Hey everyone,
So I'm just finishing my fifth semester of my undergrad, majoring in both political science and history. Lucky for me, I pretty much have all I need to graduate, so I just need electives to meet the minimum credit hour requirement. With all of the open course spaces, it is feasible for me to turn my standard BA into an Honours, but this would all have to be done in two semesters. I am considering grad school, but haven't fully decided.
I was wondering if you think it is advisable for me to pursue an honours in general. Moreover, if you did an Honours, what was it like? And what generally can I expect if I go this route?
Thanks everybody!
Ultimately, only you can answer whether or not its useful to pursue for you.
I chose to go the honors route and wrote a little over a 100 page thesis on a subject with little scholarly work. I found the challenge and extra work extremely worthwhile and will always count it as one of my better achievements in life. My advisor was going to use it to publish a book, but sadly a journalist of all people beat us to the punch.
I admit I do have one regret. That being I could have gotten my masters with that long of a thesis, which I only know because one of the professors on my defense panel told me after I presented my thesis.
Did it help in my subsequent employment? Not really, but let me tell you its really fun to drop a bound copy of it (courtesy of my alma mater’s history department) on any interviewer’s desk when they ask for a writing sample.
It sounds like you're not in Australia, so your tertiary education system will be different; that said I enjoyed Honours. At the time it involved basically researching a thesis and undertaking 4 units in first semester, and then writing up in the second semester. I studied history more out of interest than for a job path, and it didn't cost much more for an additional year, plus; here it's reasonably affordable thanks to our system (for now).
If you're interested in history enough to consider this, I'm sure you'll find a particular topic to write on and would probably find it equally as enjoyable. There are advantages career wise, as honours will strengthen your research and communication skills, and you'll gain project management skills, and probably increase interpersonal abilities. I'm sure you'll be able to milk the year for your resume. That said, I'm unclear on if you write a thesis for Honours where you are based.
I'm not sure what you can expect, given you're location, but when I finished Honours I worked for a bit, and then found a job in research for state government. I probably wouldn't have got it, if I didn't have my Honours year on my resume.