Above and beyond successfully completing your required university coursework for graduation, for an honors degree, you must maintain a certain grade point average. The grade point average required depends on the program in question. For example, the University of Missouri-Columbia requires a cumulative grade point average of 3.3 whereas the University of Delaware requires a cumulative grade point average of 3.4 from students applying for honors degrees. When in doubt about the required GPA for an honors degree, get in touch with the corresponding department at your university.
Many universities actually have a separate honors school or department offering special honors coursework to students that are accepted into the honors program in addition to their major or minor programs. These universities generally require that students a certain amount of honors coursework to obtain an honors degree. For example, at the University of Missouri-Columbia, students must complete 20 hours of honors coursework to obtain a general honors degree, while the University of Delaware requires 30.
Honors courses are designed to challenge students with increased depth in famliar subjects, as well as offer the honors student courses on unusual and ground-breaking subjects not typically offered to undergraduates. While these course are a great learning opportunity, at the same time, their difficulty presents students with the risk of lowering their grade point average and disqualifying themselves for Latin honors.
At competitive schools, students must meet with an adviser, discuss, agree on and plan a thesis project prior to their senior year. Thesis projects are required to obtain honors degrees at the University of Washington and the University of Delaware.
Once students get organized and finish their research, they must write a final paper and present their findings to the honors committee or advisory board. Depending on the committee's evaluation of the project and oral presentation, students may or may not receive their honors degree, whether or not they have previously filled coursework and GPA requirements. Depending on the honor's department at the university in question, honors' theses vary in length and spectrum, with some schools requiring a relatively brief thesis and others requiring a thesis more similar to graduate-level work.
A BA honors degree is not the same thing as cum laude (with honors), magna cum laude (with great honor), or summa cum laude (with highest honor) ratings that solely depend on the student's final cumulative GPA and don't require extra coursework, or a thesis at most schools. For example, at Harvard University, requires a 3.414 GPA to acquire the lowest honors rating of cum laude, whereas English "honors" are bestowed upon Harvard students when a concentration, i.e., history, law, etc, recommends a student for honors because of her work in that discipline. If you are applying to competitive graduate programs or are interested in extra honors rating for your resume, consider pursuing both an honors program and Latin honors based on your GPA, but be ready to work hard and talk about your honors' program experience to potential employers and interviewers.
Busy students who work or have other priorities and commitments shouldn't pursue honors degrees as they are time-consuming and can be stressful. A failing mark on an honors course that you don't really have time to take is a waste of time and money, and will not count toward any degree program. Most programs require a grade of "C" or higher in honors coursework for it to count toward an honors degree and don't accept coursework completed pass-fail. If you aren't interested in writing a thesis and your school's honors program requires it, don't pursue an honor's degree, because chances are you won't be motivated to complete it and will be frustrated and stressed.