Both are Latin honours awarded at graduation, and summa outranks magna. The full ladder runs cum laude, then magna cum laude, then summa cum laude at the top. The thresholds are set by each institution, so the same phrase means different things at different universities.
The core difference
- cum laude — with praise or with honour. The entry level.
- magna cum laude — with great praise. The middle.
- summa cum laude — with highest praise. The top.
The Latin does the ranking
Magna means great; summa means highest, the same root as summit and sum. Once that is clear the order is not something to memorise: greatest praise beats great praise.
The thresholds are institutional
There is no national or international standard. One university may award summa to the top one per cent of a class, another to anyone above a fixed grade average. Some use class rank, some use a GPA cutoff, and some cap the proportion who can receive it. Two identical transcripts can therefore earn different honours at different institutions, which is why the phrase alone does not indicate a fixed level of achievement.
Where it is and is not used
Latin honours are standard in the United States and in parts of Europe, including the Netherlands and Belgium. They are not used in the UK, which awards classified degrees instead — first class, upper second, lower second, third. There is no clean equivalence between the two systems, and attempts to map first class onto summa are approximations at best.
Harvard is a notable outlier in adding a fourth level, egregia cum laude, for certain departmental honours.
Grammar and typography
- The phrases are conventionally set in italics as Latin, though many institutions no longer bother.
- They are adverbial: one graduates summa cum laude. Writing a summa cum laude student is common but strictly loose.
- Cum here is simply the Latin preposition meaning with, and appears the same way in magnum opus and curriculum vitae.
Frequently asked questions
Which is higher, magna or summa cum laude?
Summa. The order is cum laude, then magna cum laude, then summa cum laude — from with praise, to with great praise, to with highest praise.
What GPA earns summa cum laude?
There is no standard. Each institution sets its own threshold, whether by grade average, class rank or a capped proportion of the class.
Do UK universities award Latin honours?
No. The UK uses classified degrees — first class, upper second, lower second, third — and there is no exact equivalence between the systems.