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Departmental Honors

The Neuroscience Departmental Honors Program is open to all junior and senior Neuroscience majors, and is an opportunity for highly motivated students to engage in advanced coursework and conduct individual research, under the guidance of a faculty mentor, that culminates in an Honors thesis.

Eligibility

To be eligible to participate in the Neuroscience Departmental Honors Program, students must:

  • Be a declared Neuroscience major
  • Have a minimum GPA of a 3.0 in the major preparation coursework
  • Have a cumulative GPA of at least a 3.2 or higher

Students may initiate participation in Departmental Honors prior to completing all of the major preparation coursework, but are subject to dismissal from the program if they do not complete all of the major preparation coursework with the required minimum 3.0 GPA.

There is no formal application or admission process to pursue Departmental Honors. Students will indicate participation in the program by submitting their first honors contract.

​Program Requirements

  1. Honors Contracts: Students must complete 2 honors contracts for 2 Neuroscience major upper division courses. At least one honors contract must be completed for a major core course (NEUROSC M101A/B/C), while the second honors contract can be completed for another major core course or an upper division major elective. To earn honors credit, students must complete these courses with a grade of “B” or better and complete the additional honors work outlined in the terms of the honors contract. For NEUROSC M101A/B/C, the terms of the honors contract is limited to participation in the NUS Journal Club (this is a pre-approved activity that all students will complete for the major core courses), therefore a faculty signature is not required on these honors contracts. For upper division major electives, students will need to work with the professor of the course to determine an appropriate assignment/activity to complete, and these honors contracts will require a faculty signature.
    • The terms of the contract for courses contracted for honors credit will vary widely. While a special term paper or readings may form the basis of the contract, other programs of study can be developed. Some suggestions are:
      • Use of primary sources and original documents.
      • Supplementation of coursework with independent study, research, surveys, field work, and on-the-scene experience.
      • Presentation of the student’s work in class or a part of the class by preparation of a lecture on one of the topics in the course (I.e. TED talk style) or the preparation of audio-visual supportive materials. Students could test new experiments, develop working models or demonstrations, and present them to the class.
      • Honors work should enable students to “dig beneath the surface”, to individually explore particular areas of interest and points of view, and to design and execute special projects.
      • Application of coursework outside of class.
      • Take advantage of local resources such as regional libraries and community projects.
      • Form a group which meets regularly to explore current literature and new trends in the field.
      • Attend research meetings or department colloquia or regional or national scholarly meetings or other meetings pertinent to the course.
      • Organize honors discussion sections or laboratories.
    • Honors contracts can be downloaded here.
    • Quarterly Deadlines:
      • Departmental Honors contracts and NEUROSC 189HC contracts (for students pursuing both Departmental Honors and College Honors, and created via MyUCLA), can be submitted via the Bruin Learn website.
      • Neuroscience Departmental Honors contracts (see form above) are due to the Bruin Learn website by 4PM on Friday of Week 2.
      • NEUROSC 189HC contracts (created via MyUCLA) are due to the Bruin Learn website by 12PM on Wednesday of Week 2.
        • Please ensure that 189HC contracts created for courses in other departments (i.e. PHYSCI, PSYCH, etc.) are submitted to those departments, approved by them, and that you are enrolled by Friday of Week 2. 
  2. NEUROSC 198A/B: Students must complete independent research as their major capstone requirement, which culminates in an Honors thesis. Honors theses are based on empirical research with scholarly review of related literature. To complete the Honors thesis, students will enroll in NEUROSC 198A/B. Students must already be established in their research lab prior to enrollment in NEUROSC 198A (please see here for more information regarding Neuroscience research contracts). The Honors theses will be evaluated by the student’s faculty mentor and a second faculty reader. The second faculty reader must be a tenure track faculty member in a closely related field and must also hold an Academic Senate title. Upon completion of NEUROSC 198B, and thus the Honors thesis, both readers will assign an Honors rating based on the quality of the thesis: No Honors, Honors, or Highest Honors.
  3. NEUROSC 191H: Students must enroll in an Honors seminar, NEUROSC 191H, that is only offered during the winter quarter, and they must be concurrently enrolled in either NEUROSC 198A or 198B. This seminar is designed to bring honors students together to discuss scientific communication, ethics, and current literature with a faculty member. This course does not fulfill any major upper division requirements, but it is applicable toward the College’s 60 minimum upper division unit requirement. The Neuroscience advisors will distribute enrollment information to students during the fall quarter.

To earn Departmental Honors designation, students must have fulfilled all Departmental Honors requirements, have a major GPA of at least a 3.4 (not including major prep) and at least a 3.2 GPA overall, and the Honors thesis must be assigned a rating of Honors by both readers.

To earn Departmental Highest Honors designation, students must have fulfilled all Departmental Honors requirements, have a major GPA of at least a 3.7 (not including major prep) and at least a 3.5 GPA overall, and the Honors thesis must be assigned a rating of Highest Honors by both readers.

Designation of Departmental Honors or Highest Honors is noted on students’ official transcript and diploma.