Innovations in Honors Application

How to apply to the Innovations in Honors Program

Apply for Admission to UTC

Step 1: First, you must apply for admission to UTC (transfer students only) OR be a currently enrolled and continuing student at UTC.

For transfer students, you do not need to wait for your admission decision from the Undergraduate Admissions Office, but you must initiate that application process—including paying the required admission fee—or we cannot consider your Innovations in Honors application. 

Step 2: Complete and submit your Innovations in Honors Program Application.

To apply, click the above link and it will take you to the UTC Application Portal. For transfer students, you will use the same email address and password as you used to complete your admissions application to UTC.  For currently enrolled students, please use the email address (UTC or personal) that you check most frequently (this may be the email address that you used when previously applying to UTC). Once logged in, select the blue button that says “Other Applications” and you will see the option to select Innovations in Honors Application from that drop down.

The Innovations in Honors application is used for determining admission to the program and for the awarding of the Innovations in Honors Scholarship. Please remember that you are applying to participate in a program and NOT only a scholarship. 

For priority consideration, all materials, including your recommendation, must be received by:

• Currently Enrolled Students: May 11, 2025 at 11:59pm
• Transfer Students: June 15, 2025 at 11:59pm

Applications received after these deadlines will still be considered until July 20, 2025 for currently enrolled students and August 3, 2025 for transfer students, or until program capacity is filled. All application materials, including recommendations, must be received by the appropriate deadline for the application to be considered complete and eligible. 

Elements of the Innovations in Honors Application

Required Items: (1) Short Answer Essay Responses and (2) Recommendation 

Short Answer Essay Prompts

The responses you provide to these prompts are your opportunity to describe yourself to us as a person, student, aspiring professional, and community member. Your responses will help us to understand your interests, skills, and ambitions, as well as how you might fit into the collaborative, solution-oriented, and community-embedded culture of the program. For each prompt you are allowed a maximum of 250 words (1300 characters).

On the tab labeled “Requirements” you will find three prompts. Please ensure that you read the instructions and submission requirements for each prompt carefully, answer each prompt.  The application prompts for the upcoming application cycle can be found below. For each prompt you will be allowed 250 words (1300 characters). 

Prompt One: Creative Solutions

Please propose a potential strategy to address a societal challenge about which you are passionate. You should describe the scope and significance of the challenge, as well as the key characteristics, objectives, and possible consequences of your proposed strategy.

Prompt Two: Collaborative Leadership

Please describe an example of how you have worked as part of a team to overcome a challenge. You should explain the setting and context for this example, your role and actions in it, and the outcomes to which your efforts contributed for the group.

Prompt Three: Learning Experiences

Please describe the ways that you like to learn and a meaningful learning experience that has shaped who you are. You should explain both how and why you like to learn in certain ways, as well as the impacts your previous experiences have had on who you hope to become.

Prompt Four: Community Engagement

Please describe one activity in which you have contributed to your community and then propose one action in which you would like to participate as part of the UTC and Chattanooga community. You should detail what you did and would like to do, with whom, and the outcomes or objectives that you had and have in mind for your efforts.

Prompt Five: How are you an innovator?

For this response, we want you to think outside of the box and demonstrate one way that you are innovative or have designed an innovative way to think about or do something that is meaningful to you and the world around you. You must submit an “innovation example” via a hyperlink (e.g., a Google Drive shared file that you ensure the access has been set to “anyone with the link can view, a YouTube video, etc.) and a brief description of your example and how it demonstrates your innovation abilities. 

Recommendation Guidelines 

We require one recommendation for your application. For priority consideration, your recommendation must be received by the priority consideration deadline (May 11, 2025 for currently enrolled UTC students, June 15, 2025 for transfer students). Your application will be considered incomplete and ineligible for review until your recommendation is received.

This recommendation can come from someone who fits into one of the areas described below:

• A teacher who can best speak to your academic ability, the way you think and process information, and how you function as a member of an academic community.
• A supervisor/coach/mentor. This person cannot be a family member or a family friend. Instead, they should be someone who can provide a holistic picture of you as a student and a person.

If your recommender encounters any difficulties, please have them email [email protected] for assistance.