The differences between our respective theses are about what you'd expect from a liberal arts thesis and a scientific, "technical" thesis. Mine is much longer, but that's what we're expected to produce in A&S. His has more of an emphasis on numbers, and avoids a lot of background discussion, but that's what he's expected to do in his field. His has 31 citations; mine has 157.
It seems that the science types have an easier time breaking into the world of academia. B.C. presented his thesis at a conference last week, and my friend who's writing about geology is traveling to Calgary next month to present his thesis to a group of experts. As for my thesis, I think it's of the same quality as a lot of the published studies on incarceration, but as an undergraduate I'm powerless to publicize my findings. My only hope is for a benevolent and tenured professor to become interested and offer to publish it as a co-author in some third-tier journal if I edit it down to article length. Alternatively, I could wait 5 or 6 years until I get a J.D., hope my thesis is still relevant, and try to market it then. I've considered emailing some of the people who have published similar studies to share the results of my thesis, but I don't know if that's acceptable practice.
The real story here isn't the difference between liberal arts and technical theses, but between colleges like A&S and the ones which hand out honors like Halloween candy (or Harvard?).
Remember this Sun editorial from last spring?
There is a difference between spending a senior year slaving away over an 80-page research summary and achieving the necessary combination of B+s and A-s required to secure a 3.5 GPA — both of which are enough to merit Cum Laude in different colleges.
That's right, the Latin honors which I've worked so hard to earn are the same ones which other schools at Cornell give away for attaining a certain GPA. We're not even talking 3.9 here.
The Sun again:
These variances are too great to exist within a single university. And these discrepancies diminish the worth of the honors award.[...]A Cornellian should have to go above and beyond to walk away with an extra distinction. Conferring a Cum Laude on someone who meets only the most basic requirements of the school — completing distribution requirements and receiving fairly good grades — undervalues what should be a real honor.
Of the 20 or so of us who slaved away over Gov theses this year, we'll probably be divided roughly 4-8-8 among summa cum laude-magna cum laude-cum laude. But all of us worked exceptionally hard, and produced a work more significant than anything our Latin-honored Hotelie classmates have produced during their four years on the hill.
I'm sure the Latin honors discrepancy is brought up every year as graduation approaches, but it deserves the attention of someone in the Cornell administration.
From what I understand, honors is mostly an academic matter here and it is up to the faculty to change this policy, not the administration. I'm sure professors hear these complaints every year so you will probably need a proposal that is substantially more equitable than the current system before anything gets done. Also faculty have different views on grading and the whole process is somewhat subjective, just like your GPA. The process is not fair but it's the way it is and I'm sure it would not matter this much 5 to 10 years down the road.
ReplyDeleteI hope your thesis gets the recognition it deserves. Good luck!
While I agree with most of what you have to say, I take issue with your claim that the work of you and your peers in the Government Dept is more significant than the four years of students in the School of Hotel Administration. The Sun article that you cite also mentions that Hotelies, like Arts and Sciences students, can only get latin honors for, "unique research that terminates in an honors thesis." I know a Hotelie who was doing some research on fan attendance at sporting events, perhaps not as much of an academic topic as Gov. theses, but something that could lead to changes in the industry.
ReplyDeleteHuman Ecology does not give Latin honors and only students who write theses can graduate "with honors." While I like that HumEc doesn't give out honors like candy, I also wonder how it might look to an employer when a Gov major and a PAM major apply for a job, and one has graduated magna cum laude and the other with honors. I think the same debate also exists when considering how colleges decide Dean's List.
Congrats on completing your thesis. It was very interesting to hear how you and B.C. described your theses, as my experience writing a social science thesis seems like a mix of elements of both the liberal arts thesis and the hard science thesis.