Dean's List and Graduation Honors

Parents Forum
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<p>Insofar as GPA cutoffs for Dean's List and honors associated with graduation reflect an institution's own assessment of what constitutes excellence in achievement at a particular school, I thought it might be interesting to compile a list of this data from various colleges/universities. This information provides at least some context for gauging the significance of a particular GPA at a particular school, although it leaves open the question about why the percentages of students meeting these criteria are as high (or low) as they are.</p>

<p>I'll start the list with the two schools my children have attended. As you add the data for your children's schools, please only include "official" information.</p>

<p>School Name; Dean's List (Cutoff-Frequency); Graduation Honors (General or Latin)</p>

<p>UofChicago; 3.25-academic year; 3.25 (General Honors)
WashU; 3.5-semester (Art, Arch., Art/Sci), 3.6-semester (Business, Engineering); no GPAs given (Summa-Top 5%, Magna-Top 6-15%)</p>

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<p>Lafayette: 3.6/dean’s list semester; 3.5 cum laude, 3.65 magna, 3.8 summa</p>

<p>Elon: 3.5/dean’s list semester; no grade below A-/President’s list semester; 3.5 Cum Laude, 3.7 Magna, 3.9 Summa</p>

3

<p>Stanford: Degree “with distinction” goes to top 15% of class based on GPA at end of winter quarter.</p>

<p>Degree “with departmental honors” varies by department.</p>

4

<p>My kid’s school (Rhodes College) was really, really stingy with latin grad honors. </p>

<p>3.95 for Summa about 1 to 1.5%
3.85 for Magna about another 2%</p>

<p>Only @ 10-14 students out of 400 the years I’ve counted.</p>

<p>I have no idea why they make it so difficult to get Magna or Summa. It’s awfully tough at the top.</p>

<p>They also require a 4.0 to get PBK junior year. 2 kids out of over 400 got it. Mine wasn’t one of them. ;)</p>

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<p>Dartmouth College:</p>

<p>Graduation Honors:
Summa = top 5%
Magna = 15%
Cum = 35%</p>

<p>PBK = ~10%</p>

<p>Dept. Honors requires a honor thesis.</p>

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<p>Denison: 3.7 Dean’s List; 3.9 Summa, 3.75 Magna, 3.6 Honors
Lewis and Clark: 3.7 Dean’s List; 3.9 Summa, 3.8 Magna, 3.7 Honors</p>

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<p>Vanderbilt (College of Arts and Science) -</p>

<p>summa: 3.898 GPA/appx. top 5 percent of graduating class
magna: 3.787 GPA/ appx. top 13 percent
cum laude: 3.669 GPA/ appx. top 25 percent
Dean’s List: 3.5 GPA</p>

<p>William & Mary:</p>

<p>summa:3.8 GPA
magna: 3.65
cum laude: 3.5
Dean’s List: 3.6 GPA</p>

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<p>Carnegie Mellon (CIT and SCS maybe other schools as well)
Dean’s List is 3.75+</p>

<p>University Honors 3.5+</p>

<p>If there are more honors possibilities they are hidden well in their website!</p>

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<p>Yale (for 2009, it varies slightly by year):
Summa:3.93
Magna: 3.85
Cum laude:3.77</p>

<p>There is no Dean’s List. You can also graduate “with distinction” in your major, and the standards for that are set by each dept.</p>

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<p>University of Rochester</p>

<p>Dean’s List 3.4 (providing you’ve taken 12+ credits/semester)</p>

<p>Summa-top 2% (approx 3.95)
Magna-top 10% (approx 3.81)
cum Laude- top 20% (approx 3.65)</p>

<p>Each department sets its own requirements for “with distinction”, “with high distinction” and “with highest distinction”.</p>

<p>University of New Mexico:</p>

<p>Dean’s List–3.5</p>

<p>Summa-3.9+
Magna -3.75-3.89
cum Laude–3.5-3.74</p>

<p>Departmental Honors as determined by the department. University Honors for graduate who have completed the Honors College program.</p>

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<p>BOSTON COLLEGE</p>

<p>Latin Honors for BA and BS Degrees</p>

<p>Summa cum laude: top 4.5 percent of the graduating class in each school
Magna cum laude: next 9.5 percent in each school
Cum laude: next 15 percent in each school.
These percentages are based on the student’s overall cumulative average.</p>

<p>“Departmental honors” are also given by some individual departments upon successful completion of specific requirements set by that department (i.e., extra course requirements, honors thesis, minimum GPA in major, etc.)</p>

<p>Dean’s List</p>

<p>Beginning with the class of 2014,
First Honors: Semester GPA of 3.700-4.000
Second Honors: Semester GPA of 3.500-3.699</p>

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<p>NC State University
Dean’s List/semester…3.25 if taking 15+ credit hours, 3.5 if taking 12-14 credit hours
Summa:3.75
Magna:3.5-3.749
Cum:3.25-3.499</p>

<p>East Carolina University
Honor Roll (semester) 3.0 with no grade below C
Dean’s List (sem)3.5 with no grade below C
Chancellor’s List(sem) 4.0
Summa:3.9
Magna:3.6
Cum:3.5</p>

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<p>Barnard College:</p>

<p>Dean’s List – 3.4 GPA for academic year </p>

<p>Latin Honors:</p>

<p>System is based on calculating top 5%, 10% & 20% of graduating classes for the previous 3 years, to set GPA for coming year. </p>

<p>Summa-- for class of 2010 was 3.92 - for class of 2011 will be 3.94
Magna – class of 2010 was 3.82, class of 2011 will be 3.88
Cum Laude - class of 2010 was 3.67, class of 2011 will be 3.80</p>

<p>PBK – no published standard for GPA, students of " exceptionally high standing" are elected by PBK faculty members.</p>

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<p>George Washington (Elliott School of International Affairs) - 3.75 (semester) for Dean’s List.<br>
For the College of Arts and Sciences, top 20% of the class, as long as no grade is less than a B-.</p>

<p>I couldn’t find anything about graduation honors, except you can do an honors thesis in your major and earn special honors that way.</p>

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<p>Trinity University in San Antonio</p>

<p>Dean’s List=3.5/semester, minimum 15 graded hours</p>

<p>Graduation
Summa=3.875
Magna=3.75
Cum=3.5</p>

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<p>University of Alabama BIRMINGHAM</p>

<p>Deans Honors 3.6
Presidential Honors 4.0</p>

<p>cum laude 3.5-3.69
magna 3.7-3.89
summa 3.9- 4.0</p>

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<p>Bates</p>

<p>Dean’s List: Top 25% by semester (usually 3.67)</p>

<p>Latin Honors - based on previous year’s data (so the class of 2009 GPA breakdown determines rankings for class of 2010 and so on)
Cum laude: Top 15% (3.67 in 2010)
Magna cum laude: Top 8% (3.78 in 2010)
Summa cum laude: Top 2% (3.91 in 2010)</p>

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<p>University of Washington.
Dean’s List 3.5
Latin Honors differ depending on College or School.
S’s College of Arts and Sciences has 3.76 for cum, 3.87 for magna and 3.96 for summa.</p>

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<p>D just graduated from WashU. For the College of Arts and Sciences:</p>

<p>Dean’s List: 3.5 GPA
Cum: 3.5; magna: 3.65; summa: 3.8.</p>