Degree Audit & Thesis Advisor Information

Degree Audit Sheets are being phased out and replaced with a Workday degree clearance process. The most up to date deadlines can be found on the Detailed Academic Calendar. 

Thesis submission must be completed via Submittable. 

Final Degree Clearance instructions for Workday:

  • Go to the Student’s ‘Academics’ tab
  • Click on ‘Academic Progress’ at the top
  • All departments can ignore the requirement for eight semesters. 
  • If you are in the pilot program (ASTR-PHYS, BLST, ECON, SWAG, MUSI, or POSC) make sure that all requirements are either marked "Satisfied" or "In Progress" 
  • If you are not in the pilot program, mark “Major Completion Required” as complete.
    • Hover over the “Major Completion Required” and click the option dots that appear
    • In the menu that appears, hover over “Academic Requirement…” and select “Override”
    • Select the override type of “Waive Requirement”
    • You may enter a comment, but it is not required; do not enter any other items; hit submit

Major Completion Requirement: All departments have some requirement of a number of courses taken and may also have minimum grades required or specific lists of courses that must be taken. This should only be overridden or satisfied once all grades have been entered for the final semester. This may or may not also include a comprehensive examination. You no longer need to list the Comprehensive separately. 

HONORS

Distinction: (Sometimes called English honors.) Students who are in the top 25% of the class receive Distinction. This has no further criteria and is given to students regardless of whether they’ve completed honors work.

Latin Honors: Latin honors are awarded based on the quality of a thesis or equivalent work submitted to a department. Student’s level of honors are determined by a combination of the recommendation of the department, the student’s median grade, and whether the student has met Amherst's academic breadth requirement.

summa cum laude: Recommended for summa, have a median grade higher than A-, and have met the breadth requirement (must also be approved by Faculty Executive Committee)

magna cum laude: Recommended for summa, have a median grade of A-, and have met the breadth requirement (must also be approved by Faculty Executive Committee), OR Recommended for magna, have a median grade of A-, and have met the breadth requirement. 

cum laude: Recommended for summa or magna and does not meet the requirements listed above. OR Recommended for cum. No further requirements.

rite: Assigned to all other students. This notation means that students did not write an honors thesis/project or were not recommended for summa, magna, or cum honors by the faculty.