I made this table a few months ago for our SBA president to show to the faculty, and I thought it might be useful and interesting to LG readers. It compares the Top 68 schools (a weird number, I know) and their honors graduation requirements.
I do have authority for all of the current data, so if you’re interested in any stat in particular, just let me know via comment.
Additionally, if you can fill in any of the data with ?’s, please feel free to do so via comment (but please link to some authority).
Cheers.
| Rank | School | Cum Laude | Magna | Summa | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yale | n/a | n/a | n/a | |
| 2 | Harvard | 30% | 10% | 1% | |
| 3 | Stanford | ||||
| 4 | Columbia | ? | |||
| 5 | NYU | 25% | 10% | by vote | |
| 6 | UC Berkeley | ? | |||
| 6 | Chicago | 179 (high B avg) | 180.5 | 182 | |
| 8 | UPenn | ? | |||
| 9 | UMich | 3.4 | 3.7 | 4.0 | |
| 10 | Duke | 35% | 15% | by vote | |
| 10 | Northwestern | 30% | 3% | by vote | |
| 10 | Virginia | ? | |||
| 13 | Cornell | 30% | 10% | by vote | |
| 14 | Georgetown | 33.33% (3.46) | 10% (3.67) | by vote | |
| 15 | UCLA | ? | |||
| 15 | UT Austin | 3.35 | 3.85 | 4.05 | |
| 17 | Vanderbilt | ||||
| 18 | USC | ? | |||
| 19 | Washington U | 33.33% | 10% | 0.02 | |
| 20 | BU | 3.51 | 3.71 | 4.0 | |
| 20 | Emory | ? | |||
| 20 | Minnesota | 3.3 | 3.5 | 4.0 | |
| 23 | Indiana U | 30% | 10% | 0.01 | |
| 23 | UofI | ? | |||
| 23 | Notre Dame | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.8 | |
| 26 | BC | 3.425 | 3.643 | 3.791 | |
| 26 | Iowa | 37.50% | 12.50% | 3.9 | |
| 28 | William & Mary | ? | |||
| 28 | George Wash | ? | |||
| 30 | Fordham | 25% | 10% | #1-2 | |
| 30 | Alabama | 25% | 15% | 0.05 | |
| 30 | North Carolina | 33% | 10% | 3.9 | |
| 30 | U Washington | 20% | 5% | ||
| 30 | Wash & Lee | ? | |||
| 35 | Ohio State | ? | |||
| 35 | UC Davis | n/a | n/a | n/a | |
| 35 | Georgia | 48% | 10.50% | 0.02 | |
| 35 | Wisconsin | 3.35 | 3.65 | 3.85 | |
| 39 | UC Hastings | 30% | 10% | 0.01 | |
| 40 | Wake Forest | ? | |||
| 41 | Brigham Young | 3.45 | 3.6 | 3.8 or 2% | |
| 41 | George Mason | 20-25% | 10% | 0.01 | |
| 43 | U Arizona | 25% | 14% | 0.07 | |
| 43 | Maryland | 33% | 10% | 0.05 | |
| 45 | American | 30 | 7 | 3 | |
| 45 | Tulane | ? | |||
| 45 | UC Boulder | ? | |||
| 45 | Utah | ? | |||
| 49 | Southern Methodist | 3.2 | 3.6 | 3.8 | |
| 49 | Yeshiva | 15% | 3% | 3.8 + faculty vote | |
| 51 | U Florida | 3.3 | 3.7 | 3.9 | |
| 52 | Florida State | 84 | 89 | 93 | |
| 52 | U Cincinnati | 30% | 15% | 0.05 | |
| 52 | U Conn | 30% | 6% | 0.01 | |
| 55 | Arizona State | At least top 25% | At least 10% | "93.00+" | |
| 55 | Case Western | 3.4 | 3.65 | 3.9 | |
| 55 | Pepperdine | 25% | 7% | 0.02 | |
| 55 | U Kentucky | ? | |||
| 59 | U Houston | 3.37 | 3.5 | 3.76 | |
| 59 | U Tennessee | 3.0 & 33% | 3.3 & 15% | 3.5 & 5% | |
| 61 | Brooklyn | ? | |||
| 61 | Lewis & Clark | 3.3 | 3.65 | 3.85 | |
| 61 | U San Diego | 15% | 5% | #1 | |
| 61 | Villanova | ? | |||
| 65 | Baylor | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.8 | |
| 65 | Georgia State | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.8 | |
| 65 | Penn State | 10% (~3.56) | 5% (~3.66) | 2% (~3.85) | |
| 65 | Temple | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.8 | |
| T3 | Mercer University | 25% | 7.5% | 94+ (usually not given out) |
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{ 30 comments… read them below or add one }
Here are the criteria for the University of Houston (59).
