Created By : Jatin Gogia
Reviewed By : Rajasekhar Valipishetty
Last Updated : May 22, 2023
What is a Cum Laude GPA?: Colleges and universities award three levels of honors to the students which come together and make a system called Latin Honors so these three tiers are Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, and Summa Cum Laude.
They identify the level of distinction awarded to students and are based on multiple factors that need to be achieved by the student in order to gain that reward or honor. In this article, we are going to tell you everything about Cum Laude and the prerequisites required to be awarded this level of achievement.
It is the mark of distinction used by the students to display or showcase their achievements in their resumes in higher education as it reflects strong grades. As these terms came from Latin so they are often called Latin honors.
The Latin phrase “Cum Laude” means “with honor” or “with praise” and it is the best way to distinguish fantabulous students for their academic brilliance. Different schools follow different ways to set the criteria for the students for this honor but still, there are some common prerequisites for this award which we will discuss in this article.
As we are aware that Latin honors are given to students earning bachelor’s degrees so the most determining factor is GPA, but according to their requirements they add some set of criteria for students like the number of hours and recommendations.
Cum Laude is a Latin term which says “with honors” or “praise” and is considered the basic level among the three Latin honors. This is the third level which is considered the lowest rank but still the most amazing achievement of Latin honors.
It is considered the most common Latin honor rewarded for academic achievement and the requirements vary from school to school. Students who are awarded one of the Latin honors are specially recognized during graduation ceremonies and on the student’s diplomas also this designation appears.
Students who graduated with honors are allowed to wear a special symbol for example tassel or a sash on their mortarboard.
So this merit class also has some prerequisites to be fulfilled by students of any institution as earlier said it may vary but the most common requirements are below-
As we know that Cum Laude is the basic level among the three tiers of Latin Honors which means “with praise”. The other level Magna Cum Laude is one level above which means “with great praise” and the last or the highest level Summa Cum Laude which means “highest praise” representing the highest level of distinction. These different levels of achievement or reward depend on different factors like GPA, the ranking percentage in class, the number of hours, or any other academic achievements.
1. Is Graduating with honors a big deal?
An honors degree gives a higher chance to get accepted to better graduate schools like Harvard University, Yale University, and other top universities. These universities consider much more than just your high school and college grades when making admissions decisions.
2. How is Cum Laude calculated?
Generally, the requirements for each academic honor are: Cum laude: Top 20% of students or those with a GPA between 3.5 and 3.7.
3. What GPA is considered honors in college?
Typically, students receive honors on their degree when they have at least a 3.5 GPA.
4. What are the top 3 Graduates called?
Generally, the highest honor in college is the valedictorian, followed by the salutatorian. As a group, the highest honor is summa cum laude. The next highest is the magna cum laude, and the third is the cum laude.