Latin honors
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Southeastern Asian countries with European colonial history, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, and African countries such as Zambia and South Africa, although sometimes translations of these phrases are used instead of the Latin originals. The honors distinction should not be confused with the honors degrees offered in some countries, or with honorary degrees. In countries that use Latin honors, they are normally awarded to undergraduate students earning bachelor's degrees and to law school graduates. They are not usually used for graduate students receiving master's or doctorate degrees.
The Latin honors system has three standard levels : cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude. The regulations of each college or university normally set out criteria that a student must meet in order to obtain a given honor. For example, the student might be required to achieve a specific class ranking, a specific grade point average, submit an honors thesis for evaluation, or be part of an honors program. Each school sets its own standards. Because these standards vary, the same level of Latin honors conferred by different institutions can represent different levels of achievement. Some institutions use non-Latin equivalents, while certain other institutions do not use honors at all, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Yale Law School, and Stanford Law School.
English-speaking countries
United States
Distinctions
Most American colleges and universities use Latin honors for bachelor's degrees and for the Juris Doctor degree, but not for other degrees such as master's degrees or the Ph.D. and M.D. degrees. There are three standard levels of Latin honors:- cum laude, meaning "with praise", typically awarded to graduates in the top 20%, 25%, or 33% of their class, depending on the institution.
- magna cum laude, meaning "with great praise", typically awarded to graduates in the top 5%, 10%, or 15% of their class, depending on the institution.
- , meaning "with highest praise", typically awarded to graduates in the top 1%, 2%, or 5% of their class, depending on the institution. Some institutions do not award the summa cum laude distinction or award, others choosing to award it only in extraordinary circumstances.
History
In 1869, Harvard College became the first college in the United States to award final honors to its graduates. From 1872 to 1879, cum laude and summa cum laude were the two Latin honors awarded to graduates. Beginning in 1880, magna cum laude was also awarded. In his 1895 history of Amherst College, college historian William Seymour Tyler traced Amherst's system of Latin honors to 1881, and attributed it to Amherst College president Julius Hawley Seelye:United Kingdom
In the UK, the Latin cum laude is used in commemorative Latin versions of degree certificates sold by a few universities to denote a bachelor's degree with honours, but the honours classification is stated as in English, e.g. primi ordinis for first class rather than summa cum laude, etc. Official degree certificates use English.Other countries
For undergraduate degrees, Latin honors are used in only a few countries such as Israel, Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, one university in Singapore and Canada. Most countries use a different scheme, such as the British undergraduate degree classification which is more widely used with varying criteria and nomenclature depending on country, including Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Brazil, Colombia, Georgia (country)|Georgia], Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe and many other countries. Malta shows the Latin honors on the degree certificates, but the UK model is shown on the transcript.Austria
In Austria, the only Latin honor in use is sub auspiciis Praesidentis rei publicae for doctoral degrees. Candidates must have consistently excellent grades throughout high school and university, making it very difficult to attain: only about 20 out of a total of 2,500 doctoral graduates per year achieve a sub auspiciis degree.Belgium
In Belgium, the university degree awarded is limited to:- cum fructu <68%
- cum laude >68%
- magna cum laude >77%
- summa cum laude >85%
- summa cum laude with the congratulations of the examination committee >90%
Brazil
In Brazil, most universities do not provide honors to their students. Among the few universities that do so, the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica awards the cum laude honor for graduates with every individual grade above 8.5, the magna cum laude honor for graduates with average grade above 8.5 and more than 50% of individual grades above 9.5, and the summa cum laude honor for graduates with average grade above 9.5. As of 2009, only 22 graduates have received the summa cum laude honor at ITA. The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro awards the cum laude honor for graduates with average grade from 8.0 to 8.9, the magna cum laude honor for graduates with average grade from 9.0 to 9.4, and the summa cum laude honor for graduates with average grade from 9.5 to 10.0. The Federal University of Ceará awards the magna cum laude honor for undergraduates who have never failed a course, achieved an average grade from 8.5 and have received a fellowship of both Academic Extension and Teaching Initiation.Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, universities usually award the summa cum laude distinction to its best graduates in bachelors and masters study programmes. The criteria required by Czech universities are usually the following: a) an overall study results average up to 1.5 out of 4.0 completion of the final state exam with the overall classification of 1 proper completion of studies in a period not exceeding the standard period of study by more than one year. Other distinctions such as magna cum laude or cum laude are not used. Alternatively, the phrase s vyznamenáním, which means "with honours", is substituted for the usual summa cum laude. The Czech universities usually do not award any Latin honours to its graduates in rigorosum and doctoral study programmes.Estonia
In Estonia, up until 2010 both summa cum laude and cum laude were used. Summa cum laude was awarded only for very exceptional work. Since 1 September 2010, only cum laude is used. It is awarded to bachelors, masters and integrated studies graduates. Occasionally the word kiitusega, which means "with praise", is substituted for the usual cum laude. To receive cum laude one must achieve a 4.60 GPA and receive the highest grade for the thesis or the final examination.Finland
The Finnish Matriculation Examinations at the end of lukio/gymnasium uses the grades of: improbatur, approbatur, lubenter approbatur, cum laude approbatur, magna cum laude approbatur, eximia cum laude approbatur and laudatur. They are roughly equivalent to Finnish school grades ranging from 4 to 10. Some Finnish universities, when grading master's theses and doctoral dissertations, use the same scale with the additional grade of non sine laude approbatur between lubenter and cum laude; technical universities use a numerical scale instead.France
In France, usually the French honors mention très bien, mention bien, and mention assez bien are used. However some Grandes Écoles, like the Institut d'études politiques de Paris, HEC Paris, use the Latin and English titles "summa cum laude" / "graduated with highest honors" for the top 2% and "cum laude" / "graduated with honors" for the next 5% of a year. From 2016, honorifics ceased to be used for the completion of a PhD. Before this date, the French PhD diploma could be awarded with increasing honors: mention bien, mention très honorable, mention très honorable avec félicitations du jury. While these honors grades have been revoked for the PhD diploma, they are still in use for doctors of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Dental Medicine.Germany
In Germany, the range of degrees is:- sub omni canone
- non sufficit or non rite
- rite
- satis bene – or no additional comment
- cum laude
- magna cum laude
- summa cum laude.
