Honors Program

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A limited number of undergraduates may be admitted to the chemistry honors program at the beginning of spring quarter of the junior year. Those completing the program satisfactorily receive the B.S. degree in Chemistry with Honors.

Admission

Students who wish to be admitted to the honors program should apply at the beginning of spring quarter of the junior year. You apply in Axess, and you must also see the student services officer in Mudd 121A before the application can be approved. At this meeting, you declare when you will do your Chemistry 190 work and what courses you plan to take to fulfill the honors requirements. All course work including Chemistry 190 must be taken for a letter grade.
 

GPA Requirement

Admission to the honors program requires a grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 in all course work in the University. An overall grade point average of 3.3 in all chemistry, mathematics, and physics work including all courses counting towards honors and 9 (most recent) units in chemistry 190 is required for a degree with honors.
 

Course Requirement

In addition to the minimum requirements for the B.S. degree, to graduate with honors the student must complete 9 units of lecture courses, including 6 units in chemistry. Courses that may be taken to meet this requirement are:

  • Chemistry 153, 174, 175, 181, 183, 184, 185, 221, 223, 225, 235, 251, 253, 255, 271, 273, 275, 297
  • Mathematics 114 or higher
  • Physics lecture courses numbered higher than 100
  • Or other graduate courses approved by the Chemistry Undergraduate Affairs Committee

Students may not overlap ("double-count") courses for completing honors, major, minor and coterminal requirements. So be careful when selecting elective courses to fulfill requirements. Only if the Bulletin explicitly states under different department/programs that a specific course by number is a degree requirement may that course be counted toward the degree in each of those departments/programs. A completed and approved Major-Minor and Multiple-Major Course Approval Form, obtained from the Registrar, must be filed with each of these departments/programs for degree conferral.

To fulfill the Honors requirements, all course work must be taken for a letter grade.
 

Independent Research Requirement

The student must complete 9 units of Chemistry 190 research during spring of the junior year and autumn, winter, or spring of the senior year. For this Chemistry 190 work to count towards honors requirement, you must write up your research progress each quarter following these requirements:

A minimum 2-page report must be prepared on the progress of each quarter

The report should detail your progress of that quarter only, and the laboratory effort involved should reflect the number of units of Chemistry 190 undertaken that quarter. The report is not intended as a magnus opus, but it is your accounting of your efforts. If you included background and experimental material, be sure to include two pages of progress.

The quarterly progress report must be:

  • approved and signed off by your research advisor, and then
  • turned in by you to the undergraduate office in Mudd 121A before the last day of finals in the quarter of Chemistry 190 work is done.
  • If a report is turned in late, Chemistry 190 units will not count towards the honors requirements, but a grade will be received on the research. No extensions will be granted on reports.

The 9 units of Chemistry 190 honors work must all be with the research advisor who is a regular member of the Department of Chemistry, and the work must be done at Stanford. Other chemical research can be approved through a formal petitioning of the Undergraduate Affairs Committee. No more than 5 units of Chemistry 190 can be taken in any one quarter. One unit of Chemistry 190 equates to at least 4 hours of work per week. Typically and realistically, students register for 3 units of Chemistry 190 in a quarter. Attendance at weekly group meetings may be required. At the beginning of each quarter, work out with your advisor what is expected of you for those Chemistry 190 units. Note: Chemistry 300, the Department Colloquium, is a co requisite for Chemistry 190.

To fulfill the Honors requirements, all Chemistry 190 research must be taken for a letter grade.

Participation in a summer research progarm in an academic setting between junior and senior years may be used in lieu of 3 units of CHEM 190.

Thesis Requirement

A thesis, approved by a Chemistry research advisor, needs to be completed during the senior year.