Dean’s List (SoC)
Each quarter, students who are enrolled full time and obtain a GPA of 3.75 or higher for the quarter (not the cumulative GPA) are placed on the SoC Dean’s List.
Departmental Distinction
Each department may designate the top 5% of its graduating seniors as graduating with departmental distinction. This honor is entered on the transcript.
Department Honors (Honors Thesis)
The departments of communication sciences & disorders, communication studies, performance studies, and theatre (including dance majors) have honors programs in which students take an honors seminar and/or write a thesis. Contact your academic advisor for more information. You should begin discussing doing an honors thesis with your advisor in the fall of your junior year. Some of the programs require you to apply for the honors program in the winter quarter of junior year. Departmental honors, when successfully completed and approved by your faculty advisors, is entered on the transcript.
Latin Honors
The top 5% of the graduating class in the School of Communication determined by cumulative GPA are awarded degrees summa cum laude; the next 8% are awarded magna cum laude; and the next 12% are designated cum laude. See the university’s academic catalog for additional details: https://catalogs.northwestern.edu/undergraduate/requirements-policies/graduation-degrees/graduation-honors/
Lambda Pi Eta
Lambda Pi Eta is the national honor society for college students pursuing studies in communication-related disciplines and the official honor society recognized by the National Communication Association. The purpose of Lambda Pi Eta is to recognize, foster, and reward outstanding scholastic achievement in the field of communication; stimulate interest in the field of communication; promote and encourage professional development among communication majors; provide an opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas in the field of communication; establish and maintain closer relationships between faculty and students; and explore options for graduate education in communication studies. The School of Communication founded Northwestern’s Pi Theta chapter in 2004; the chapter is devoted to fostering and supporting student-driven projects that build community within the school and that showcase communication students’ creative and academic work.