Comparison to North American Latin honors Although the dean's list and Latin honors may both be issued in recognition of high scholarship, they are mostly separate awards not intended for direct comparison. Many institutions confer three levels of Latin honors, as follows: •
cum laude, meaning "with praise" (or "with honor") • In North America, this honor is typically awarded to graduates in the top 25 percent (or 30 percent) of their class. •
magna cum laude, meaning "with great honor" • In North America, this honor is typically awarded to graduates in the top 10 percent (or 15 percent) of their class; this is the highest honor awarded at some institutions. •
summa cum laude, meaning "with highest honor" • In North America, this honor is typically awarded to graduates in the top 1 to 5 percent of their class. Because Latin honors are often conferred to the approximate
class rank whereby students also receive the dean's list (as the top 10 to 15 percent),
magna and
summa cum laude are usually held in higher regard. A dean's list may therefore be seen as equal to (or more prestigious than)
cum laude, depending on the specific requirements involved.
Comparison to GPA The dean's list
GPA requirements vary from school to school, although there are general standards: • With the GPA scale from 0 to 4, 4 being an A, the dean's list cutoff is typically around 3.5 to 3.7. • Top 10 percent of the class in GPA Different from an academic
scholarship, the dean's list award does not come with any
financial aid. However, students high on the dean's list are often offered extra financial aid, especially if they express a desire to transfer or exhibit more financial need.
Comparison to British classifications In the
United Kingdom,
colleges and
universities may utilize variations of the
British degree classifications to distinguish students of high scholarship. The classification system as currently used in the United Kingdom, for example, was developed in 1918. The system was implemented based on one from the 16th century, when the
Regius Professor of Divinity at the
University of Cambridge implemented
norm referencing to distinguish the top 25 percent of candidates, the next 50 percent, and the bottom 25 percent. and there has been concern over possible
grade inflation due to increasing numbers of higher-class honours degrees awarded per annum. ==See also==