Honors Program
EECS Honors Program
The EECS Honors Program is designed to provide very talented undergraduate students interested in undergraduate research. Honors students pursue an academic concentration outside of the department, engage in research, receive a special faculty advisor, and are invited to special events with faculty and EECS Honors alumni.
Benefits
- Option to complete honors thesis and receive letter graded research units
- Official notation of honors degree on Berkeley transcript*
- Faculty Advising with Chairs of the EE and CS divisions
- Annual event with alumni
- Membership in Honor Program Linked-in group with program alumni
Contact
EECS Major Advisors
205 Cory Hall
eecs-advising@eecs.berkeley.edu
Fall 2022 info-session: Recording of session
P/NP for Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021 & Summer 2021
Students in the Honors Program should take requirements for a letter grade in Summer 2021.
The faculty have voted that students in the EECS Honors Program may take courses for their major and for their breadth area for P/NP during Spring 2020, Fall 2020, and Spring 2021.
Admissions Requirements
Eligibility
- At least 45 units completed at UC Berkeley if admitted as a first year. At least 12 units completed at UC Berkeley if admitted as a Junior Transfer.
- Minimum overall and technical GPA of 3.7
- Declared in EECS or Computer Science major.
- Must be a part of the Honors program for at least one year – Applying in Fall 2023 means graduating in Fall 24 or later.
- Students must have lower division major requirements completed or in progress.
- For EECS: CS61A/B/C, CS 70, EECS 16A/B
- For LSCS: Math 1A/B, CS 61A/B/C, CS 70 (or Math 55 if DM in Math), Math 54 or EECS 16A or Math 56 (Linear Algebra [Math 91 Fall 2022])*
- Junior transfer students may apply without CS 61C completed.
Applications
- Submit the online EECS Honors Application Form
- Applications are accepted in Fall and Spring semesters only. They should include a resume, a proposed Program Planning Form, and an essay explaining the student’s motivation for applying and interest in their proposed breadth area.
- Essay. This essay is an important part of your application and should be carefully organized and well-written. The essay should address both: a) How your proposed breadth courses will address a unifying theme and your area of interest. b) Your educational goals, including any applicable work and research experience, and future research interests. Maximum length: 3000 characters.
- In the form, applicants will need to attach the following supporting documents:
- Program Planning Form
- Optional: EECS Honors Program petition to have non-course credit count toward the honors program research requirement. Only submit this page if you have completed research that you have not earned units for.
- DEADLINE – For Fall 2024 Admission: Wednesday, May 1st at 4 pm PDT
- Applications are reviewed by a committee convened by the Vice Chairs by the end of the month the application is due. The committee evaluates applications for various signs of aptitude including a well-written essay, grades, above-average course loads, sincere commitment to a breadth area outside EECS, and an interest in undergraduate research.
Requirements for Completion
- Fulfill all Bachelor’s degree requirements for Computer Science or EECS Degree.
- Maintain a 3.50 cumulative and technical GPA.
- Complete at least four units of “Supervised Independent Study” or other approved research credit.
- Study in a breadth area outside the EECS department, consisting of at least three upper-division courses (totaling at least 10 units)
- These courses may be taken in a single department, or in related departments if they address a unifying theme. Explanation of the breadth interest is part of the honors application; these courses may be changed later by petition only.
- Cross-listed courses with CS/EE/EECS are not allowed.
- These courses must be taken for a letter grade.
- Honor Students have the option to complete an Honor Thesis*. Senior thesis expectations and grades will be agreed upon by the student and their sponsoring faculty. Students should then enroll in four units of EE H196 or CS H196 during their senior year. They may complete these units for a letter grade. Honors Thesis Form. Please note students must complete at least four units of “Supervised Independent Study” or other approved research credit before pursuing the Honors Thesis.
*Due to College of Letters & Science policy, students in the L&S Computer Science major may only earn a transcript notation for completion of the Honor’s Program if they elect to complete an EECS honors thesis for a letter grade. Should they decide not to, the department is able to provide an official letter confirming the student’s completion.
Questions?
Check out the EECS Honors FAQ!
Honors Program Class of 2023
We’re so excited for our new graduates, here are where some are headed…
- Raiymbek Akshulakov, 5th Year Masters at UC Berkeley
- Dasheng Bi, Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience
- Siyu Gai, Harvard CSE ME
- Giulianna Hashemi-Asasi, PhD in Computer Science at MIT
- Min Wook Lee, Software Engineer @ Observe, Inc.
- Jiaxun Li, Masters in Computational Science and Engineering at Harvard
- Richard Li, Optiver
- Shufan Li, PhD in EECS at UCLA
- Janise Liang, Software Developer at Five Rings
- George Matheos, PhD in Computer Science
- Rohit Mittal, 5th Year Masters
- Clara Mohri, PhD
- Chase Norman, PhD at Carnegie Mellon University
- Sicheng Pan, 5th Year Masters at UC Berkeley
- Sashrika Pandey, 5th Year Masters at UC Berkeley
- Vyoma Raman, Master’s in Computer Science at Stanford University
- Ella Schwarz, EECS PhD at UC Berkeley
- Brandon Suen, Software Engineer at Google
- Arun Sundaresan, 5th Year Masters at UC Berkeley
- Alice Yeh, 5th Year Masters at UC Berkeley
- Andrew Zhang, Working at Zoox
Honors Student Achievements
Including but not limited to:
- Nitish Dashora (2023-24), Goldwater Scholarship and (2022-23), Astronaut Scholar
- Simon Zirui Guo (2022), Arthur M. Hopkin Award
- Chase Norman (2022), Selected to participate in the Heidelberg Laureate Forum (HLF)
- Anjali Kantharuban (2022), Gates Cambridge Scholarship
- Jennifer Grannen (2021), Timothy B. Campbell Innovation Award
- Simon (Xuanlin) Li (2021), Arthur M. Hopkin Award
- Leyla Kabuli (2021), Arthur M. Hopkin Award, University Medal
- Danny Halawi (2021), Eugene L. Lawler Prize
- Eden McEwen (2020), Goldwater Scholarship and the SPIE Education Scholarship
- Candy Xu (2020), Jim and Donna Gray Endowment Award
- Ahad Rauf (2020), Warren Y. Dere Design Award and NSF GRFP Fellowship
- Matthew Yeh (2020), Arthur M. Hopkin Award
- Russell Mendonca (2020), Finalist for the CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Award