You must be a Computer Science or Computer Engineering major and meet the following requirements to pursue CSE honors:

1. A cumulative UW GPA of at least 3.3.
2. A cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 in all CSE courses.

All students in the UW Honors Program must complete CSE honors in addition to Honors Program requirements to graduate "with College Honors." Students who complete CSE honors (and are not in the UW Honors Program) graduate "with Distinction."

Declaring CSE Honors

You must meet with a CSE adviser to review honors requirements and have CSE honors coded into your DARS. As soon as you know you will be pursuing CSE honors, visit an undergrad adviser during drop-in hours or make an appointment.

Requirements to Graduate with CSE Honors

To graduate with honors, you must:

  1. Maintain the minimum UW and departmental GPA required for honors (listed above).
  2. Take nine credits of graded research in honors section 496. If you are uncertain whether your research will lead to an honors project when you start, you may take the first three credits in CSE 498. However, the last six credits of honors work must be in 496.
  3. Your faculty advisor must be a CSE faculty member. If you are working on a research project in another department, you must have a CSE faculty member approve your project and sign off on your thesis and presentation.
  4. Give an oral presentation, arranged by you and your faculty advisor, on the honors project. You should also arrange for at least five additional people (e.g., other students, family, etc.) to attend your presentation.
  5. Submit a Senior Thesis that meets the following requirements:
    • It should be a well-written, clearly presented document, typically 15-25 pages long.
    • It should reflect work done independently under the supervision of a faculty member.
    • The work should be original and demonstrate creative thinking, as judged by your faculty supervisor.
    • An approved copy of the thesis, with the faculty advisor's signature on the cover page, must be submitted electronically through CSE's Google Form for honors thesis submissions.
    • In order to ensure the honors designation will be marked on your diploma, thesis submission is due no later than the last day of finals during the quarter in which you plan to graduate.  Earlier submissions are encouraged.

Students typically complete their thesis during their last quarter of research. Once a decision is made to pursue departmental honors, you should notify your faculty advisor and determine a topic for your senior thesis. The honors research and project should be completed with one faculty member, or, in the rare instance where you need to switch advisors, faculty within the same area of research as the original advisor.

Once the thesis is completed, one copy should be submitted to the faculty supervisor and one to the CSE undergraduate advisers. If you do not meet the honors thesis requirements, you will not graduate with honors even if  you have successfully completed nine credits of research. In many cases, faculty will not issue grades for honors research until the entire project is finished and approved.