What percentage of college students graduate with honors?

Honors or Latin honors are degrees or criteria for awarding a high level of educational achievement. The term “honors” means praise when translated. Graduating with honors means graduating with a bit extra with the diploma. Graduating with honors is a great and huge accomplishment. Honors are like that extra cherry or icing on the cake. An absolute endeavor, persistence, motivation, and hard work towards studies usually results in achieving honors.

Most colleges and universities confer Latin honors, and it has recognition in almost all the countries around the world. These honors are awarded to undergraduates who are earning their bachelor’s degrees. In the US most colleges and Universities use Latin honors for bachelor’s degrees and the Juris Law Degree which is conferred upon the law students. In 1869, Harvard University became the first college to confer honors degrees to its graduates. There are three types of honors that are conferred to college students :

  • Cum laude
  • Magna cum laude
  • Summa cum laude

These names are of Latin origin for the three different kinds of honors. Each honor requires a student to achieve a certain GPA (Grade Point Average). Some Universities have different requirements for conferring honors, but a majority of colleges and Universities follow a certain average which is similar for the colleges.

Now coming to the main question of the article “What percentage of college students graduate with honors? . The answer to this question is vague. The real numbers are still unclear and there is no certain percentage about the percentage of college students who graduate with honors. The real number is hard to calculate due to the differences between each school’s requirements for conferring the Latin Honors. Even all the eligible students are not able to graduate with honors due to poor performance in certain courses.

But according to many research and observations, experts have given a very tentative ratio of students who actually graduate with honors and that is 20% to 30% of students out of the total students graduating that particular year. These numbers are nowhere to be confirmed as these are just observational and vaguely guessed approximations. Graduating with honors can help a student in getting a job in certain desired fields or a student can easily gain admission to top graduate schools. Academic honors make a student more preferable for job positions by various companies as honors are an indication of perseverance, hard work, and a positive attitude.

Let us know more about the levels of academic honors and what are the requirements for graduating with honors.

  • Cum Laude Honors

Cum Laude translates to “with honour” or “with distinction”. This is the basic type of honors that a student can achieve and is usually granted by the college or the University depending upon the GPA of the students and the distinct honors system of the institution. Graduating with honors depends on the criteria set by the specific colleges and also the progressive performance of the students. But usually, the standard of 3.5 to 3.7 GPA is required to qualify for this type of honor. Students also need to complete an “Honors Thesis” or graduate without any backlogs or lags in academic performance. This is the most common academic award conferred by the Institution to students with good academic performance.

  • Magna Cum Laude Honors

Magna Cum Laude means “with higher honor” and this ranking is higher than the Cum Laude. This is one step higher and is conferred upon the students with an average or standard of 3.7 to 3.9 GPA. Graduating with honors depends on the criteria set by the specific colleges and also the progressive performance of the students. A student can earn this from the college or the University depending upon the GPA of the students and the distinct honors system of the institution.

  • Summa Cum Laude Honors

Summa Cum Laude Honors means “with highest honor” and this ranking is highest than the other two types. Only 1% to 5% of students are considered eligible for this achievement. A student can earn this from the college or the University depending upon the GPA of the students and the distinct honors system of the institution. This is the highest level of achievement or award which is conferred upon the students for an excellent and outstanding academic performance with an average or standard of 4.0or higher GPA. This category is reserved for exceptional students who outgrow their academic performance with the passing years. Graduating with honors depends on the criteria set by the specific colleges and also the progressive performance of the students.

There are different options available to students in which Human resource management is one. There is a brief history of human resource management.

There is no national standard set for students to qualify for graduating honors, the Universities usually set the benchmarks for achieving college honors. Also, the requirements for receiving an honor can vary depending upon the criteria and considerations decided by the college or University.

Most colleges even set the GPA requirements while some colleges may not consider the GPA at all. Many colleges also require extra achievements by the students like getting a faculty recommendation, completing an honors thesis, completing a certain number of advanced courses, and many more.

Students can also be disqualified altogether due to a glitch of bad behavior or the smallest mistake. Even brilliant students with a 4.0 or more GPA can be disqualified due to the smallest breach on their records. Thus the percentage of students receiving college honors sumps up to a is a fairly small amount compared to the total number of students graduating.

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