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The system usually has three levels of honor (listed in order of increasing merit): cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude. Generally, a college or university's regulations set out definite criteria a student must meet to obtain a given honor.
- Magna Cum Laude vs. Summa Cum Laude: An Overview
- Understanding Cum Laude Distinctions
- How Do Colleges Decide Which Distinction to Award?
- What Are The Criticisms of Cum Laude Awards?
- The Bottom Line
Collectively known as Latin honors, summa cum laude, magna cum laude, or cum laude signify varying levels of high academic achievement. Summa cum laude is the prize granted to top performers, awarded to a small fraction of college graduates each year. Magna cum laude comes next in prestige, followed by cum laude.
What Is Cum Laude?
"Cum laude" is a Latin term that translates to "with praise" or "with honor" in English. In academic contexts, particularly in higher education, it is used to denote a level of academic achievement. Generally, it signifies that the student's academic performance ranks above average within their graduating class but may not necessarily be at the very top.
What Is Magna Cum Laude?
For college graduates who haven’t managed to squeeze in a Latin course or don’t have a Latin-English dictionary handy, magna cum laudeis often loosely translated as "with great distinction." It stands above cum laude, which means "with distinction." It might be handed out to a student who has earned high grades or some other mark of academic achievement, but not the highest possible.
What Is Summa Cum Laude?
Like summiting a mountain, the student who has achieved summa cum laudehas achieved "the highest distinction." This student has earned grades within the highest percentage of their school or department or has achieved some other metric that the school considers worthy of the highest recognition. The Latin word “laude” can also be translated as “honor” or “praise,” as in the English word “laudatory.”
There is no national standard for what it takes to qualify for these honors. Collegesand universities are free to set their own criteria. At the University of Pennsylvania, for example, students need a grade point average (GPA) of 3.8 or higher to graduate summa cum laude, 3.6 for magna cum laude, and 3.4 for cum laude.Ohio State University’s Colle...
While Latin honors can look good on a diploma, college transcript, or résumé, do they make any difference in real life? Two researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Pauline Khoo and Ben Ost, attempted to answer that question in a 2018 paper titled “The Effects of Graduating With Honors on Earnings.” “We find that obtaining honors provi...
The main difference between magna cum laude and summa cum laude lies in the level of academic achievement they represent. Magna cum laude signifies high praise or honor, typically awarded to students with consistently outstanding academic performance, while summa cum laude denotes the highest praise or honor, reserved for students who have achieved...
- Greg Daugherty
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adverb. with highest praise: used in diplomas to grant the highest of three special honors for grades above the average. summa cum laude. / ˈsʊmɑː kʊm ˈlaʊdeɪ / adverb. with the utmost praise: the highest of three designations for above-average achievement in examinations.
summa cum laude. at the highest level of the special levels of achievement in a person's studies at a U.S. college or university. The expression comes from Latin, meaning "with the highest praise ": Danielle graduated summa cum laude.
Oct 7, 2024 · Summa cum laude is a Latin phrase that translates to “with the highest distinction.”. It is the most prestigious of the three Latin honors traditionally bestowed upon students in the U.S. for outstanding academic performance during their degree programs. The other two honors are magna cum laude (“with great distinction”) and cum laude ...
summa cum laude in British English. (ˈsʊmɑː kʊm ˈlaʊdeɪ ) adverb. mainly US. with the utmost praise: the highest of three designations for above-average achievement in examinations. In Britain it is sometimes used to designate a first-class honours degree. Compare cum laude, magna cum laude.
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Jan 10, 2024 · Here’s the definition of summa cum laude: The greatest or highest academic distinction; literally means “with the highest honor”. Essentially, summa cum laude is a title or award given to the person who had the highest grade point average (GPA) in their class.
