About the Honors Program

The First Year Honors Program enhances students' entry-level college experience by providing additional and rigorous critique, as well as an introduction to available resources at the college and throughout the Bay Area.

Participants are selected based on the quality of their incoming artwork, the academic achievement and motivation their portfolios reflect, grade point averages, and personal essays.

Graduate Student Mentors

Selected students are dispersed into small groups led by a CCA graduate student in the Fine Art, Design, Architecture, Visual and Critical Studies, or Writing programs.

Graduate students are mentors and critique leaders alike who offer unique perspectives to new students on how to effectively engage with the CCA community and college life in general.

First-year students gain insight into the professional and personal development inherent to the artist, designer, architect, and writer.

Activities

During the first year, students participate in three to four group critiques of peer work, attend small group dinners, and take several field trips to local galleries, museums, or design studios.

Honors students also find themselves in good company with similarly motivated First Year students. The small-group format fosters meaningful friendships and builds students' confidence to speak about and present their work.

By spring semester, students organize a gallery exhibition of their work that is presented at the San Francisco campus.