Honors Program

The only route to honors in the major is writing a thesis and passing an oral examination. To be admitted to the thesis program, a student must have a grade point average of at least 3.5 in all work in the major field above the 100-level; the department may petition on their behalf if their GPA in the major is between 3.0 and 3.5.

Honors candidates normally enroll in REL 360, Thesis Research, during the Fall and REL 370, Honors Thesis, during the Spring semester of their senior year. By College legislation, all majors with a GPA of 3.5 or higher in department courses above the 100 level qualify for this program. Majors with a lower departmental GPA may petition the Committee on Curriculum and Instruction to be admitted to the program providing that the department has given prior written approval.

Each student interested in the Honors Program must secure a thesis advisor, normally their faculty advisor, in the Spring semester of their junior year, and in consultation with their advisor identify a topic or research area and formulate a plan for summer research. Ordinarily, by April 1 of their junior year, the student shall submit to the Religion Department Chair a statement of intent to pursue Honors that includes a definition of their topic, the name of their thesis advisor, an account of their qualifications and preparation to research it including appropriate language training, and a plan of summer study. Upon approval of the statement of intent by the thesis advisor and the Chair, the student will be authorized to enroll in REL 360 for the first semester of their senior year.

At the beginning of their first senior semester, the student shall submit to their advisor a report of their progress to date, including an expanded and refined statement of their topic and their plans for REL 360. During the first semester of their senior year, the REL 360 student in consultation with their advisor must obtain the consent of three additional members of the College faculty to complete their thesis committee. The committee should consist of the student's honors advisor, the department chair or Chair's designee, an additional member of the department, and the honors visitor (who must be a tenured Wellesley College faculty member from outside the student's thesis department). By the last day of classes that semester, each REL 360 student must submit one draft chapter of their thesis to all three members of their thesis committee. Approval by the thesis committee is required for the candidate to proceed to enroll in REL 370.

At the beginning of their second senior semester, the REL 370 student shall make a 10-minute presentation of their thesis proposal and their progress to date to the Religion Department faculty, followed by 20 minutes of critical discussion. This presentation is designed to provide the student with feedback on their project from the entire departmental faculty and to inform the faculty of all work being undertaken for Honors in the department.

REL 370 students will be expected to present a draft of the entire thesis to their advisors by the end of Spring Break in order to leave sufficient time for final revisions. Final determination of Honors shall proceed according to College legislation by the timely submission of the completed thesis and an oral examination by the thesis committee and Committee on Curriculum Instruction representative.

Important honors information from the Office of the Registrar.