Cum laude: 3.37
Magna cum laude: 3.50
Summa cum laude: 3.76
Source: http://www.law.uh.edu/student/2010CommencementInformationPacket.pdf
Oh, and I meant to say that the info is on page 9 of the source.
Notre Dame is 3.4 cum laude, 3.6 magna cum laude, 3.8 summa cum laude.
http://www.nd.edu/~ndlaw/currentstudents/hoynes/hoynes_code_brochure.pdf (p 33)
@Natalie, Added, thanks!
@Irish, Confirmed + added. Thanks!
Yale does not compute rank, so it does not give Latin honors: http://www.law.yale.edu/academics/jdgrades.htm
@yls, I knew that, but I couldn’t find anything that explicitly said “no honors,” so I held out. I’ll update now. Thanks!
Mercer University
cum laude = top 25%
magna cum laude = top 7.5%
summa cum laude = GPA of 94 or higher (usually not given out).
Page 22 of source: http://www.law.mercer.edu/life/studenthandbook.pdf
Emory
“with honors” = 3.45 GPA (looking at NALP law school directory, this is about top 30%; probably equivalent to cum laude)
“with high honors” = 3.80 GPA (top 10% on NALP is 3.662)
@anonymoose, Got a source?
@anonymoose, sorry, you’d been automatically marked as spam for some reason. Table’s been updated with those numbers. Thanks.
Harvard cum laude is anyone in the top 40%, excluding the top 10% who are magna cum laude. Summa is anyone with a 7.2 in GPA, which is usually one or zero people each year.
@ZZ, Oh my bad, looks like they changed the summa criteria.
But it’s misleading to say cum laude is 30% when it’s for anyone in the top 40%.
http://www.law.harvard.edu/academics/handbook/rules-relating-to-law-school-studies/requirements-for-the-j.d.-degree.html#MGraduationwithHonors
GW can be found here:
http://www.law.gwu.edu/Students/Records/Pages/GradePolicy.aspx
Columbia awards each year, as opposed to based on three years’ performance, and gives high honors (“Kent”) to GPAs over 3.8 (2-11%) and honors (“Stone”) to those over 3.410 (29-45%). See:
GPA cutoffs: http://www.law.columbia.edu/academics/registrar/Acad_Recog
Percentiles: http://www.law.columbia.edu/careers/career_services/employers/Hiring_Informat/Grading_and_Hon
Vandy Law has Order of the Coif, which goes to the top ten percent of graduating 3Ls. The cutoff GPA isn’t published (because Vandy Law doesn’t rank) but word is that it’s usually around 3.7.
While some schools use percentages and others GPAs, the GPAs may effectively translate into percentages at many schools because most schools these days have some type of grade normalization policy (e.g., mandatory mean grade range, mandatory grade distribution for most classes, etc.).
I have no direct link for this (without linking you to an image of my transcript, which I will not do publicly), but Illinois’ cutoffs are as follows:
Cum Laude = 3.25+
Magna Cum Laude = 3.50+
Summa Cum Laude = 3.75+
Also, Order of the Coif has the following requirements:
Standard Students = Top 10%, rounded DOWN
Transfer Students = Top 10%, BUT the school recalculates ALL students’ GPAs as though they also got to drop their 1L grades, and then compares the transfer’s GPAs to those of the “modified” standard students to determine top 10%.
