Frequently Asked Questions About Graduation with Honors

Am I qualified to graduate with Latin honors?

The Honors Program requires that a student wishing to graduate with Latin honors have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.3 for Departmental Honors and a 3.5 for General Honors.

There is some variation among departments, and some departments also have specific course requirements. You must be familiar with your department's requirements before registering to graduate with honors.

Students who have already earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado or any other institution are not eligible. This includes students who have graduated in one major and are finishing a second major.

Students on a BA/MA degree plan must complete all honors requirements, including the thesis defense, during the BA portion of their program. Latin honors will be affixed to the BA portion of the degree when the BA/MA is awarded.

Why should I write an honors thesis? Will the graduate schools I apply to care?

In a self-study of the Honors Program, we learned that the process of graduating with Latin honors at CU-Boulder is among the most intensive in the nation among peer institutes.

The thesis and defense are modeled directly after a Master's thesis. However, the schools you apply to may not be aware of the rigor of CU-Boulder's thesis experience, so we recommend that you have your thesis advisor write a letter of recommendation for you that describes the process.

If I complete the thesis process, am I guaranteed to graduate with honors?

Very rarely, candidates who write and defend a thesis do not graduate with honors. These candidates usually fall into one of two categories:

• Students whose GPAs were really too low for them to earn Latin honors but were encouraged to write a thesis purely for the learning experience;
• Students who had the GPA requirement but did poorly in their defense/thesis.

The decision to do a thesis is a serious one, and in any case the thesis must be of very high quality to warrant honors.

Can I graduate with Latin honors without writing a thesis?

No. You may be able to graduate with Distinction which, unlike Latin honors, is based on GPA. Check with the College of Arts and Sciences for more details.

What are the GPA requirements for graduating with Latin honors?

There are GPA requirements, but grades do not singularly determine the levels of Latin honors awarded.

• A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.3 qualifies a student to be considered for honors, cum laude;

• A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 qualifies a student to be considered for honors, magna cum laude;

• A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.8 qualifies a student to be considered for honors, summa cum laude.

While these 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. If warranted by the quality of the thesis and thesis defense,  a committee may recommend you for a designation one level higher than the guidelines suggest.

How long are honors theses?

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

May I write an honors thesis in a minor?

To pursue honors in a minor, you must have written approval from both your major and minor departments.

I am a Distributed Studies student. Can I write an honors thesis?

Students graduating with a Distributed Studies degree may pursue General Honors or they may select an appropriate topic in one of their participating departments (contingent on departmental approval). The honors designation would be attached to the Distributed Studies degree.

I am a double major. Can I submit the same thesis for both degrees?

No. In addition, students with more than one major must complete the honors process and defend their thesis at the time their first major and first degree is awarded.

Are there advantages to doing a General Honors thesis over a Departmental Honors thesis or vice versa?

There is an important difference between General Honors and Departmental Honors theses.

The Departmental Honors thesis is designed to demonstrate the candidate’s ability to conduct original creative research within the boundaries of the candidate’s discipline.

General Honors 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 path you take is largely dependent on the topic of your research. As we live in an increasingly specialized world, the vast majority of students pursuing honors choose to demonstrate their command of a particular subject area within their discipline, which means they choose Departmental Honors. But if your topic makes strong connections across disciplines, you may wish to consider General Honors.

Which type of thesis will look better is debatable.

What are the requirements to pursue General Honors?

Most importantly:

• Students in the College of Arts and Sciences must meet with the Honors Program Director for General Honors thesis project approval.
• Students outside of the College of Arts and Sciences must have their proposal for General Honors research reviewed and approved by a General Honors faculty member of the Honors Council.

 Additional requirements:

• Candidates for General Honors must have at least a 3.5 cumulative GPA at the time they register to graduate with honors.
• Candidates must complete at least 12 hours of Honors Program or Honors Residential Academic Program courses with a grade of A or B. This coursework must include one course from each area of the General Honors Core: Humanities, Social Science, Natural Science, and a Senior Seminar course. The Honors Program determines which Honors Program courses fulfill these areas; visit the Honors Program Office for assistance.
• General Honors students may receive course credit for their thesis work by taking HONR 4959. Visit the Honors Program Office for details.

I took honors courses at another university – can I use them to fulfill the General Honors Core?

You cannot use honors courses taken at another university to fulfill the General Honors Core. Since you only have to take four different Honors Program courses to fulfill the requirements, the burden shouldn't be too great.

Your department may allow you to use transfer credits to fulfill some of their requirements. Check with your department's Honors Council representative.

What is the Honors Council?

