<p>You guys have it right (except that the description did not include the fact that those in honors must complete grad. level work or in the case of the social sciences, often a grad. level in addition to an additional colloquium or senior seminar beyond the normal requirement). Perhaps this person is referring to something like the Scholars Program, which is honestly no different academically from those who are not scholars other than the fact that scholars get priority when enrolling in courses (and thus typically choose better/more challenging courses and profs. starting as a freshman. More often than not, Scholars use their enrollment times and AP credits to challenge themselves). </p>
<p>liu:All majors pursuing honors must write a thesis. Period (think about it. It often takes less time to get some results for scientific research than to get certifiable evidence supporting a social scientific theory. Science programs will most certainly require a thesis. Now “publishable” results may be a different story). No department awards honors based purely upon GPA. The only exception I can think of is NBB and Neurosci and that is a national award/organization, not departmental honor. The Chemistry department gives awards to outstanding students, but not honors to people w/no thesis (though to get any award higher than the “outstanding achievement in general chemistry”, you must be doing research in the dept. And most winners of upperlevel awards in chemistry are indeed completing a thesis).</p>