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Honors Program

Eligibility Requirements

Students are eligible for admission to the program when they:

  1. Complete 6 courses
    • For CogSci BA / BS
      * 6 courses chosen from Cogs: 100, 101A-B-C, 102A-B-C, 107A-B-C, 108, 109
    • For Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience
      * Must complete Cogs 107A, Cogs 101A or Psyc 102, Cogs 107B or Psyc 106, Cogs 107C or Psyc 108
      * And choose two of the following, Cogs: 101B, 101C, 102A, 102B, 102C, 109–189, PSYC: 100, 101, 104, 105, 110–193
  2. Have at least Senior level standing
  3. Have at least a 3.5 GPA in upper-division major courses and at least a 3.0 overall GPA

Eligible students will enroll in 4 units of 190A (Pre-Honors Project in Cognitive Science) under a faculty member who has agreed to advise them on a potential honors project. Students may apply the COGS 190A course as an elective toward major requirements whether or not they enter the Honors Program.

At the end of the 190A course, students will submit to their faculty mentor a written project proposal. The proposal will define the question to be investigated, survey existing literature, describe the approach and methods that will be used, explain how data will be collected if it is an empirical study, detail how human subjects requirements will be met if necessary, discuss expected results, and provide a timeline for project completion.

Download the Honors Application Form & submit to the CogSci Online Form Submission before the start of Fall quarter.

Acceptance into the Honors Program

To formally enter the Honors Program:

  1. Students must meet the eligibility requirements above
  2. Receive a grade of A- or better in COGS 190A
  3. Establish an honors committee of at least two faculty and one graduate student to review the proposal and advise them during the process of completing the honors project
  4. Have their project proposal approved by their honors committee

The honors committee must be kept informed of any deviations from the original approved project proposal and timeline. Students who fail to make satisfactory progress may be asked to withdraw from the program at any point the advisor or the department chair deems necessary.

Successful completion of the Honors Program requires:

  • Maintenance of a 3.5 GPA in upper-division major courses, and a 3.0 overall GPA
  • Completion of one cognitive science (or related) graduate level course (may be taken P/NP). Students may use the required graduate course as one of their electives for the major whether or not they complete the honors project
  • Completion of COGS 190B and 190C with letter grades of A- or better
  • Completion of Cogs 198 (Direct Group Study-Honors CogSci Skills Workshop), a 2 units course given each winter (P/NP)
  • Completion of COGS 190D (Preparation for Thesis Presentation), a 1 unit seminar given each spring (P/NP)
  • Completion of a written honors thesis describing the project
  • Approval of the thesis by the honors committee and the department chair
  • Satisfactory presentation of the honors thesis to the cognitive science community at the Honors Thesis Presentation Conference at the end of Spring quarter

Students who successfully complete all of the requirements for the Honors Program will graduate with Distinction in Cognitive Science recorded on their transcripts.