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To any recent HLS grads: any idea what GPA under the new grading system was required to get Latin Honors? Is it noted in the graduation program who gets honors?

Just a hunch, but I think it's about 55/45 H's/P's for cum laude and 83/17 for magna, maybe slightly easier.

Dean's Scholars probably change the analysis though, since there might be people with 80H/20P or so and above 4.0 because of Dean's Scholars. According to the website, summa cum laude is 4.75 (or highest student if no one is at that). So if you assume that one person every other year will hit 4.75 (about top 0.1%), and the average is 3.41 (4% DS, 37% H, 55% P, and 4% LP), and a normal distribution of grades, then the Magna cutoff is about 3.94 and the cum laude cutoff is about 3.51. I heard from one graduating student that magna is a shade above 3.9 and from another that you have to be at 4.0, so 3.94 seems like a reasonable best guess.

I've also heard that 8Hs/2Ps puts you on track for magna, although you have to do slightly better 2L and 3L.

I'm not quite sure where that leaves me. according to the "GPA" system, I have a 3.76 after 1L - think it's worth gunning for magna? I probably can't make it unless i start wracking up DSes.

If you want it. I mean I was at about 3.5 at the end of 1L year but I have been above 4.0 for both semesters of 2L; and I definitely worked less hard than I did as a 1L--I didn't even outline for most of my classes. A lot of people must straight-up stop trying at all after 1L. But then again, I'm not sure magna gets you anything since you'll already have applied for jobs and clerkships by then, and it would really suck to work hard and then just miss the cutoff since GPAs aren't listed on the grade sheets or anything.

I guess i'll keep trying for at least 2L and see where that gets me. Yeah, it would suck to work hard and just barely miss, but magna at HLS seems like its a honor worth having, even beyond the initial job/clerkship hunt.

Does getting honors at HLS make someone look as or more impressive than someone who went to YLS?

PhilEconCS wrote:Does getting honors at HLS make someone look as or more impressive than someone who went to YLS?

probably true for Magna, but not normal Cum Laude