Hungary
In Hungary, the range of degrees—similar to the German system—is: rite, cum laude, summa cum laude. These degrees are used in university diplomas and in certain fields of sciences only. The grades of degrees are dependent on the received average points from final exams and from average points from the university studies.Indonesia
Latin honors are used widely in Indonesia, the order of increment are:cum laude, meaning "with honors" — GPA 3.51 - 3.59magna cum laude, meaning "with great honors" — 3.60 - 3.79summa cum laude, meaning "with highest honors" — GPA 3.80 and aboveA fourth order, egregia cum laude, meaning 'with extraordinary honors', is occasionally used: it was created to recognise students who earned the same grade point average as a summa, but earned it while pursuing a more rigorous degree curriculum.
A less commonly used grade, maxima cum laude, or 'with very great honors', is an intermediate order between summa and magna. This distinction is sometimes used when the university regulation for summa is only awarded to students with perfect academic grades.
Italy
In Italy, the cum laude notation is used as an increasing level of the highest grade for both exams and degrees, in all its levels;Passing an exam cum laude has usually only an honorific meaning, but sometimes it influences the average grade and can be useful to the student so honored. "30 e lode" is usually awarded after answering correctly a bonus difficult question at the oral examination.
In Italy, 110 e lode is the highest rank that can be achieved during the academic studies, and corresponds usually to a final score greater than 110/110. Up to 3 bonus points can be awarded for merits, e.g. having an average exams score greater than 28.5/30, excellent final project or for graduating on time. More notations include: bacio e abbraccio accademico, menzione d'onore, and dignità di stampa, and were given based on various university-specific requirements, but without a legal value.
Malta
In Malta, for Bachelor Honours degrees summa cum laude refers to first class honours, magna cum laude refers to second class honours, cum laude refers to second class honours, whilst bene probatus refers to third class honours. Professional degrees lasting longer than the standard three years such as the five year Bachelor of Pharmacy are awarded egregia cum laude. Postgraduate diplomas and master's degrees may be awarded as pass with distinction, pass with merit, or pass.Mexico
In Mexico, cum laude is used, by the major universities, to recognize an outstanding dissertation for bachelor's, master's and PhD degrees. Also different awards on public and private universities are given to the student with the highest final grade average and a diploma is given as a form of cum laude.Netherlands
In the Netherlands, two classes of honors may be used for bachelor's, master's and PhD degree programs: cum laude and summa cum laude. Typically these distinctions are reserved to mark exceptional achievement above a high minimum grade point average. Sometimes it is lost, despite a high average mark, when the student gets a mark of 6 or lower for one of the many exams. It may also be awarded based on the weighted average of first achieved grades for each subject only. Generally, less than 2% receive the cum laude distinction. It is also possible to receive a PhD degree cum laude, although this honor is even rarer than for master's graduates. In view of the difficulty and subjectivity of determining this, some universities and fields of study very seldom award doctorates cum laude. At Dutch university colleges cum laude, magna cum laude and, exceptionally, summa cum laude may be awarded.Philippines
, junior high school and senior high school students under the new K–12 curriculum use an honor system using Filipino translations of the Latin original. Students who achieve a final grade average of 90-94 are awarded the title May Karangalan and will receive a bronze medal with the DepEd seal. Those who have a final grade average of 95–97 receive the title of May Mataas na Karangalan and a silver medal with the same seal. Students with a final grade average of 98-100 shall be awarded the title of May Pinakamataas na Karangalan and a gold medal with the same specification. In college, students are awarded the latin honors cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude, respectively.Russia
In Russia, the honor system is based on the grade point average. At least 4.75 out of 5.0 points are required for the summa cum laude degree. The graduate has to receive a perfect grade on all final examinations. Usually less than 2% of all graduating students accomplish this. In military schools, a "red diploma" may be accompanied by a gold medal for outstanding performance. Russian high schools also award a gold medal to the student who achieves a perfect score in all final examinations and in all other subjects not requiring a final exam. A silver medal is awarded to high school students who have one or two grades of 4 on their final exams or other subjects as listed in the high school diploma среднем образовании attestat o.Singapore
In Singapore, the Latin honors, cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude are used by Singapore Management University. Graduates from Singapore Management University have to achieve GPAs of 3.4, 3.6 and 3.8 out of 4.0 respectively and without any exceptions to qualify for the Latin honors.It is also used by Yale-NUS College, with the top 5% of a graduating class receiving summa cum laude, the next 10% magna cum laude, and the next 20% cum laude. There are no credit requirements to achieve the Latin honors at Yale-NUS College.