Editing Latin honors (section)

==English-speaking countries==
===<span class="anchor" id="North America"></span>United States===
====Distinctions====
{{redirect-distinguish|Summa cum laude|Summa Cum Laude Festival}}
Most American colleges and universities use Latin honors for [[bachelor's degree]]s and for the [[Juris Doctor]] degree, but not for other degrees such as [[master's degrees]] or the [[Doctor of Philosophy|Ph.D.]] and [[Doctor of Medicine|M.D.]] degrees. There are three standard levels of Latin honors:
*''[[Wiktionary:cum laude|cum laude]]'' (English: {{IPAc-en|k|u|m|_|ˈ|l|aʊ|d|eɪ}}), meaning "with praise", typically awarded to graduates in the top 20%, 25%, or 33% of their class, depending on the institution.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.nyu.edu/life/resources-and-services/nyu-studentlink/registration-records-and-graduation/graduation-and-diplomas/graduation-honors.html | title = Graduation Honors | work = NYU | publisher = New York University | quote = Effective with the September 2008 graduating class,... the GPA cutoffs for each category are determined by the combined GPA distribution from the preceding academic year, all graduation moments included. ''Summa cum laude'': the GPA included within the top 5 percent of the previous year's graduating class. ''Magna cum laude'': the GPA included within the next 10 percent of the previous year's class. ''Cum laude'': the GPA included within the next 15 percent of the previous year's class. | access-date = January 12, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.bu.edu/reg/graduation/latin-honors/ | title = Latin Honors | work = BU, Office of the University Registrar | publisher = [[Boston University]] | quote = Among graduating seniors in each school or college, Latin Honors are awarded to the top 30% of the class as follows: Summa Cum Laude Top 5%, Magna Cum Laude Next 10%, Cum Laude Next 15% | access-date = January 12, 2017}}</ref>
*{{anchor|magna cum laude}}''[[Wiktionary:magna cum laude|magna cum laude]]'' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|æ|g|n|ə}}), meaning "with great praise", typically awarded to graduates in the top 5%, 10%, or 15% of their class, depending on the institution.
*{{Visible anchor|Summa cum laude|text=[[Wiktionary:summa cum laude|''summa cum laude'']]}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|uː|m|ə}}), meaning "with highest praise", typically awarded to graduates in the top 1%, 2%, or 5% of their class, depending on the institution. Some institutions do not award the ''summa cum laude'' distinction or award it only in extraordinary circumstances.

====History====
In 1869, [[Harvard College]] became the first college in the United States to award final honors to its graduates. From 1872 to 1879, ''cum laude'' and ''summa cum laude'' were the two Latin honors awarded to graduates. Beginning in 1880, ''magna cum laude'' was also awarded. In his 1895 history of [[Amherst College]], college historian [[William Seymour Tyler]] traced Amherst's system of Latin honors to 1881, and attributed it to Amherst College president [[Julius Hawley Seelye]]:

{{poemquote|Instead of attempting to fix the rank of every individual student by minute divisions on a scale of a hundred as formerly, five grades of scholarship were established and degrees were conferred upon the graduating classes according to their grades. If a student was found to be in the first or lowest grade, he was not considered as a candidate for a degree, though he might receive a certificate stating the facts in regard to his standing; if he appeared in the second grade the degree of A.B. was conferred upon him ''rite;'' if in the third, ''cum laude''; if in the fourth, ''magna cum laude''; while if he reached the fifth grade he received the degree ''summa cum laude''. The advantages of this course, as stated to the trustees by the president, are that it properly discriminates between those who, though passing over the same course of study, have done it with great differences of merit and of scholarship, and that it furnishes a healthy incentive to the best work without exciting an excessive spirit of emulation.

The new system of administration, of which the above is a part, is so original and peculiar that it is known as the Amherst System.|''A History of Amherst College During the Administrations of Its First Five Presidents, from 1821 to 1891''<ref name=Amherst>{{cite book | chapter-url = http://www3.amherst.edu/~rjyanco94/amherst/history/1894tyler-ws/chapter11/menu.html | chapter = 11: The Burning of Walker Hall—The Buildings Erected During the Administration—The 'Amherst System'—Amherst College Reaches Its Highest Prosperity—Resignation of President Seelye | title =A History of Amherst College During the Administrations of Its First Five Presidents, from 1821 to 1891 | first = William S. | last = Tyler | author-link = William Seymour Tyler| location = New York | publisher = Frederick H. Hitchcock | year = 1895 | url = https://archive.org/details/historyofamherst00tyle_0 | access-date = January 12, 2017 }}</ref>}}

=== United Kingdom ===
{{further|British undergraduate degree classification}}
[[File:Degree Certificate from the University of Wales.jpg|thumb|[[University of Wales]] degree certificate in Latin, 1984]] In the [[Education in the UK|UK]], the Latin ''cum laude'' is used in commemorative Latin versions of degree certificates sold by a few universities (e.g. the [[University of Edinburgh]]) to denote a [[honours degree|bachelor's degree with honours]], but the honours classification is stated as in English, e.g. ''primi ordinis'' for first class rather than ''summa cum laude'', etc.  Official degree certificates use English.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.ed.ac.uk/student-administration/graduations/latin-parchment |title=Souvenir Latin Parchment | access-date=16 March 2023| work = Student Administration| publisher = [[University of Edinburgh]]}}</ref>