Magna Cum Laude Meaning: Latin Honors Explained

Latin honors are a form of academic achievement based on a student’s cumulative grade point average (GPA). Usually given out as graduation honors for high school and undergraduate students, Latin honors fall into three main categories of academic distinction: cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude.

Harvard University first gave out these honors in 1869. Schools in the United States and Canada commonly award these honors, as do schools in other parts of the world, such as Indonesia and the Philippines. Students need a minimum GPA to achieve this class rank; eligibility may vary from school to school, but the Latin honor will almost always tie to a high school or college student’s cumulative GPA across the four academic years.

The Latin word “laude” means “praise,” so “magna cum laude” means “with great praise” or, sometimes, “with great distinction.” The magna cum laude distinction is higher than the cum laude one but lower than the highest honor, summa cum laude. Different colleges and schools will have different cutoffs for these awards; mean GPA requirements vary from school to school. There will not be a set bar for graduating magna cum laude; instead, students must graduate in the top five percent, ten percent, or fifteen percent of their class, depending on the institution’s rules.

A magna cum laude distinction is highly desirable because it shows you graduated toward the very top of your class. This designation indicates you are diligent, hardworking, and have a natural knack for learning new topics, which can be appealing when applying for higher education or future jobs. Higher degree programs, such as law schools, prize these academic honors. Students with Latin honors designations often list this achievement in an awards section on their résumé to boost their chances of getting into competitive schools.

Summa cum laude and magna cum laude are highly prestigious academic distinctions; the only difference is summa cum laude ranks higher and is the topmost tier of academic excellence. The Latin phrase “summa cum laude” means “with the highest praise” or “with the highest distinction,” and “magna cum laude” means “with great praise.” Valedictorians (those graduating with the highest GPA) and salutatorians (those with the second-highest ranking GPA) typically graduate summa cum laude.

How schools separate magna cum laude honors from summa cum laude depends on the number of people in the graduating class and their respective GPAs. In some institutions, Latin honors fall into a certain GPA. Typically, summa cum laude is for the top one, two, or five percent of the class, while magna cum laude may be for the top five, ten, or fifteen percent of the graduating class.

One does not have to have perfect grades to graduate magna cum laude because the honor takes into account other students’ academic performance. If the top-most people in the class are B+ students, having a B might mean you qualify for magna cum laude, depending on your school’s cutoff GPA.

However, you can plan to hopefully achieve magna cum laude if you commit to intense studying throughout your academic career. You will have to outperform other students on tests, which can be a challenge, and you may also enroll in honors classes, which, if your school offers weighted GPAs, may mean you have a better chance of increasing your mean grade point average. Academic institutions intend for magna cum laude to be difficult, so frequent studying or collaborating with a tutor might be necessary to achieve this distinction.

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