Frequently Asked Questions

First of all, if you are pursuing departmental honors, we advise that you contact your Honors Council Representative, as they will know, more specifically, what your department requires. The list of Honors Council Representatives is available at the Honors Program office, Norlin M400C.

For General Honors questions, such as finding out what General Honors requirement a specific course fulfills, call the Honors Program office at 492-6617 or e-mail us at honors@colorado.edu.

1.  The application calls for a brief summary of my thesis, a timeline, and a bibliography.  How complete do these have to be?

These sections are required so that your advisor can see that you've given your topic some thought. We recommend that the summary be as detailed as possible. This provides both you and your advisor clarity on the direction and goal of your thesis.

We recommend that the schedule include when you intend to complete primary research, dates that drafts will be completed, and times that you can discuss these drafts with your advisor. Hopefully this process will help you develop realistic deadlines for yourself and time the workload more efficiently. The bibliography doesn't need to be complete, what we require are at least a few initial sources for your research.

2.  Is it possible for me to look at some past theses in my department to see what sorts of things previous Honors graduates did?

Yes. The Honors Program office keeps all theses on file forever. Since many of the theses are in storage, it's best if you call ahead so that we can find a decent selection for you, but even if you just have time to drop by we can usually find a thesis or two for you to look at.

If you are looking for a specific thesis, we need to know what semester the student graduated and their name. If all you have is a range of possible dates and a title, we may be able to find the thesis, but be forewarned that it will take much longer. We will need at least a couple days' warning to find specific theses.

3.  What are the advantages to doing a General Honors thesis over a Departmental Honors thesis and vice versa?

There is an important difference between General Honors and Departmental Honors thesis. The Departmental Honors thesis is designed to demonstrate the candidate’s ability to conduct original creative research within boundaries of the major discipline. General Honor’s research is designed to demonstrate the candidate’s ability to either conduct research of a broad interdisciplinary nature or to allow the candidate to conduct cross-disciplinary research beyond the bounds of the major.  Which one you decide to do is entirely up to you. Some people value the experience of making connections across disciplines, and some people prefer to demonstrate their command of a particular subject area. Which type of thesis will look better on a graduate school application is debatable. You can also elect to do both a General Honors thesis and a Departmental thesis, which would demonstrate your abilities in both areas.

4.  Is it really worth it to do a thesis? Will the graduate schools I apply to care?

When the Honors Program did its self-study, we learned that the process of graduating with Honors at CU-Boulder is among the most intensive in the nation among peer institutes. The thesis is modeled directly after a Master's thesis, as is the defense. The schools you apply to may not be aware of the rigor of CU-Boulder's thesis, however, so we recommend that you have your thesis advisor write a letter of recommendation for you that describes the process.

5.  When should I set up my Defense Committee?

The best option is to set up your committee as soon as you start working on your thesis, so that you can get ongoing input from your committee members as well as your advisor. Your committee members should be faculty members with an interest in or knowledge of your topic, and why waste such great resources? They may not be able to put in as much time as your main advisor, but hopefully will be able to give you some guidance.

Failing that, your defense committee should be set up at least three weeks before you are set to defend. You need to have time to set up and confirm with each member a specific time and date for your defense and you need to find out how much time they will require to review your thesis before the defense. Some committee members require a copy of the thesis as much as two weeks before the defense date. Don't expect them to read your thesis the night before or the morning of your defense.

6.  Who needs to be on my defense committee?

You must have at least three faculty members on your committee. One of these people must be on the Honors Council, and one of them must be from outside your department. The person you choose as your Honors Council representative may also function as the outside member (if they are indeed from another department), but you still need at least three members on your committee. After you meet this requirement, you can have any additional members you want.

If you are working on a General Honors thesis, you must have at least one member of the General Honors faculty on your committee. If you do not have a specific person in mind, the Honors Program Director will assign someone to you. This person will also function as a co-advisor, whose main job will be to make sure you are doing a clearly interdisciplinary thesis.

7.  How should I go about choosing people to be on my defense committee?

The best way to start is to contact any professors you have had that have an interest in your thesis subject area. You should also talk to your thesis advisor to see if they have anyone that they can recommend. If you are having trouble finding an appropriate/willing Honors Council representative, you can contact the Honors Program office.

8.  Can I graduate with Honors in the summer?

Yes, you can BUT you must finish your thesis and defense according to the Spring deadlines. The Honors Council does not meet in the summer, so if you do not defend by the Spring deadlines, they will not be able to vote on your level of Honors until the following December. Remember, it is the Honors Council that decides your level of Honors, not your committee. If you do meet the Spring deadlines but decide to graduate in the summer, let the Honors Program office know so we can make sure that your Honors designation is properly noted on the summer graduation program.

