Honors Program


2023 Honors students with Prof. Sid Milkis

The Honors Program of the Department of Politics is for students with a deep interest in how politics affects our world, and how economics, culture, and other factors affect politics. Admission to the Honors Program is competitive. The best candidates have outstanding academic records, a capacity for critical thought and clear articulation of ideas, and enthusiasm for study and independent research in the field of politics.

The Program enables students to develop their interests working with top faculty in the Department in a series of small seminars, restricted to the 6 or 7 students who make up a typical Honors class. One seminar is held in each of the four sub-fields of politics: Political Theory, International Relations, Comparative Politics, and American Politics. Honors students also explore their special interests by working closely with a faculty member in writing an original Honors thesis on a topic of their choosing. The Honors program encourages creative analytical approaches and a diverse range of opinion, and thesis projects often reflect Honors students’ interests in combining politics with other fields. The Program challenges students to achieve the highest standards of intellectual rigor, and provides them with flexibility to develop innovative approaches to understanding the most important political issues of our time.

Among other exciting and diverse careers, graduates of the program have clerked for Supreme Court Justices, become Rhodes Scholars, edited the Stanford Law Review, advised small businesses in Bolivia, served as a Navy JAG officer, identified social entrepreneurship opportunities in India, taught about gender and reproductive rights at the University of Chicago, and taught about politics at the University of Virginia.

Students in the Politics Honors Program and the Program in Political and Social Thought (PST) share the study lounge located in Gibson S134.

Director of the Honors Program: Sidney Milkis.


The information contained on this website is for informational purposes only. The Undergraduate Record and Graduate Record represent the official repository for academic program requirements. These publications may be found at http://records.ureg.virginia.edu/index.php.

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