As your teen racks up college credit, you may have heard about academic honors and wonder what they are and how to get them. This post gives you the short version.
The set of “cum laude” honors are also called “Latin Honors,” and the details are up to the individual college or university. While some colleges participate, not all do, so the fastest way to know is to use your college’s search box.
Fun Fact: As a school administrator, your homeschool high school can create and distribute honors to your students. You could award Latin honors or other types.
Some, but not all, colleges include credit brought in from prior institutions (high school dual enrollment), and some include it in the calculation. In my own bachelor’s degree, I brought in 90 credits using outside credits, so my entire GPA was built only using the last 30 credits I took with the university. This can go either way- my son’s bachelor’s degree included those early “C’s” from 10th-grade dual enrollment. The takeaway is that you can’t know ahead of time how your teen’s dual enrollment credit will come in unless you know where they will earn their degree- there is no reason to stress about this; just do your best.
The above chart is to give you an idea of what the various honors are, and I used it in my calculations below.
I don’t know anyone who can calculate an entire GPA for a bachelor’s degree in their head, so knowing how many B’s or C’s are too many must be done using a calculator. Use the calculator to play with scenarios. This is the one I used.
Pro Tip: While it is typical to weigh a high school GPA, college GPAs are unweighted. You’ll want to use a straight 4.0 calculator when computing your college grade point averages.
Associate Degree
An associate degree has approximately 60 college credits (20 classes). The question is, “How many A’s do I need?” The short answer is that you need “mostly A’s” to graduate with honors. Here are a few scenarios that will help you predict if you’re on track. Reminder: Check the actual GPA requirements for the specific Latin honors at your college. They may use a slightly different GPA scale than mine below.
| Grades | Summa Cum Laude 3.9 – 4.0 | Magna Cum Laude 3.7 – 3.8 | Cum Laude 3.5 – 3.6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 A’s | 4.00 | ||
| 19 A’s / 1 B | 3.95 | ||
| 19 A’s / 1 C | 3.90 | ||
| 18 A’s / 2 B’s | 3.90 | ||
| 17 A’s / 3 B’s | 3.85 | ||
| 17 A’s / 2 B’s / 1 C | 3.80 | ||
| 16 A’s / 4 B’s | 3.80 | ||
| 15 A’s / 5 B’s | 3.75 | ||
| 14 A’s / 6 B’s | 3.70 | ||
| 12 A’s / 8 B’s | 3.60 | ||
| 10 A’s / 10 B’s | 3.50 |
Bachelor’s Degree
A bachelor’s degree has approximately 120 college credits (40 classes). The question is, “How many A’s do I need?” The short answer is that you need “mostly A’s” to graduate with honors. Here are a few scenarios that will help you predict if you’re on track. Reminder: Check the actual GPA requirements for the specific Latin honors at your college. They may use a slightly different GPA scale than mine below.
| Grades | Summa Cum Laude 3.9 – 4.0 | Magna Cum Laude 3.7 – 3.8 | Cum Laude 3.5 – 3.6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 A’s | 4.00 | ||
| 38 A’s / 2 B’s | 3.95 | ||
| 38 A’s / 2 C’s | 3.90 | ||
| 36 A’s / 4 B’s | 3.90 | ||
| 34 A’s / 6 B’s | 3.85 | ||
| 34 A’s / 4 B’s / 2 C | 3.80 | ||
| 32 A’s / 8 B’s | 3.80 | ||
| 30 A’s / 10 B’s | 3.75 | ||
| 28 A’s / 12 B’s | 3.70 | ||
| 24 A’s / 16 B’s | 3.60 | ||
| 20 A’s / 20 B’s | 3.50 |
Tips for Earning Latin Honors
- While it is a wonderful goal, remember that not all colleges or universities offer Latin Honors, so it’s not critical to your future success either way.
- The more credits you complete, the less impact C or D will have on your overall GPA. It’s harder to pull up from a D or an F in an associate degree, but it can easily be done in a bachelor’s degree.
- You can receive honors with a few C’s on your transcript, but you should earn mostly A’s.
- If your college awards + or – be careful to track your GPA. Earning a high GPA in systems that include +/-is harder.
- When dividing up your valuable study hours, know how to distribute your time to get the best return. For example, say you’re working in 2 classes. In class 1, you have a solid “A” grade of 95%, but in class 2, you are on the line between an A and a “B” with an 89%. All of your efforts should be on bringing class 2 up to an “A.” Raising your existing 95% grade any higher doesn’t raise your GPA, but finishing the second class with a “B” will certainly lower your GPA.
- As early as possible in your college credit journey, learn how to read a rubric and syllabus to calculate assignment values. Knowing which homework assignments, tests, quizzes, etc., are the most important for the grade is not always obvious. I recall one dual enrollment class in which my son’s mid-term and final were the only two graded assignments! None of the homework assignments, while required, were part of his final grade! Understanding the rubric on day 1 made a huge difference in where he spent his valuable study time that semester (…and where he didn’t).
