Honors and Distinctions in the Major

The department invites qualified undergraduate majors to apply for Honors or Distinctions in the Major.

The Honors program is an undergraduate experience that enables students to conduct independent research in communicative disorders under the direction of a faculty mentor.

If you are majoring in communicative disorders and are not an honors candidate, you may pursue a junior-senior honors curriculum and thereby earn Distinction in the Major.

Requirements

Enrolling in Honors Courses

Before you are formally admitted to Honors in the Major, you may enroll in Honors communicative disorders courses, or take a communicative disorders course for Honors, if you are currently in the Honors in the Liberal Arts program, or if you receive consent of the instructor.

Applying for Honors

You should submit an application for Honors in the Major as soon as possible after you are admitted into the communicative disorders major, in your sophomore year.

To apply, please complete the electronic application form. The Communicative Disorders Academic Programs Committee will review your application and notify you as soon as possible.

Application Deadline: March 15 (Spring semester) and October 15 (Fall semester)

Acceptance into the Honors in the Major is based on your:

  • Demonstrated ability and commitment to scholastic achievement;
  • Academic performance at UW-Madison (a GPA of 3.3 is required, but a higher GPA in the major is expected);
  • Civic engagement, such as volunteer work and extracurricular activities, at UW–Madison and the broader community;
  • Commitment to excellence;
  • Interest in research in some area of communicative disorders; and
  • Evidence of broad scholarship, including humanities, mathematics, and sciences.

Obtaining Distinction

In your final semester, after you have completed the requirements for Distinction in the Major, notify the department’s honors advisor of your graduation. Then, upon completion of classes and posting of grades, provide him or her with an unofficial transcript.

The honors advisor will then verify that criteria for Distinction have been met and will inform the Registrar's Office, who will post Distinction in the Major on the your official transcript.

You do NOT need to complete an honors thesis.