<p>Can any of you shed light on the Summa or Magna Cum Laude designation process? Specifically, how difficult is it to complete the thesis required for the designation in certain schools? Also, do you think that the requirements for the designation will change over time?</p>
<p>In my particular situation, I have my sights set on Summa Cum Laude within the Warrington School of Business Administration which requires a 3.9 and a thesis. However, I intend on going to law school and I realize that the designation won't even be released until I am already committed to an institution so it won't play a role in admissions. Therefore, I don't want to burn myself out with an exhausting project if it turns out to be so.</p>
<p>I graduated summa cum laude in engineering and I basically spent a semester working on a research project and writing up a 15 or 20 page paper on the outcome (the work recently got published in a high impact journal so it wasn't bs, it was a lot of work). You're correct in that the distinction will not come out until after you have sent off applications most likely, and to be brutally honest I wouldn't have bothered pursuing a distinction if I wasn't already doing research. It's essentially redundant information with your GPA.</p>
<p>Sounds rough but I can't imagine it would be nearly as bad for economics. Of course, if you wanted to, you could get into some serious research in the field but I'm sure you can get by with a thesis that doesn't have much depth, almost like a high school research paper</p>
<p>I knew a lot of people that just settled with cum laude because they didn't want to or didnt like research. The level of research and thesis required is really dependent on the professor you end up working with. Most did research for at least a year, but many have more than that. It takes time to learn protocols, experimental design for your lab, and actually contributing to or creating your own project. I mostly know about sciences and engineering, I dont know how much work is required for social sciences and business. For some of my friends in engineering, they were required to present their thesis to a panel of 3 professors and then they would recommend the student for summa or magna. Other friends in in CLAS just has to turn in the thesis and then a professor would recommend them for whichever honor.</p>
<p>You can look at the UF Journal for Ugrad Research and see the type of research students are doing in business/economics/marketing/IR. Most if not all go on to graduate with summa or magna.</p>