Honors Majors & Minors

Honors Majors and Minors

Honors Program in Classics

  • Greek and Latin: For a major in Greek or Latin, preparation for honors exams will normally consist of three seminars.  A student minoring in Greek or Latin will take one external examination based on one seminar. Minors are, however, strongly encouraged to take more than one seminar, in order to be adequately prepared for the examination.
  • Classical Studies: Honors majors will complete 8 credits in Greek, Latin, Classical Studies, or Ancient History. They must complete three 2-credit units of study, of which at least one must be a double-credit Classical Studies Capstone Seminar.  Minors will complete 5 credits in Greek, Latin, Classical Studies, or Ancient History including a double-credit Classical Studies Capstone Seminar.
  • Ancient History: For a major in Ancient History, one preparation will be a seminar in either Latin or Greek. The other two preparations can be another seminar in the same language and a course-plus-attachment, or two courses-plus-attachments. Students minoring in Ancient History will take three courses in Ancient History and add an attachment to one of them. That course-plus-attachment will be the preparation for the external exam. No ancient language is required for this minor.

All honors majors and minors will select one paper from each seminar to be sent to the external examiner for that seminar. The student is free to submit the paper with minor or major revisions or no revisions at all. 4,000 words is the senior honors limit set by the college. Majors will, therefore, submit three such papers, and minors will submit one. Senior Honors Study is not required for students whose Honors preparation is a course with an attachment.
The portfolio sent to external examiners will contain the seminar papers, together with syllabi and related materials, if any, from the instructors. A combination of (three-hour) written and (one-hour) oral exams will be the mode of external assessment for seminars. For course-plus-attachment, examiners will receive the course syllabus and the written product of the attachment. The exam will be just an oral assessment.