Departmental Citation
The Departmental Citation is an award recognizing undergraduate excellence in the UC Berkeley Sociology Department. Each year we select one graduating senior to receive this award for their outstanding accomplishments in Sociology. Materials are reviewed by a faculty committee. Applicants must meet the following criteria:
1) Officially graduating in Spring 2025, or Summer 2025. You must not have applied before.
2) Have at least a 3.7 major GPA with at least 6 sociology courses completed by the end of Fall 2024. The G.P.A. includes the Introduction to Sociology and Evaluation of Evidence courses taken for the major.
Eligible students may submit an application and a copy of their most significant work in sociology (i.e. an honors thesis or thesis draft, a research paper, or project). These materials will be due by Friday, April 11, 2025. Participation in the Senior Honors Program is not a requirement and it is possible that a student who has done a significant piece of work in Sociology in some other class or program will be chosen. The faculty committee takes into consideration the overall Sociology record and activities of qualified students, but also focuses a lot of attention on the Sociological research or project the student engaged in when determining who to select.
Departmental Honors
Departmental Honors in Sociology is awarded to students who have completed Sociology H190A and H190B, the Sociology Senior Honors Thesis Program. To receive honors in the Sociology major, students must complete a Senior Honors Thesis in this class and have maintained a 3.3 overall GPA and a 3.5 GPA in the major. The Sociology department will be giving the gold honor cord to eligible honors thesis students during the departmental commencement ceremony. The title of their Honors Thesis papers will be listed in the graduation program. The level of honors achieved - Honors, High Honors, or Highest Honors in Sociology - is determined after graduation, and will be noted on the student's diploma and final transcript.
Alpha Kappa Delta (AKD)
Alpha Kappa Delta (AKD) is an International Honors Society in Sociology. The Department of Sociology at UC Berkeley has our own chapter, Chi of California. AKD members are awarded teal honor cords at the end of Spring semester. For further information, please see http://sociology.berkeley.edu/alpha-kappa-delta-akd#overlay-context=undergraduate-program.
University Honors
The College of Letters & Sciences awards Distinction, High Distinction, and Highest Distinction in general scholarship (comparable to Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, and Summa Cum Laude, although UC Berkeley does not use the Latin terminology). These distinctions are based on overall GPA. Please see https://lsadvising.berkeley.edu/policies/deans-listhonors for more information.