The Honors Council is a body of faculty made up of representatives from each department that participates in the Honors Program. The Honors Council meets in the fall and spring semesters to recommend Latin honors designations.

When should I start working on my honors thesis?

Typically the thesis involves concentrated work over a five or six-month period.

Seniors intending to graduate in the spring should start making plans and discussing those plans with their thesis advisor by the beginning of the fall term prior to graduation. Fall graduates should begin their work in the spring prior to the semester they graduate.

Can I graduate with honors in the summer?

Yes, but you must finish your thesis and defense according to the deadlines from the spring semester before. The Honors Council does not meet in the summer; if you do not defend by the spring deadline, they will not be able to vote on your honors designation until the following December.

If you do meet the spring deadlines but decide to graduate in the summer, let the Honors Program Office know so that your honors designation is properly noted on the summer graduation program.

Can I get funding for my research/creative work?

We encourage all students writing honors theses to inquire about the possibility of funding through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program.

The Registration to Graduate with Honors calls for a prospectus, bibliography and timeline. How complete do these have to be?

These attachments are required so we can see that you've given your topic and your planned workload some thought. We hope that this process will help you develop realistic deadlines for yourself and time the work more efficiently.

• The summary should be as detailed as possible while maintaining brevity.
• Your timeline should 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.
• The bibliography should contain at least a few initial sources for your research.

Is it possible for me to look at past theses in my field to see what sorts of things previous honors graduates did?

Absolutely - you can visit the Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection and search for relevant theses with keywords.

If you have a specific thesis in mind and it isn't in the online collection, contact our office with the author's name and graduation date and we can attempt to find it for you. With specific requests, we may be able to find the thesis but be prepared for the possibility that we can’t.

How do I find a thesis advisor?

There are three good signs that a professor would make a good thesis advisor for you:

• that you’ve taken or are taking a course/multiple courses/a lab with them and are doing well;
• that they are well-versed in the particular field of study you wish to investigate;
• that you like them as a person and would be excited to work with them.

When you meet with faculty, don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. Some common questions include:

• "Will you have time this semester to work with me if that means meeting two or more times a week?"
• "I would like to be able to give you drafts as I go, will you have time to possibly edit and critique these drafts?"

 The answers to these questions will vary.

When should I set up my committee?

Ideally, as soon as you start working on your thesis. Your committee members should be faculty members with an interest in or knowledge of your topic. While they may not be able to put in as much time as your thesis advisor, they might also 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.

In either case, you will need to:

• set up and confirm with each member a specific time and date for your defense;
• 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.

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

Start with contacting 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.

Who needs to be on my committee?

You must have at least three faculty members from the University of Colorado Boulder on your committee:

• Your thesis advisor;
• An Honors Council representative;
• A professor from outside your department.

After you meet these requirements, you can have any additional members you want.

If you are writing 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 strongly interdisciplinary thesis.

How do I schedule my defense?

Departmental Honors candidates should contact their department to schedule a room. General Honors candidates may schedule their room through the Honors Program Office.

Other sources of rooms are Norlin Library (check their website or call 303-492-7477) and the UMC (303-492-8833).

What do committees look for in the defense?

Each committee is different, but things that are often commented upon are:

• Your ability to make connections between your thesis and situations posed by committee members;
• How thoroughly you understand and how comfortable you are with your topic;
• That you take your subject seriously and that you can demonstrate that you've learned something along the way.

If my graduation date changes or if I decide not to defend my thesis, should I let you know?

Yes! No matter where you are in the process, you must let us know if your graduation date changes or if you've decided not to defend. There are no penalties if you choose not to defend your thesis.

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. Are you writing this thesis to publish your research, refine your skills, demonstrate your knowledge of a particular subject or to more deeply study a topic or concept? They should be able to help you define your goals in writing an honors thesis and help you to achieve those goals.

How are honors designations decided?

There are several different steps to deciding the level of honors (if any) a candidate will receive.

1. You, the candidate, must have a CU-Boulder cumulative GPA of 3.3 or higher.
2. You must write and successfully defend a high-quality honors thesis before a faculty committee.
3. Your committee will make a recommendation to the Honors Council, who will consider the recommendation and award Latin honors designations if applicable.

Please be aware that while you may turn in an archival copy of your thesis, with any recommended corrections, to the Honors Program Office after you defend, the copy of the thesis that the committee sees on your defense day – the defense copy – is the copy on which they will base their recommendation.

What if I have more questions?

Check with your thesis advisor or Honors Council representative first. If they can’t answer your questions, please feel free to stop by the Honors Program Office.