Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.
Commonwealth College
From UMassWiki
Commonwealth College, also known as "ComCol," is the UMass Amherst Honors College. The minimum grade point average is a 3.2. The only way to earn specific Latin honors (summa cum laude for 3.8, magna cum laude for 3.5 GPA) from UMass is to complete the honors requirements as directed by Commonwealth College. Commonwealth College is a separate college in the University, has its own requirements, and while you cannot major in 'honors' it has an effect on the classes you take and how you progress toward your degree. Commonwealth College offers honors tracks in individual programs as well as an interdisciplinary track with two majors, and special tracks for BDIC students.
Commonwealth College is relatively active on campus, especially where freshmen are concerned. There are special learning communities for freshmen, located on Orchard Hill for a variety of different majors as well as for undecided students. They also have programs such as Labor Day Orientation, where freshmen honors students come to school a few days early and meet other honors students.
Commonwealth College also holds weekly seminars on campus, generally in Goodell. Most are open to anyone. These meetings include Weekly Wednesday Workshops, different college or after-college related workshops every Wednesday afternoon/evening. They also hold Pizza and Prof on Monday nights, where they have Antonio's Pizza and invite a professor to talk, often about interesting topics that apply to anyone, not just honors students.
"ComCol" has a bad reputation with some students on campus. The reason for most of this reputation is the 'Dean's Book' courses, 1-credit 7 week courses through the department where the students read, analyze, and sometimes over analyze a book which is supposed to be read before the class begins. There are many sections of the course every semester, and there are three courses - 191D, 291D, and 391D that must all be completed with a grade of B to pass the requirement. All the sections of every class during the semester read the same book but analyze it differently. Commonwealth College also requires that honors students take a certain number of "honors" courses (courses with an "H" at the end of their course number) and pass these with a B or better to count for honors; in difficult majors and/or departments that decline to offer large numbers of honors classes this requirement can become odious.
The office for Commonwealth College is Goodell 504.
Was this article useful? Please spread the word and 
