Asking in here to get feedback from folks in academia! (I rly would appreciate input from people who aren’t fellow undergrads but I get that this question would typically be meant to posted elsewhere)
This is for an honors college, usually students do the thesis as seniors, it’s I guess meant to be done as a senior although some do it in their junior year.
I’m leaning towards doing it sooner rather than later, as a junior.
If I do it as a senior I am locked in and would lose the flexibility to graduate early- which would be nice to keep since I have health issues which can affect my ability to do school. If I do it sooner and then my health takes a turn, I’d be glad to have it done then.
But- from an academic standpoint even if I think I know what to do my thesis on, is it rly a bad move to do it sooner? I am feeling self doubt abt my writing skills lately, and I’m not sure if that’s a bad sign about doing it sooner. If I do it later I’m not sure if I would be able to work with the faculty member who would be the best fit.
I wonder how people in academia view undergrad students thesis processes, or can I get advice from strangers in academia about doing a thesis as a junior vs a senior?
Comments
You should be discussing this with your advisor but generally the sooner you can get started the better.
Part of the point of a thesis is it hone your skills fwiw.
I think almost everything else would depend on your particular institutions policies.
I was in the position to do an undergrad thesis as a junior and chose to because it would have been available for use in grad school applications. I don’t see any downsides to doing it early.
If you’re not applying I don’t think it matters.
if you wanna graduate early than I would start earlier. If you know what you’d like to do it on, I’d go for it but definitely talk to your advisor. Also you might feel like your writing skills suck while doing this regardless, but with the intense feedback it will only improve your skills!
I’m currently doing my thesis as a junior because I’m graduating a semester early! I still had to apply to do it and it was dependent on the fact that I had done independent research before.
I wrote my thesis early so I could use it for PhD applications. This was ultimately a good choice because what I wrote was good for an undergrad thesis but benefitted from an extra summer for improvement into a writing sample. The only consequence is that a lot of the faculty mistakenly thought I was graduating (we had to defend by committee) and wondered why I was still there next year.
I did mine for two semesters: the second semester of junior year, and the first semester of senior year. This meant I didn’t have to do it during my last semester, which was great!
I did my capstone research project (Like a low stakes thesis) in my junior year. The faculty in my department said it’s not a bad idea, especially if you want to continue your education right away. Then, you have a fresh writing sample ready by the time graduate schools open their admissions.
If you find another topic, just write on it anyways. Find another class to apply it to. I don’t regret doing it my junior year at all 🙂