to political philosophy. Although the Plan II program is interdisciplinary, students concentrate in the areas of their theses and are well prepared for graduate schools in their chose subjects.

Plan II students are selected from a large applicant pool for their brilliant minds and their love of active learning. They have every possible interest and they take on a variety of careers. Majoring simply in Plan II, many students graduate to professional schools in law, medicine, or business. Other combine Plan II with majors in specialized subjects in architecture, fine arts, business, science, or engineering. Plan II graduates are found in every profession; they are lawyers, public servants, doctors, CEOs, novelists, poets, technical writers, research scientists, and even rock musicians. It is truly an education without boundaries