Latin honors

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Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. Some universities in the United States use the English translation of these honor phrases rather than the Latin originals.

There are typically three types of Latin honors. In order of increasing level of honor, they are:

cum laude, "with honor"; direct translation: "with praise"
magna cum laude, "with great honor"; direct translation: "with great praise"
summa cum laude, "with highest honor"; direct translation: "with highest praise"

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 a combination of the above. It should be noted that each university sets its own standards, and these standards often vary greatly between different universities. Thus, comparing Latin honors across universities is often meaningless; the same level of Latin honors attained at different universities may actually indicate very different levels of academic achievement.

Some colleges and universities use the additional note in cursu honorum, to signify that the degree and honors were earned while taking a more rigorous "honors course."

These honors are almost always awarded to undergraduates earning their bachelor's, and much more rarely to graduate students taking their master's or doctorate. The honor is typically indicated on the diploma.

The term honoris causa ("for the sake of honor"), on the other hand, is used when a university bestows an honorary degree.

Use of Latin honors around the world

While the use of Latin honors for undergraduate degrees is common in the American academia, their use with doctorate degrees is common worldwide. For example, the Netherlands use a one-class Latin honors system at least for the Master's diplomas. The British undergraduate degree classification is a different scheme, widely used (with some variation) in the UK, Ireland, Hong Kong, New Zealand, India, Australia, Philippines, South Africa and many other countries.

In Italy, the cum laude notation (explicited in the equivalent Italian form con lode) is used as an increasing level of the highest grade for both exams (30/30) and degrees (110/110), in all its levels; usually, a minimum number of exams achieved cum laude is necessary in order for a student to be awarded on his degree.

In Germany, the degrees cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude are used for PhD degrees (most countries do not grade their PhDs). The range of degrees is: rite (satisfactory), satis bene (satisfying), cum laude (very satisfying), magna cum laude (great), summa cum laude (excellent).

In France, the Paris Institute of Political Studies (known as "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%.

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

The Finnish Matriculation Examinations at the end of high school equivalent lukio uses the grades of improbatur (I, failing), approbatur (A), lubenter approbatur (B), cum laude approbatur (C), magna cum laude approbatur (M), eximia cum laude approbatur (E) and laudatur (L).

History of usage in the United States

Harvard College first awarded final honors to its graduates in 1869. 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:

The Faculty then prepared regulations for recommending candidates for the Bachelor's degree, either for an ordinary degree or for a degree with distinction; the grades of distinction being summa cum laude, magna cum laude, and cum laude. The degree summa cum laude is for those who have attained ninety per cent on the general scale, or have received Highest Honors in any department, and carries with it the assignment of an oration on the list of Commencement parts; the degree magna cum laude is for those who have attained eighty per cent on the general scale, or have received Honors in any department, and carries with it the assignment of a dissertation; and the degree cum laude is to be given to those who attain seventy-five per cent on the general scale, and to those who receive Honorable Mention in any study together with sixty-five per cent on the general scale, or seventy per cent on the last three years, or seventy-five per cent on the last two.... [Annual Reports of the President and Treasurer of Harvard College, 1877-78]

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:

Instead of attempting to fix the rank of every individual student by minute divisions on a scale of a hundred as formerly, five grades of scholarship were established and degrees were conferred upon the graduating classes according to their grades. If a student was found to be in the first or lowest grade, he was not considered as a candidate for a degree, though he might receive a certificate stating the facts in regard to his standing; if he appeared in the second grade the degree of A.B. was conferred upon him rite; if in the third, cum laude; if in the fourth, magna cum laude; while if he reached the fifth grade he received the degree summa cum laude. The advantages of this course, as stated to the trustees by the president, are that it properly discriminates between those who, though passing over the same course of study, have done it with great differences of merit and of scholarship, and that it furnishes a healthy incentive to the best work without exciting an excessive spirit of emulation.

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...

External links

[A History of Amherst College (1894), Chapter 11], concerning Latin honors in 1881.

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