Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these phrases rather than the Latin originals. It is similar to the British undergraduate degree classification.

Generally, a college or university's degree regulations give clear rules on the requirements to be met to obtain specific honors distinctions. These may be a specific grade point average, a requirement that the student submit an "honors thesis" or "honors project" for evaluation, a requirement that a student be part of an honors program, or graduate early, or a combination of the above. Each university sets its own standards, and these standards often vary greatly among universities. Thus, comparing Latin honors across universities is problematic; the same level of Latin honors attained at different universities may actually indicate very different levels of academic achievement.

These honors, when they are used, are almost always awarded to undergraduates earning their bachelor's, and, with the exception of law school graduates, much more rarely to graduate students taking their master's or doctorate degree. The honor is typically indicated on the diploma. Latin honors are often conferred upon law school graduates receiving a Juris Doctor or J.D., where they are generally based upon class rank or grade point average.

Types

A fourth distinction, ''egregia cum laude,'' "with outstanding honor", has occasionally appeared: it was created to recognize students who earned the same grade point average required for the ''summa'' honor, but did so while pursuing a more rigorous honors curriculum. One of Fordham University's student newspapers translated this as "with hysterical praise", and so the university dropped the distinction and awards such degrees with ''summa'' honors, and a notation ''In cursu honorum'', "in a course of honors." This latter notation is used by some other schools, as well.

A rarely used distinction, ''maxima cum laude'', "with very great praise", is an intermediary honor between the ''summa'' and the ''magna'' honors. It is sometimes used when the ''summa'' honor is reserved only for students with a perfect academic record (4.0 / 4.0 GPA).

Use of Latin honors around the world

In Austria the only Latin honor in use is ''sub auspiciis Praesidentis rei publicae'' (''under the auspices of the President of Austria'') for doctorate degrees. Candidates must have consistently excellent grades throughout high school and university, making it very difficult to attain: only about 1 out of a total of 2500 doctoral graduates per year (i.e. less than .04%) achieve a ''sub auspiciis'' degree.

In Belgium, a university degree is awarded ''cum laude'' ("avec distinction" in French, "met onderscheiding" in Dutch) to people achieving a 70% average, which roughly corresponds to the top 25% of a class. It is awarded ''magna cum laude'' ("avec grande distinction" or "met grote onderscheiding") to those achieving a 80% average (top 5-10% of a class), and ''summa cum laude'' ("avec la plus grande distinction" or "met de grootste onderscheiding") to people with a 90% average (top 1%).

In Brazil, the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA - Aeronautical Institute of Technology) awards the ''cum laude'' honor for graduates with average grade above 8.5 (out of 10.0), 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. Up to 2009, only 22 graduates have received the ''summa cum laude'' honor at ITA.

The Finnish Matriculation Examinations at the end of high school equivalent lukio uses the grades of ''improbatur'' (I, failing; "not accepted"), ''approbatur'' (A; "accepted"), ''lubenter approbatur'' (B; "willingly accepted"), ''cum laude approbatur'' (C; "accepted with praise"), ''magna cum laude approbatur'' (M; "accepted with great praise"), ''eximia cum laude approbatur'' (E; "accepted with excellent praise") and ''laudatur'' (L; "praised"). Finnish universities, when grading Master's theses and Doctoral dissertations, use the same scale with the addition of the grade of ''non sine laude approbatur'' (N; "not without praise accepted") between ''lubenter'' and ''cum laude''.

In France, Sciences Po Paris (also known as Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris = Paris Institute of Political Studies, or "Sciences Po") attributes a ''cum laude'' honor to those graduating in the best 5% of their class and a ''summa cum laude'' honor to those graduating in the best 2%. Otherwise, honors are generally given with French expressions: ''assez bien'' ("rather good"), ''bien'' ("good"), ''très bien'' ("very good") for high school graduation ''(baccalauréat)''; and ''honorable'', ''très honorable'', ''très honorable avec félicitations du jury'' for doctor's degrees.

In Germany, the range of degrees are: ''rite'' ("duly" conferred, that is, the requirements are fulfilled), ''cum laude'' (with honors), ''magna cum laude'' (with great honors) and ''summa cum laude'' (with highest honors). These degrees are mostly used when a doctorate is conferred, not for diplomas, bachelors or masters for which numerical grades between 1.0 ("very good") and 4.0 ("pass") and 5.0 ("fail") are given.

In Hungary, the range of degrees-similar to the German system- are: ''rite'' ("duly" conferred, that is, the requirements are fulfilled), ''cum laude'' (with honors), ''summa cum laude'' (with highest honors). These degrees are used in university diplomas and in certain fields of sciences (medical, legal and a very few others) only. The grades of degrees are dependent on the received average points from final exams and from average points from the university studies.

In Italy, the ''cum laude'' notation (''e lode'' being the equivalent in Italian) is used as an increasing level of the highest grade for both exams and degrees, in all its levels ; sometimes passing an exam cum laude has only an honorific meaning, sometimes it influences the average grade and can be useful for a student to be awarded on his or her degree ''cum laude'' (In Italy, ''110/110 e Lode'', where 110/110 is the highest rank that can be achieved during the academic studies).

In the Netherlands, only two classes of honors are used: ''eervolle vermelding'' ("with honorable mention") and ''cum laude'', typically only to mark exceptional achievement. These are dependent on an absolute minimal grade point average, and an outstanding thesis. Generally, less than 20% receive the "with honorable mention" distinction, and "cum laude" is even harder to attain (less than 1%-10% depending on the university and study program). Requirements vary among universities but, unlike the Anglo-American system, the honor is typically reserved only to the best students in an (under)graduate course (somewhat equivalent to ''summa'' or ''magna cum laude'' in the US, depending on the university). It is also possible to receive a PhD degree ''cum laude'', although this honor is even rarer than for master graduates. Typically less than 5% of graduating PhDs can receive this mention, and only if their research results are considered outstanding. Due to the difficulty of determining this, some universities/ fields of study very seldom award doctorates ''cum laude''.

In Russia and the former Soviet Union the honor system is based on the grade point averages. At least 4.75 out of 5.0 points required for the cum laude degree (“с отличием” (“s otlichiem”) in Russian or “red diploma”). The graduate has to receive a perfect grade on all final examinations. Usually less than 2% of all graduated students are able to accomplish this (depending on the university and year). In military schools, a "red diploma" may be accompanied by a gold medal ("summa cum laude") for outstanding performance. Russian secondary 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 secondary school students who have one or two grades of 4 on their final exams or other subjects as listed in the secondary school diploma ("attestat o srednem obrazovanii").

In Switzerland, the degrees ''rite'', ''cum laude'', ''magna cum laude'', ''insigni cum laude'' and ''summa cum laude'' are used.

In the UK the Latin ''cum laude'' is used in Latin versions of honors degrees (e.g. University of Edinburgh) to denote a Bachelor with Honours degree, whereas the classification is stated like in the English equivalent e.g. ''Primi Ordinis'' for First Class etc.

History of usage in the United States

In an 1894 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:

The new system of administration, of which the above is a part, is so original and peculiar that it is known as the Amherst System...

See also

References

External links

Category:Academic honours Category:Qualifications