Honors Program Regulations

The Honors Program is designed to enable seniors with demonstrated ability to undertake substantial independent work that culminates in a project of exceptionally high quality.

1. For Honors in German Studies, students shall have a minimum GPA of 3.4 or higher both in the program to which they apply (i.e. German Studies) and overall.
2. The prerequisites for eligibility for acceptance into the program shall consist of normal progress toward a major.
3. Students intending to write an honors thesis should state their interest early, typically in their junior year, and seek out a professor in the department of German Studies who agrees to serve as their honors thesis advisor. Students writing honors projects take a 2-4 credit honors independent study with their honors advisor in the fall prior to taking the senior seminar (unless they take the senior seminar in their junior year or plan to graduate in December, in which cases they may take the honors independent study in the fall after their senior seminar). Students also identify, in consultation with their honors advisor, two further professors (from German Studies or any other department) to serve on their honors committee. The honors project includes a final oral defense of the thesis before the honors committee.
4. In applying for acceptance into the program students shall present their Honors adviser a statement of intent and a brief description of the proposed Honors project, using the application form available below. The adviser will review the project and notify the student of acceptance or denial. This material shall be due no later than the end of the summer prior to the senior year (but preferably by spring registration in the year prior to the fall in which the student plans to begin the Honors project). Students planning to graduate in December should submit the material by fall registration prior to the spring in which they plan to begin their Honors project.
5. A list of seniors preliminarily approved by the department faculty to pursue an Honors project shall be presented by the Department Chair to the Dean of Academic Programs by September 26 for students planning to graduate in May and by January 26 for students planning to graduate in December.(Dates subject to change, please see your advisor.)
6. With permission of the honors advisor and of the instructor of the Senior Seminar, students may incorporate into their honors thesis all or part of their capstone, provided that the additional content beyond the capstone is equivalent to a stand-alone honors thesis. The honors thesis is typically around 45 pages long, written in English or German, or both.
7. For further due dates and the table of the various steps that need to be taken toward the completion of the Honors Thesis, click the following link: https://www.macalester.edu/academic-programs/honorsprogram/.

Download application