General Honors

The regulations of the following three paragraphs apply to the awarding on graduation of the degree of Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude, magna cum laude, or cum laude:

A student with final average exactly matching or exceeding the final cumulative average of the lowest standing of the past three academic year’s top 5% of graduates will be awarded the degree summa cum laude.

A student with lower standing but with final average exactly matching or exceeding the final cumulative average of the lowest standing of the past three academic year’s top 15% of graduates will be awarded the degree magna cum laude.

A student with lower standing but with final average exactly matching or exceeding the final cumulative average of the lowest standing of the past three academic year’s top 35% of graduates will be awarded the degree cum laude.

The lowest averages for these three groups of graduates in the three academic years 2009-2010 through 2011-2012 were, in descending order 3.90, 3.78, 3.62. Accordingly, these values govern the awarding of the corresponding honors in 2012-2013.

A Senior Fellow may be eligible for these honors by application of the regulations already given, provided that the Committee on Senior Fellowships certifies that the level of his or her work during the fellowship year justifies the awarding of the honor.

The two students who attain the first and second highest standings for the college course shall be given respectively valedictory and salutatory honors (which shall not necessarily consist of appointments as commencement speakers). No student shall be eligible for salutatory or valedictory honors who has not been for at least three years a student at Dartmouth College.