Departmental Honors

Application available here

Beginning in Fall 2025, Departmental Honors in English requires the following:

1.  To be eligible, students at the end of their junior year must have completed six English courses (including transfer courses that have been awarded English transfer equivalency credit) and have a minimum 3.7 GPA in their BU English courses. Total courses and GPA will be calculated after the grade submission deadline for spring semester of the junior year. Exceptions to the minimum GPA can be granted with approval of the Director of Undergraduate Studies and a faculty member willing to supervise the Honors Project.
2. To apply for Departmental Honors, students must send a completed Honors Application Form [link to form] to the English Department’s Senior Program Coordinator between April 1^st of their junior year and June 1^st prior to the start of senior year.
3. By the time of graduation, students must complete two additional 500+ English courses above the English major requirements.
4. Students must complete an Honors Project, typically a research paper of at least 6,000 words to be completed at least 21 days prior to the last day of spring semester classes.
5. An oral defense lasting roughly one hour with the Honors Project supervisor and two additional faculty members of the English Department. The defense must be held at least 14 days prior to the last day of classes in spring semester of the student’s senior year. Defense committees will be jointly arranged by the student and Honor Project supervisor.

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Honors Projects can be supervised in one of two ways:

OPTION 1
Typically, the Honors Project is written as part of a 500+ English course and replaces at least some of the course’s normal assignments. Within the first week of the course, the student and faculty member must establish expectations in written form, including:

• Confirmation that the student is eligible to pursue Departmental Honors
• The requirements of the Honors Project (including length, format, research components, and subject or range of possible subjects)
• A timeline (including structured deadlines and a schedule of individual meetings)
• Which assignments the Honors Project will replace in the course and how much it will weigh toward the final course grade

OPTION 2
If a faculty member agrees to supervise a student’s Honors Project as part of a Directed Study (EN 401), that Directed Study can substitute for one of the two additional 500+ English courses. The faculty supervisor of the Directed Study course must be a member of the English department but does NOT need to be the instructor of the additional 500+ English course. Before beginning the Directed Study, the student and faculty member must establish expectations in written form, including:

• The requirements of the Honors Project (including length, format, research components, and subject)
• A timeline (including structured deadlines and a schedule of individual meetings)
• The basis on which the Directed Study course will be graded

* Note that for BA/MA students, additional courses completed above the requirements for the English major can count toward Departmental Honors or the MA degree but not both.