summa cum laude?

[yjj8817]

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Is getting summa cum laude a big deal? My school requires significant research experience, senior thesis, and a good gpa to get it. I have 3.9+ gpa so I was wondering if that is good enough?

 

[SunsFun]

Big deal to who? To me it isn't. The adcoms probably don't care either.

 

[Reckoner]

I have 3.9+ gpa so I was wondering if that is good enough?

Can't comment on how schools will view it, but whether a 3.9 is good enough for summa cum laude will depend entirely on your school.

 

[Aerus]

I mean, no harm in mentioning it with your awards and other honors. It gives an idea about how you're doing compared to the general school population, right?

 

[yjj8817]

I definitely fulfill the gpa requirement but I never did the senior thesis or signed up for research credits at my school, which is required for summa cum laude. This is my last semester of college so I would graduate with only "cum laude", not "summa cum laude". So you think only having 3.9+ gpa is good enough?

 

[darkjedi]

It definitely can't hurt. If anything it's another metric to gauge your relative performance to your peers at your institution. For what it's worth, I included my latin honors as well, but mainly as a way to show that my 'lower' GPA was more a result of grade deflation at my school. I was hoping the adcoms would take note of my performance near the top of my class over the hard numbers of my GPA.

 

[Reckoner]

I definitely fulfill the gpa requirement but I never did the senior thesis or signed up for research credits at my school, which is required for summa cum laude. This is my last semester of college so I would graduate with only "cum laude", not "summa cum laude". So you think only having 3.9+ gpa is good enough?

To get into med school? Sure, as long as everything else is in order. Sounds like you can't get summa though.

 

[Ismet]

Is getting summa cum laude a big deal?

No. The name itself is not really a big deal. The things that go into achieving that name (research, thesis) is what would be nice to have, but again not necessary. And you really can't do anything about it at this point, right?

 

[Pacna]

Oh, laude!

(Sorry, I just say this in my head every time someone mentions this)

 

[TooMuchResearch]

Medical schools like to see accomplishments. It's probably not a huge deal, but it won't hurt.

 

[Cinclus]

The fact that you have a 3.9+ GPA is loads more important. An otherwise solid app will not be hurting too badly for the mention of summa cum laude.

 

[darklabel]

I would mention it. It won't be a game changer, but it isn't something that everyone gets (besids everyone in SDN 😛). According to my graduating class statistic, most people didn't even get Cum Laude and this is at a state school.

I mentioned I graduated cum laude and my interviewer noted how impressive it was to come back from a low GPA freshman year to achieve that, so some ad coms may notice.

 

[I Love Cats]

At my institution, honors are given purely based on GPA. 3.8+ is summa cum laude. I feel like to require research for the title as well is abnormal. I really doubt any adcom will care, as most schools I presume are like mine and assume honors based on gpa alone. Your school, is it private and small?

To write a thesis and start research to base it off of in less than a semester is just nearly impossible unless you have the most perfect setup ever. Don't worry about it. Your gpa is what matters.

 

[Jennyfishy]

Every school has slightly different criteria for earning the title. For the sciences at my undergrad, it was a gpa cutoff relative to the gpa avg for that field (3.85 sciences, 3.8 engineering, etc). However, for L&S majors, they also had to have research + a senior thesis.

Tl; dr the title itself is just for bragging rights, but the reqs you fulfill (high gpa etc.) Is what is more important

 

[Temerit]

At my school summa cum laude for the entire college of Arts & Sciences is 3.96+, which at my school is insanely impressive. I don't know a single science major with a GPA that high (it's a top public school that doesn't do letter grades, so you can get a 3.9 in a class and it's still technically an A).

I'll make cum laude, but not magna or summa.

I'd include it on your app if you do end up getting it, but I don't think it really will be taken to mean much, considering at most schools I think it's an honor that's strictly based on cumulative GPA (though that isn't the case at your school).

 

[mcloaf]

At my institution, honors are given purely based on GPA. 3.8+ is summa cum laude. I feel like to require research for the title as well is abnormal. I really doubt any adcom will care, as most schools I presume are like mine and assume honors based on gpa alone.

Some schools do it based on GPA percentile from among the class which, IMO, is a much more legit way. My school used to do it by raw GPA but then realized that the honors were meaningless because half the class was getting them every year.

 

[Doctor Strange]

The only real advantage is getting to wear the cool gold cord.