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Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of 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, although some institutions 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 regulations set out definite criteria to be met in order for a student to obtain a given honors distinction. For example the student might be required to achieve a specific grade point average, to submit an honors thesis for evaluation, to be part of an honors program, or to graduate early. Each university sets its own standards, and since these standards may vary widely it is possible for the same level of Latin honors conferred by different institutions to represent contrasting 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[link]

Many institutes confer three levels of Latin honors, although some eschew the third, namely:

• cum laude, meaning "with honor"^[1]—usually pronounced /kʊmˈlaʊdeɪ/ or /kʊmˈlɔːdeɪ/.
• magna cum laude, meaning "with great honor"
• summa cum laude, meaning "with highest honor"

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.

A rarely used distinction, maxima cum laude, "with very great honor", 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).^[2]

Absence of honors may be indicated by simply not stating any honors (as is usual in the United States), or explicitly marked as rite "duly" (meaning "degree requirements have been satisfied"), which is done in Germany and some other continental European countries.

Use of Latin honors around the world[link]

For undergraduate degrees latin honors are only used in a few countries such as the United States, Indonesia, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. Most other countries use a different scheme, such as the British undergraduate degree classification which is more widely used (with some variation) in, for example, the United Kingdom, Australia, Bangladesh, Barbados, Canada, Georgia, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Kenya, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Trinidad and Tobago and many other countries. Malta uses the Latin honors on the degree certificates, but the UK model is shown on the transcript.

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 65% 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 75% 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 85% average (top 1%). These levels might differ somewhat from university to university and even from faculty to faculty, but generally follow these guidelines.

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 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 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 university degrees; and honorable, très honorable, très honorable avec félicitations du jury for doctor's degrees. However most universities, in particular in science, do not issue any honors.

In Germany, the range of degrees is: 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- is: 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”).^[3] 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 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 ("хорошо" in Russian or "good", being second highest grade) on their final exams or other subjects as listed in the high school diploma ("attestat o (polnom)srednem obrazovanii").

In Switzerland, the degrees rite, cum laude, magna cum laude, insigni cum laude and summa cum laude are used, but the exact GPA corresponding to each varies by institution.

In the UK the Latin cum laude is used in Latin versions of honors degrees (e.g. University of Edinburgh^[4]) 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[link]

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 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. [citation needed]

See also[link]

• Class rank
• Valedictorian, the highest ranking student
• Salutatorian, the second highest ranking student

References[link]

External links[link]

• A History of Amherst College (1894), Chapter 11, concerning Latin honors in 1881.
• Harvard College Honors FAQs
• Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus, concerning Latin honors §15, in german