<p>Was it ever? How about in the last fifteen years?</p>
<p>I don't think so. You can receive honors from both the College and from the division in which your degree was issued, however.</p>
<p>What is required for honors also varies by department or division. For example, East Asian Languages and Civilizations requires "only" a 3.0 GPA for honors (and a thesis), which says something about the grading policy for that area.</p>
<p>idad, I'm not certain about this but I think there's a further distinction to be made regarding honors. At Chicago, you can graduate "with general honors" based on your overall GPA (3.25) but you graduate "with honors in economics" (as one example) if you (a) meet their GPA standard, and (b) complete an honors thesis. So my guess is that a student in East Asian Languages and Civilizations could graduate "with general honors" under the standard criteria, and "with honors in East Asian Languages..." by writing a thesis paper.</p>
<p>That's my recollection from when my son graduated from UofC. I also recall that students were identified as graduating with honors by having that status denoted with an asterisk on the program and being read at the degree ceremony (with the specific designation "with general honors" or "with honors in . . . ."). But there were no valedictorian and no summa or other cum laude designations, as I recall. I might be "misrecollecting" and things might have changed since the year 2000, however.</p>
<p>You are correct. There are college honors (3.25) and departmental honors. One can meet one but not the other. A student may have a 3.25 overall, but fail to have a 3.0 in their area (some areas are 3.5, etc), or have a 3.5 in the department (with thesis) and fail to have a 3.25 overall. I also do not recall seeing other designations.</p>