Honors awarded to graduating seniors are “like the whipping cream on top of your sundae, with a cherry on top,” said Registrar Ron Urban.
Honors in Course and Honors in Major Study are two of the most prevalent at Whitman. While the college awards Honors in Course based on grade point average, the requirements for Honors inMajor Study “is definitely a more subjective process,” said Urban.
Honors in Major Study has a far less transparent process, a far less predictable process than Honors in Course,” he said.
Honors in Course are based entirely on grade point average. These include: summa cum laude, awarded to students who have achieved a GPA of 3.90 with no failed courses; magna cum laude, awarded to those with a GPA of at least 3.80 and no failed courses; and cum laude, awarded to those with a GPA of at least 3.65.
Of the graduating class of 2007, 5.4 percent received summa cum laude, 8.3 percent received magna cum laude and 20.2 percent received cum laude. All three honors have seen increases in the past three years; 24.9 percent of the class of 2005 received one of the three honors, compared to 33.9 percent of the class of 2007.
By contrast, Honors in Major Study are awarded to students who demonstrate “unusual ability” in their field. An honors candidate must have a GPA of at least 3.30 on all credits earned at the College and a 3.50 GPA in the major. Furthermore, he or she must earn at least an A- on a written thesis or project “prepared exclusively for the satisfaction of the program” and pass with distinction on the senior assessment, usually a combination of a written and an oral exam. Twenty-three percent of the class of 2007 received Honors in Major Study.
What makes theses or other forms of comprehensive exams honors-worthy is up to the professors.
Whitman operates under “faculty governance,” said Urban, and there is no oversight of honors standards.
Matthew Prull, chair of the psychology department, said that often it’s hard to quantify what constitutes an honors thesis or passing orals with distinction.
“You know it when you see it,” Prull said.
But Prull added that the process wasn’t perfect.
“One can’t help but make comparisons,” said Prull. “We have to keep in mind the limitations [of the process], particularly with a thesis. Often we’re comparing apples and oranges.”
While some students must complete additional requirements in order to graduate with honors, other departments simply hold honors candidates to a higher standard on the same requirements as other majors.
“The reason I went for honors was because all I had to do was write a better thesis,” said senior anthropology major Wes Matlock. “We already have to write one to graduate, so of course I’d go for honors.”
Meanwhile, honors in history involves a considerable amount of extra work. These candidates must write a thesis of about 100 pages and pass one of two written exams and oral exams with distinction.
“The honors track in history is a lot more challenging than some other majors, since it truly changes the course of your senior year by pushing you to take on the additional project of the history thesis,” said senior history major Anne Conners.
“I haven’t ever complained about the discrepancy among the majors, because I am not pursuing honors for it to be written on my diploma, but more for the personal challenge of writing my thesis,” Conners said. “I decided to pursue honors because I would be able to work on my own project and research a subject that I find particularly interesting, rather than going through the motions of classwork.”
The psychology department awards honors after theses are turned in and oral exams are conducted, rather than requiring students to apply for honors candidacy in the fall semester like most departments.
“It’s hard to gauge honors candidacy based on preliminary work done at the beginning at the year,” said Prull. “Determining candidacy before a student has turned in a fully written academic product is more of a judgment call. It’s more clear at the end of it.”
For some, the extra effort for Honors in Major Study is more trouble than it’s worth.
“If it’s important for the individual to achieve honors, and we are confident that they can achieve it, then fine. But we don’t encourage anyone to undertake the stress associated with honors. Liberal arts education should be more bliss than stress, no?” wrote Dennis Crockett, chair of the art history department, in an e-mail.
Nevertheless, both Honors in Course and Honors in Major Study carry weight post graduation. These honors are credentials on a graduate’s résumé, Urban said, and can keep someone in the application process longer when seeking employment.