9.  If I turned in an application to graduate with Honors in the spring (fall) and find out that I am not graduating until the fall (spring), should I let the Honors Program office know?

Yes. Otherwise, your application to graduate with Honors will be placed in the Abandoned Theses file with all of the other people who just never came back. This will cause both you and the Honors Program office unnecessary stress and hassle when you mysteriously reappear the following semester.

10. What are the GPA requirements for graduating Cum Laude, Magna cum Laude, and Summa cum Laude? 

All students should understand that grades do not singularly determine the levels of honors you are awarded.  There are, however, guidelines as follows:

• Students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.3 are qualified to be considered for Honors, Cum Laude (with honors)

• Students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 are qualified to be considered for Honors, Magna cum Laude (with high honors)

• Students with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.8 are qualified to be considered for Honors, Summa cum Laude (highest honors)

While the above guidelines qualify you for consideration for a given level of honors, the level you earn is based on the quality of your thesis and thesis defense. Grades do not solely determine your level of honors.  If warranted by the quality of the theses and thesis defense,  a committee may recommend you for an honors designation one level higher than the guidelines suggest.

11.  How long are Honors theses?

Anywhere between 10 and 150 pages long – it really varies that much. What is important is the content, not the length.

12.  What role should my advisor play in my thesis project?

Your advisor should help you find focus for your thesis. Use them to make sure that you are staying focused on your topic, to strengthen weak areas of your thesis, and for general advice. They should be able to help you define your goals in writing an Honors thesis and help you to achieve that goal. Are you writing this paper to publish your research, refine your skills, demonstrate your knowledge of a particular subject, or to more deeply study a topic or concept? Your advisor should help you determine how to achieve that goal.

13.  Can I graduate with Honors without doing a thesis?

No, you can't graduate with Honors without a thesis. However, you may be able to graduate with Distinction, which is based on GPA. Check with the College of Arts and Sciences for more details.

14.  How are designations decided?

There are several different steps to deciding the level of Honors (if any) a candidate will receive. The first step, of course, is maintaining a good GPA (generally 3.3 or better). The second step is writing a quality Honors thesis and doing an oral defense of your thesis. While you may turn in a final copy of your thesis, with corrections, to the Honors Program office after you defend, the copy of the thesis that the committee sees on your defense day is the copy on which they will base their recommendation.

After you have done your oral defense, your committee makes its recommendation to the Honors Council.  The Honors Council then considers each candidate individually (strongly considering the recommendation of the defense committee, although they may grant a different designation). The Honors Council, which is made up of representatives from each department that participates in the Honors Program (in other words, all departments in the College of Arts and Sciences, plus the School of Engineering and the School of Business). Also see question 10.

15.  What do committees look for in the oral defense?

While each committee is different, things that are often commented upon are your ability to make connections between your thesis and situations posed by committee members and the thoroughness of your grasp of your topic. Your committee will want to see you demonstrate the sort of comfort level with your topic that comes from truly understanding the concepts you set forth in your thesis. Show them that you take your subject seriously, and that you learned something.

16.  If I do a thesis, am I guaranteed to graduate with Honors?

Although this rarely happens, there are the occasional candidates who write their thesis, defend it, and still do not graduate with Honors. These candidates usually fall into one of two categories: students whose GPAs were really too low for them to get Honors anyway, but were encouraged to try for the learning experience of doing a thesis; and students who had the GPA but did poorly in their defense/thesis. The decision to do a thesis is a serious one, and the thesis must be of very high quality to warrant Honors.

17.  I took some Honors classes at another school – can I use them to fulfill graduation with Honors requirements?

You cannot use Honors classes taken at another school to fulfill General Honors graduation requirements.  Since you only have to take four different General Honors courses to fulfill the requirements, the burden shouldn't be too great. Your major department may allow you to use transfer credits to fulfill some of their requirements. Check with your department's Honors Council representative to find out.

18.  What is the required format for the Honors thesis?

The Honors Program has the following requirements for the thesis format:

• The title page should include: title, name, date, thesis advisor, committee members (If a running title is used it must be limited to 50 characters)
• A separate, one-page abstract should be included
• The thesis needs to be velo bound (not spiral). This can be done at the UMC Copy Center

Because the College of Arts and Sciences covers many departments the Honors Program does not set any other specific requirements for the thesis format.  You should check with your departmental Honors Council representative for departmental format requirements.

Updated 1/30/06