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Honors in General Scholarship

Students pursuing Honors in General Scholarship submit their thesis to the Honors Committee for honors consideration. In order to be granted permission to pursue Honors in General Scholarship, the student must meet eligibility requirements and submit all requisite application materials to the committee by the posted deadline.

Beginning with the Class of 2013: The application process for Honors in General Scholarship was amended by the Honors Committee in 2010.  Beginning with the Class of 2013, applications will be due in the spring semester of the student's junior year. If a student has extenuating circumstances and is unable to submit his or her application in the spring of the junior year, then the student may petition the Honors Committee to review the application in the fall of his/her senior year. The petition should explain why the spring deadline should be waived in their case. The petition and application must be submitted to the Honors Committee before the end of Drop/Add.

The application deadline for the Class of 2013 is April 30, 2012.

Eligibility Requirements:

Students may apply for Honors in General Scholarship if they are either:

  • a University Major or

  • are working on a thesis topic or methodology that is outside of the domain appropriate for the award of Honors in your major department(s) or programs

In either case, students are eligible to apply to write a thesis for Honors in General Scholarship only if they have met the following criteria:

  • have a minimum Grade Point Average of 90.00 at the time of application;

  • have fulfilled Stages I and II of the General Education Expectations, or have fulfilled Stage I and will fulfill Stage II in their senior year (such students must attach a plan demonstrating the feasibility of completing Stage II)

Required Elements of Application:

There are three required elements to the application to pursue Honors in General Scholarship. These materials must be submitted to Susan Krajewski in the Registrar's Office by 4 pm on April 30, 2012. They may be submitted on paper or sent as an email attachment to skrajewski@wesleyan.edu.

  • A 500-word, typed thesis proposal that includes:
a clear thesis statement;
a project description and rationale, its scope and limitations;
a proposed methodology. In cases where the research draws from different disciplines, the proposal should demonstrate the student's awareness of the methodological implications of crossing and linking disciplines;
a plan for research and preparation, including a list of relevant courses;
a bibliography (in the case of written theses) or a detailed list of sources (for theses that contain no written component). If you intend to produce a thesis with no written component, you need to state that clearly in your written application so the committee understands the full nature and scope of your work and the Registrar's Office is clear as to whether you will be registering any written work on the thesis deadline.

  • A statement of support from the tutor commenting on the originality and feasibility of the project, the student's grasp of the material and the implications of the project.  This statement should declare the understanding reached between the student and the faculty member as to the latter's role in supervising the project.

  • A statement from the student's major department(s) indicating that the student has met the department's requirements to write a thesis; that this particular thesis cannot be accommodated in the student's major(s); and why it is appropriate for the student to pursue Honors in General Scholarship. In the case of the University major, the supervising Dean supplies this statement. 

The Honors Committee reviews the student's transcript and Gen Ed compliance forms (gathered by the Registrar's Office) and makes the final decision whether a student may write a thesis for Honors in General Scholarship.

Petitioning the Honors Committee: Students who do not meet the posted eligibility requirements for Honors in General Scholarship may append to their application a petition explaining why a certain requirement should be waived. A requirement may be waived in exceptional cases only and at the Committee's sole discretion.  

Submission of Revised Applications: The submission of revised applications to pursue Honors in General Scholarship is by invitation only. In these cases, the Honors Committee will provide the applicant with specific suggestions, questions or requests. The student will have one week (7 calendar days) to submit a revised application for further consideration.

Evaluation of General Scholarship theses: Final evaluation is done by the tutor, a second reader selected by the Honors Committee from nominations made by the tutor, and a member of the Honors Committee. In the case of conflicting evaluations, the Chair of the Honors Committee may evaluate the thesis or may appoint another colleague to do so. Students and tutors should keep in mind that a thesis for Honors in General Scholarship must attain the rigor of a work in a discipline(s) and yet be comprehensible to scholars who are not specialists in all the fields to which the thesis is connected.

Deadlines: General Scholarship candidates must meet the same deadlines as departmental honors candidates - see the Jellybean Papers for further details.

Enrolling in Thesis Tutorials: During the Drop/Add period, you must enroll in a senior thesis tutorial within the Department/Program of your thesis advisor, through the Drop/Add system, and indicate that you are pursuing General Scholarship.  If you are a University Major, this will later appear on your schedule as UNIV409/410.