confused about upper division - thesis??

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>so for any college when you're a senior, you are required to write a senior thesis??</p>

<p>what is a thesis? i thought you write one if you're getting a PHD</p>

<p>aren't they all incredibly long? what happens if you get a bad grade on it?? will you not be able to graduate?</p>

<p>this is stressing me out.</p>

2

<p>Relax, first of all its only for certain majors (Usually humanities like history...I think). Or if you want to pursue honors in your major.</p>

3

<p>Where did you read you're required to write a senior thesis for any college?</p>

<p>... </p>

<p>I'm taking my "senior seminar" this semester. The thesis, a paper which provides the only basis for a grade in the class, is a 20-25 page research paper (with ~15 scholarly sources, including 8+ citations within the paper).</p>

<p>And I'm an English major.</p>

<p>Granted, the Honors thesis is more involved (I believe it's ~40+ pages?), and I'm sure each seminar varies. But honestly, it's not that terrible, and you will likely have PLENTY of support while you're working on it.</p>

4

<p>History majors are required to write one for graduation...usually 40 pages (up to 60) long. It's a ton of work.</p>

<p>History is the only major where you are required regardless of honors though. Most other majors only require one if u want honors.</p>

5

<p>Rest easy - unlike certain other institutions which claim to offer a great undergrad education (Reed, Princeton, etc.), Berkeley does not require a senior thesis of all graduating seniors.</p>

<p>That said, whether or not you complete an honors thesis at Berkeley is up to you. As has been said, if you choose to major in history you must write one. In other departments, you have to much more proactive.</p>

<p>Whatever you do, keep in mind that honors theses are a lot of work. There's really no reason to do one unless you are either hoping to go to graduate school in that field or extremely curious about the subject. If you're not going on to further schooling, your thesis time would be much better spent looking for a job!</p>

6

<p>what about public health?</p>