Honors

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Newbie2DL, Feb 10, 2005.

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  1. Newbie2DL

    Newbie2DL Member

    When someone has a degree 'with Honors' or an 'Honors degree', what exactly does that mean? Are the two terms exactly the same?
     
  2. Fortunato

    Fortunato Member

    A degree granted with honors in the US means that the holder met some standard of performance, usually a certain GPA or class rank. For example, at the University of Wyoming, there are three levels of honors awarded:

    Summa Cum Laude - Top 1% in major
    Magna Cum Laude - Next 4% in major (Top 5%)
    Cum Laude - Next 5% in major (Top 10%)

    An honours degree, on the other hand, is a product of the UK and similar systems, and usually means a four-year bachelors degree, as opposed to the three-year degree that can also be awarded under this system. Holders of honours degrees are eligible for graduate study, where holders of three-year bachelors are usually not (at least in US schools).

    I'm sure I may have missed a detail or two, but I am willing to bet others will chime in.
     
  3. agilham

    agilham New Member

    Well, uo to a point, Lord Copper.

    The problem is that there is no UK system. There's the Scottish system and then there's the rest of the UK and Ireland.

    Generally speaking, the system in the English-speaking parts of the Commonwealth follows the Scottish system. You can graduate after 3 years, but you only get an ordinary degree. Stay on for your fourth year and you get an honours degree. Just to confuse matters, some of the Scottish universities offer a BA/BSc combination and others offer an MA/BSc combination.

    In England, Wales and Ireland, a three year degree is an honours degree, unless you do so badly that you're only awarded a pass.

    Angela
     
  4. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    I have never understood the American honors system. My B.A. came "Magna cum Laude" but my GPA, frankly, wasn't anything like the near 4.00 I see schools requiring today. Nevertheless, my degree was considered good enough to get into law school and every other graduate program I've applied to, including the University of London.

    Some of that may be grade inflation, I suppose. My undergrad school didn't have a reputation for being particularly tough, though.
     
  5. agilham

    agilham New Member

    Ouch! When the lawyers don't understand it, you know that it's complex ;-)

    Whenever I've tried to get my head around the US system, it has looked as if there wasn't any consistency at all. I had a look once at what Harvard required of somebody doing a history degree and found that you could just do a major in history at Harvard with 12 half courses, but to get honors you have to do 14 half courses and a thesis. In theory, it seems that it's quite possible to get out of Harvard with a 4.0 overall but not graduate summa cum laude because you've elected not to take the extra honors courses.

    Angela
     
  6. nosborne48

    nosborne48 Well-Known Member

    Apparently at large Universities in the U.S., there's also a difference between honors courses and departmental honors.

    Ouch is right!
     
  7. marilynd

    marilynd New Member

    It's probably a stretch to call the giving of honors degrees "a system" in the US, since there is no uniform guiding authority. Each school decides for itself what is "honors." Most schools use a grade-point or class-standing criterion, but these vary widely. Some schools use a 4-point system, some a 5-point system. The cut-offs for honors tiers varies widely from school to school as well.

    Some schools use the older approach to honors degrees, which ties getting honors to the writing and oral defense of a thesis. My undergraduate school, quite well-respected, did not have honors based on grades. Indeed, their approach was a bit confusing. They had an honors program. Graduating in the program depended on grades and taking specific courses, but it did not give you an "honors" degree. I suppose it was useful to put on a resume, and I guess you could legitimately claim to have graduated "with honors." As far as the college was concerned, however, to get "honors" meant you had to write and defend a thesis in one of the departments. You could not choose to do this. You had to be asked by members of the department faculty. Upon graduation your diploma read "Bachelor in Arts" and underneath this in smaller letters "Honors in Philosophy" (or whichever department you concentrated in). These words also appeared on your transcript.

    US schools probably have a little less complicated approach to honors degrees than does the UK (I must confess that I have never understood the rationales behind UK undergraduate degree-granting), but there is virtually no consistency in application. There are many ways to demonstrate academic excellence, and I'll bet US schools in one form or another have codified them all.

    marilynd
     
  8. DTechBA

    DTechBA New Member

    Just another oar in the water

    Some schools have "Honors" programs which are designed for more in depth studies in the students areas of interest. You may apply to them upon enrollment if you have exceptional secondary school qualifications or furing your freshmen or sophomore years based on your grades with the university.

    Here are some examples:

    http://honors.tamu.edu/honors/about.aspx

    http://www.registrar.siue.edu/2003-2005catalog-updated/universityhonors.htm

    http://www.honors.umd.edu/

    These are a tool to lure academically talented students to the schools....
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 10, 2005
  9. PJFrench

    PJFrench member

    Australia, part of the British Commonwealth varies the above slightly:

    Standard pass bachelors degree 3 years except for Medicine 4-6 years double degree, Law 5 years double degree, Science 4 years, Engineering 5 years, Architecture 6 years, Education 4 years post graduate bachelors.

    Honours:
    1. A bachelors degree additional [4th] year culminating in a research thesis of around 18-21K which if it is around a 75%+ mark will get you directly into a PhD not requiring a masters degree
    2. No thesis required for Law [LLB] or Medicine [MB BS] as these are awarded on the marks in the last year of the degree - the position of a law student doing a BA/LLB is that they can get the LLB[Hon] by high achievement but to get the BA[Hon] they require an additional year.
    3. Some masters degrees are now designated e.g. MEd[Hon] which means a research thesis component as opposed to a courserwork masters. However this must be checked out as there are plenty of masters degrees that have a thesis component, or a solely by thesis that don't carry the 'Honours' tag.

    And we think that the US system is confusing? Thank God I am Irish as I was born confused :D
     

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