What is Magna Cum Laude?
Magna cum laude is a Latin phrase meaning “with great honor,” and it is awarded to students who have displayed remarkable academic distinction. As a general rule, Latin honors are used for undergraduate college degrees only, although they sometimes appear in high schools and at the graduate level. There are also no universal standard for Latin honors, so a magna cum laude degree can mean different things, depending on the institution which awarded it. There are three levels of Latin honors. The first is a cum laude degree, which indicates academic distinction, and an ability to go to extra effort as a student. The next is the magna cum laude honor, which is higher than the cum laude distinction, suggesting that the student worked even harder for his or her degree. Finally, the summa cum laude honor means “with highest honors,” indicating that the student is at the top of his or her graduating class in terms of academic distinction and talent. Honors are typically awarded to students wi
