Honors Minor

Students can use the Major/Minor Requirement Checklist to be make sure they complete all requirements. You must be logged in with you Swarthmore email to view this document.

  1. Honors minors in Political Science will be required to have at least five credits in Political Science. 
    1. Among these credits there must be:
      1. One introductory course (POLS 002, POLS 003, or POLS 004)
      2. One course in political theory (POLS 011, POLS 012, POLS 100, or POLS 101),
      3. One other Political Science course
      4. One (1) of the two-unit honors preparations offered by the Department.
  2. All applicants must have completed one introductory level course (POLS 002, 003, 004) and one additional course in the Department before applying for the Honors Minor.  
  3. To be accepted into the Honors Program students should normally have at least an average of 3.67 inside and 3.5 outside the Department, and should have given evidence to the Departmental faculty of their ability to work independently and constructively in a seminar setting. Seminars will normally be limited to eight-ten students and admission priority will go to honors majors, first seniors and then juniors, including special majors.
  4. To fulfill the Senior Honors Study requirement for honors minors, students will revise a paper for their Department seminar. This paper will be submitted to the appropriate external examiner as part of the honors evaluation process and should not exceed 4000 words.
  5. Other than courses taken the fall semester of first year, none of the credits needed to complete the minor may be taken CR/NC; shadow grades for introductory courses taken CR/NC the fall of first year will be used for GPA purposes.
  6. Majors and minors may take one directed reading within the Department for credit with approval from the faculty directing the read and the Department Chair.
  7. Barring exceptional circumstances, honors seminars should be taken for 2-credits.