<p>I'm currently trying to decide if I want to try for honors at my college. This would require writing what's basically a thesis. However, I still have no idea what I want to do for it and as I'm studying abroad, the process would become more complicated. The honors process is very time consuming, and I'm hoping to try for an internship next year in a field I'm interested in which would also be very time consuming. However, I also thought that completing honors might let me know if I'd be interested in the life of an academic and would be a plus for applying to grad school. Any advice? Thanks!</p>
<p>What do you want to do after graduation? If you would like to go into industry, then an internship would be more beneficial in terms of experience, networking, and even job placement. If you want to do grad school, then an academic experience would help more in exposing you to what it's like and whether it's for you. This is assuming that you can only choose one and that you've no experience in either area.</p>
<p>If you think there's any chance you'll want to go to grad school, I'd say go for honors, the extra research and writing will be beneficial and give you a taste of what lies ahead.</p>
<p>everything the OP said is right; a big difference between grad school and life in academia is that what you do is a lot more self-directed. Figuring out the topic, finding a faculty advisor, finding material and writing the thesis -- all of this will give a good taste of what life is like in that direction. Since you're planning on studying abroad, is there some way you could leverage that for your thesis? Eg. use some resources available only where you're going, do it on an aspect of where you're going based on hands-on research, etc?</p>
<p>As for the internship, I'd not give that up for the thesis. Internships, especially competitive ones, are like gold when it comes to finding a job. Often you get an offer from that company, and having an internship really makes a resume stand out. Also it will give you a sense of what life is like in the commercial world; if you find you love the work then perhaps grad school will lose some allure; if you dislike it, then maybe grad school becomes more attractive.</p>
<p>If you want to go to grad school, research (including an honors thesis) is a <em>huge</em> part of that. What field are you in?</p>
<p>You MUST do a honors thesis project for grad schools. They need to see that you're capable of research and self-intitative to go above and beyond. I was going to drop it in the middle of the year because it was getting overwhelming (and I had just applied!) but my advisor put her foot down and said NO. You want to go to grad school? You need to finish this project with me and we'll treat this like grad school.</p>
<p>Loved. Every. Minute. Of. It.</p>
<p>If anything, it's made me very well-prepared so far. My MA thesis advisor couldn't seem to believe that I was slightly ahead of the game when I proposed my topic to her.</p>
<p>As for topics, just go abroad and maybe your experience will guide you a little. I went abroad in the spring of my junior year and it did do me some good on how I chose my topic even though I didn't do the actual research until fall.</p>