Doing an Honors Project - worth it?

mikemac
Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:22:48 +0000

everything the OP said is right; a big difference between grad school and life in academia is that what you do is a lot more self-directed. Figuring out the topic, finding a faculty advisor, finding material and writing the thesis – all of this will give a good taste of what life is like in that direction. Since you’re planning on studying abroad, is there some way you could leverage that for your thesis? Eg. use some resources available only where you’re going, do it on an aspect of where you’re going based on hands-on research, etc?

As for the internship, I’d not give that up for the thesis. Internships, especially competitive ones, are like gold when it comes to finding a job. Often you get an offer from that company, and having an internship really makes a resume stand out. Also it will give you a sense of what life is like in the commercial world; if you find you love the work then perhaps grad school will lose some allure; if you dislike it, then maybe grad school becomes more attractive.