What cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude mean

The three Latin honours

The phrases are Latin, and the Oxford Learner's Dictionaries translate them as follows:

• Cum laude: "with praise". The third of the three levels.
• Magna cum laude: "with great praise". The second level.
• Summa cum laude: "with highest praise". The highest level.

The dictionary marks these as a US usage: in the United States they are the usual way to recognise graduates with the strongest academic records.

How institutions decide who earns them

There is no national rule. Each institution sets its own criteria, and they differ in kind, not only in the numbers. Some examples from official US policies:

The same phrase can therefore mean "top 5% of this year's class" at one university and "a GPA of 3.90 or more" at another. A reader comparing graduates of different institutions should look up each institution's rule.

In Spain: cum laude on a doctoral thesis

In Spain the phrase belongs mainly to the doctorate. Under Real Decreto 99/2011, which regulates doctoral studies, the examining committee grades a thesis as no apto, aprobado, notable or sobresaliente, and may award the mention cum laude if the overall grade is sobresaliente and the secret vote is unanimously in favour. The Royal Spanish Academy's dictionary records the same use: sobresaliente cum laude, the highest mark.

In Latin America

Usage varies by university. At the Universidad de La Sabana in Colombia, for example, the doctoral regulation grades a thesis on a numerical scale and reserves cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude for the highest marks, with the two highest requiring a unanimous jury. Mexico's UNAM, by contrast, uses a mención honorífica rather than the Latin phrases.

Not the same as UK degree classes

Most UK universities use a degree classification instead: first-class honours, the highest; upper and lower second-class honours (2:1 and 2:2); and third-class honours, typically the lowest. A first is not a summa cum laude and a 2:1 is not a magna: the two systems measure different things in different ways, and translating one into the other misleads the reader.

Putting a distinction on a certificate

• Use your institution's exact wording. If your rules say "magna cum laude", print that; do not translate it.
• Say it once, near the award. "Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude" reads better than a separate line.
• Keep the rule findable. A short line or a link to your academic regulations tells a foreign reader what the distinction required.
• Make it part of what is verified. A distinction that appears on the paper but not on the verification page invites doubt.

In Emitcert, a distinction is part of the certificate's words: it is copied in when the certificate is granted, covered by the signature and shown on the verification page exactly as printed.