<p>Are there any real benefits to having an honors degree (like honors in polisci or honors in economics, etc.) or does having one mean that you have done research on the field?</p>
<p>And does everyone have to have a senior thesis?</p>
<p>BUUUmpski!</p>
<p>It really depends what kind of degree you’re talking about, and as you haven’t started classes here you may not even pursue the same major you may think you want (if you don’t know yet, that’s cool too). As far as jobs go, I’m told that a lot of employers don’t even care that much about your major, much less your GPA, specific honors, etc. I would imagine that it would look good on a job or grad school app, but that you should pursue it only for internal motivations.</p>
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<p>I have no idea who’s been telling you that but this certainly isn’t true for the vast majority of coveted jobs. Your major is indicative of specialized skills and sector-specific knowledge. Your GPA hints at your work-ethic, sense of motivation and your academic abilities, while things like Honors, especially when based off research or scholarly work, tells an employer that you’re willing to invest additional effort and explore areas of interest more rigorously and holistically. Each of these components makes for a valuable addition to an employer’s assessment of a candidate (especially because of the competition that will continue to exist for top jobs).</p>
<p>Having said that, I do agree with sirsteveh on the other two points. Do wait till you’ve actually been through college-level coursework and till you’ve explored opportunities for research and serious scholarly work before deciding on something like Honors. Don’t, for dignity’s sake, if nothing else, do it for the sake of adding one line to your resume. </p>
<p>(And before you accuse me of hypocrisy, I’m not advocating that you should do things like Honors in order to secure top jobs; I’m only stating the fact that conceivably, Honors would help)</p>
<p>I agree with your last two paragraphs, and I’m sure that in many cases your statements in the first are true. There’s not much more that can be said if we don’t know what kind of job market we’re looking at, though, because qualified people can be found in many different ways.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses!</p>
<p>@sirsteveh: I agree that “qualified people can be found in many different ways” and I’m not trying to insinuate that a collegiate record could or should be the singular measure of a candidate’s abilities. That said, however, employers (put yourself in their shoes for a minute) are predisposed to use things like GPA to assess a person first before they consider the ‘soft’ factors.</p>