Graduating with Honors

Graduating with Honors

Graduating with Honors from MAE

Three honors distinctions are available at the University of Florida:

  • cum laude (with honors)
  • magna cum laude (with high honors)
  • summa cum laude (with highest honors)

Each college/school/department has its own standards for graduating with honors.  For the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, the requirements for the three graduation honors designations are as follow:

  • Cum Laude: 3.3 GPA in all upper-division courses
  • Magna Cum Laude: 3.5 GPA in all upper-division courses and completion of a Honors Thesis
  • Summa Cum Laude: 3.8 GPA in all upper-division courses and completion of a Honors Thesis

The upper division GPA is based on all courses taken at UF after you become a 3-EG (i.e. after 60 hours).

Honors Thesis

An undergraduate Honors Thesis is completed in order to graduate magna cum laude or summa cum laude. Students interested in completing an Honors Thesis should follow these steps:

  • Identify an MAE professor to serve as your Honors Thesis Advisor and Chair. This must be an MAE faculty member.
  • Work with your Honors Thesis Advisor to form a 3-person supervisory committee comprised of your Chair (Honors Thesis Advisor), an MAE faculty member, and a faculty member external to the MAE department. Once you confirm all members of your committee, please fill out the Appointment of Supervisory Committee Form
  • Make a formal oral presentation of your results to your supervisory committee. You must submit the final oral exam forms to our advising office via email at advising@mae.ufl.edu.

The Honors Thesis normally takes two semesters to complete. Students may be enrolled in up to 6 credit hours of research (EGN4912) to earn academic credit while working on their Honors Thesis. This is not required, but if you would like to be enrolled, this can be done by emailing the completed research application to advising@mae.ufl.edu. The application must be signed by the faculty member and student to be enrolled in the course. Research credit counts as a technical elective toward the degree. While the Honors Thesis may contain work with a design emphasis, students are not allowed to submit work done primarily as a part of a senior design course(s) to count as their Honors Thesis.