Hope Springs Eternal: General Studies Debunked

For seniors, it's an elusive hope if a thesis doesn't get quite done. For administrators, it's a myth to be debunked yearly. For everyone, it's confusing.

For years, Harvard seniors have assured each other that if disaster strikes and a thesis doesn't get done, another option could carry the day--the University would allow the troubled student to graduate with a degree in General Studies.

"I had heard a vague rumor that you could graduate General Studies," said Saadi Soudavar '00, a concentrator in the honors-only literature department. "I clung to it for hope during the last few weeks before my thesis deadline."

But a General Studies diploma--a degree awarded by the College without the recommendation of any one concentration--remains only rumor.

Harvard students have been required to graduate from concentrations since they were first introduced by President A. Lawrence Lowell, Class of 1877.

Even so, the phrase "general studies" and the shadow non-concentration it conjures have managed to survive long after the faculty interred any general knowledge undergraduate program.

According to the student handbook, "All degree candidates must fulfill the requirements of one of the recognized fields of concentration, an approved joint concentration, or an approved special concentration."

The requirements for graduation are simple, says William M. Todd, dean for undergraduate education, who calls this hunt for General Studies a " waste of time."

However, there is still an option for seniors struggling with their final requirements to graduate from the College--even in honors-only concentrations.

In extreme circumstances--most often failure to complete a thesis--seniors can graduate from honors-only concentrations without honors recommendations.

Seniors who write unsatisfactory theses or do badly on requisite oral or general examinations also graduate from their concentration without honors.

"I understand that if somebody can't complete the honors requirements, we can't recommend them to graduate with honors," says Bridie L. Andrews, head tutor for honors-only History and Science. "Under those circumstances, we recommend them with no honors."

This little known paradox is relatively rare, but students graduate every year from honors concentrations without concentration honors.

For instance, according to the Fields of Concentration handbook, last year four students graduated without being recommended for honors by their concentration from Applied Mathematics, one from History and Literature and two from Visual and Environmental Studies.

"We require a thesis and expect every student to complete a thesis, but if a student hasn't fulfilled that requirement, we recommend them without honors," says Sandra Naddaff '75, director of undergraduate studies in the honors-only Literature concentration.

The non-honors option is meant to recognize work in the concentration done by students who have not completed the full requirements.

"We can't tell them they're not in our field," Andrews says. Graduating without honors is generally a last resort.

"We don't encourage it and we don't advertise it, but sometimes, it is necessary under extenuating circumstances," says Kimerer L. LaMothe, head tutor for the Comparative Study of Religion concentration.

A member of the class of 1983 who graduated without honors from an honors concentration put the matter in perspective.

"For two or three, years after I graduated, it was painful to think about, but I've accomplished so much that the thesis doesn't matter now," she said.

It is still possible for students to graduate cum laude even if they do not receive their concentration's honors recommendation.

If students have done well on their course-work throughout their time at Harvard, achieving a B+ average, they can then receive a cum laude degree rather than concentration honors.

According to Dean of the College Harry R. Lewis '68, this option was once called "cum laude in general studies," leading to the false understanding that students could graduate without fulfilling concentration requirements.

The degree's title has since been shortened to a simple cum laude to distinguish it from the cum laude awarded by a field of concentration.

"The term was confusing, as people thought it meant 'without a concentration', which was never the case." Lewis writes in an e-mail message.

Deborah H. Schmidt '73, was one person who graduated with such a "cum laude in general studies" degree. An undergraduate concentrator in the honors-only Visual and Environmental Studies department, Schmidt met with her tutor to discuss a thesis after her junior year.

"I had done many different things in the department in those three years, but when it came time to write a thesis, there was no burning issue I wanted to attack," she says.

Her tutor offered a no-honors alternative.

"That was the first time I had heard of it, when discussing my thesis in the fall of my senior year." Schmidt says.

She graduate without a thesis or departmental honors, but was awarded the cum laude in general studies.

In the end, Lewis stresses that it is knowledge, rather than honors designations, that is most important.

"The value of honors is highest on commencement day when the whole family is cooing over the diploma, and decays exponentially thereafter, with only what is in your head to represent substantially what you got here," he writes in an e-mail message.