Rickert Awards for Academic Excellence: 8 Awarded. Top 8 GPAs.
Rickert Awards for Excellence in Legal Writing: 8 Awarded. Professor must nominate a paper (or students can nominate a paper), and then faculty votes on best papers.
Rickert Awards for Advocacy: Up to 8 Awarded. Faculty votes based on litigation courseload and performance, trial team, moot court, etc . . .
Rickert Awards for Public Service: Up to 8 Awarded. Vague and nebulous as to how awarded. Many of the students who have mediocre grades, but participated in a lot of service to the public or service to the law school (SBA president, etc . . .) win this thing.
Hope this helps.
Illinois Grade above is correct.
To provide some perspective on what a 3.5 GPA is(i.e., magna cutoff), it is about top 35% of the class. The 3.75 GPA (summa cutoff) i would take an educated guess at being top ~12%. Who the hell knows how many undeserving students at UIUC get cum laude (60+%).
@Illinois Grad,
https://www.law.uiuc.edu/academics/pdf/handbook_academic_policy.pdf
coif and latin honors are on page 17-18
Wow! Fordham 25% cum laude, 10% magna, and #1-2 summa. When I graduated in the mid 90′s, there were people who made Order of the Coif yet graduated w/o honors (not even cum laude). That means less than 10% of my class got honors.
My degree/resume would have at least cum laude on it and perhaps magna (as Coif is top 10%, but not automatic–must be voted in I believe). What a difference those 2 or 3 words would have made over my professional career.
I did not think it possible to hate the law school more than I ever did (loved the profs, loved my classmates, hated the institution and all the verminous employees).
Another milestone. Thanks!
UChicago has released approximate percentages for its honors ratings:
Highest Honors = 182+ ( .4%)
High Honors = 180.5+ and pre-2002 180+ (3.8%)
Honors = 179+ and pre-2002 178+ (19%)
The GPA cutoffs for BC’s latin honors vary from year to year, as they are actually based on class rank, as follows:
Summa – Top 1%
Magna – Top 10%
Cum – Top 33%
Compare:
http://www.bc.edu/schools/law/meta-elements/pdf/Honors_Class_of_2009.pdf
With:
http://www.bc.edu/schools/law/meta-elements/pdf/Grade_Distribution_Class_of_20.pdf
The GPA cutoffs listed in the above chart reflect the distribution of honors for the class of 2009. For the 2008 honors, see: http://www.bc.edu/schools/law/services/academic/memos/memos1.html
You have erred re Univ of San Diego Law cutoffs, although you got most of it right. The error is cum laude: it is the top 15% of the class, not top 10% (that is, it is the “next 10%”, after the 5% cutoff for magna cum laude). I just called the registrar’s office to confirm. Also, USD now (and for some years, but not when I was there) has Coif, which is not a school award, but does also signify a 10% cutoff. Finally, USD now only issues numerical rankings for the top 20% of students, leaving the rest to bask in the bliss of the great mass, but also does publish on its web pages the grade point cutoffs for various levels for different academic years, current and going back to 2005 (which was also about when they switched from a 0-100 grading system to the more usual A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc.), so one can assert a level if it matters.
@Old USD cum laude Law Grad, Great, thanks for the correction. I’m about to update accordingly.
summa-top 2% by vote
magna-top 15%
cum-top 33%
Harvard now reserves Summa for the top kid in the class.
Just to verify- do the schools that are blank (Stanford and Vanderbilt) not do latin honors? Thanks!
Hey, do you know where you got the Georgetown Law figure from? How recent is the 3.46 cut off? I am a rising 3L with a shot at graduating with honors, and I recognize that the top third cutoff (cum laude) changes from year to year, but I want an estimate to shoot for.
UNM Law is as follows:
cum laude 3.40
magna cum laude 3.60
summa cum laude 3.80
http://lawschool.unm.edu/academics/awards/honors.php
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