Honors

Students wishing to qualify for departmental honors in the computer science major must:

1. Complete all departmental requirements for the computer science major and have a GPA of 3.5 or higher for all course work (MC and CS) taken in the department, together with a course in another discipline that has substantial computer science content if taken as an elective with permission of the department;
2. Have a GPA of 3.0 for all course work taken at Skidmore;
3. File with the department, by the end of the official add-drop period of the fall semester of the senior year, a declaration of intention to qualify for honors; and
4. Submit an honors thesis to be read by a review committee, and give an oral presentation of the thesis to the department. The review committee will evaluate the thesis to determine if it is of the exceptional quality that merits honors; the committee will submit its recommendation to the department for final adjudication.

   Additional guidance regarding the honors thesis
   
   An honors thesis may take a variety of forms. The following guidelines provide some clarity regarding the department's expectations. In all cases, further discussion with your thesis advisor will be necessary before formalizing your research plan.
   
   A computer science honors thesis will:
   
   • Require at least one full academic year of applied effort to complete;
   • Involve significant review of existing research in the area of interest. The thesis will include an extensive literature review section highlighting relevant concepts, frameworks, and theories; and
   • Result in a creative contribution. The contribution might be an implementation and validation of existing work or an identification of a gap in existing literature, along with a validation of your proposed solution. The creative contribution must confirm the student's grasp of the subject matter while demonstrating independent thinking.

See Computer Science