Undergraduates in the Government Department often have questions about whether they are going to receive honors if they write a thesis. The answer is complicated because of the way in which honors are calculated at Harvard. We’ve written the explanation below to try to demystify the process.
We should note that we do not encourage students to write theses simply to qualify for honors. While writing a thesis can be a rewarding and transformative experience, it is also demanding and time-consuming, and it requires a significant amount of self-direction. We encourage students to talk with their concentration adviser about whether writing a thesis is right for them.
Honors at Harvard
There are two different types of honors that can be awarded to graduating seniors:
- English (or departmental) honors
- Latin (or College) honors
English honors are determined by your department. An honors candidate may be awarded “honors,” “high honors,” or “highest honors” (or “no honors”).
Latin honors are based on the English-honors determination and your overall GPA, as described below. A candidate for Latin honors may be awarded cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude (or “no honors”).
Only Latin honors are printed on your diploma, though English honors will appear on your final transcript.
English (Departmental) Honors
Each department has its own procedure for determining departmental honors. In the Government Department, writing a thesis is necessary to be a candidate for departmental honors.
The process used by the Government Department to calculate departmental honors is described at length in our thesis writer’s guide (pp. 42-45). To briefly summarize the process: the Department calculates a numerical score for your overall academic record in the concentration based on a combination of your thesis grades and your concentration GPA (and, for highest honors candidates, the results of an oral exam). We then create a rank list of all departmental honors candidates in a given year, and faculty committees decide where to draw the lines between “highest honors”, “high honors”, “honors,” and “no honors.” This process allows faculty to be sensitive to trends over time and to consider the unique makeup of each year’s graduating class. That said, all recipients of departmental honors must have received at least one honors grade on their senior thesis. In addition, while there are no strict GPA cutoffs for departmental honors, candidates tend to have high grades in their Government courses. For instance, for the graduating class of 2022, the average concentration GPA of recipients of any level of departmental honors was 3.823.
Latin (College) Honors
The determination of Latin honors is based on a combination of the departmental honors determination (see above) and GPA cutoffs. These cutoffs are based on the overall GPAs of the graduating class so that, at most, only a certain percentage of the graduating class receives Latin honors at each level: 5% summa cum laude, 15% magna cum laude, and 30% cum laude. These cutoffs are determined annually, right before commencement each year, and they fluctuate based on the grades of each year’s graduating class, making it impossible to predict exactly where the cutoffs will be drawn in the future. That said, last year’s cutoffs, which are published on the FAS Registrar’s website, provide some guidance for current students: for instance, a graduating senior whose overall GPA is below last year’s cutoff for cum laude in field is unlikely to graduate with Latin honors.
To determine Latin honors, the College starts with the departmental honors recommendations. Recipients of “highest honors” become candidates for summa cum laude, recipients of “high honors” become candidates for magna cum laude, and recipients of “honors” become candidates for cum laude in field. However, candidates’ overall GPAs also must meet the cutoffs determined annually by the College; otherwise, candidates will be awarded a lower level of Latin honors. For instance, a recipient of departmental “high honors” who does not meet the College’s GPA cutoff for magna cum laude will be awarded either cum laude in field or (if they also do not meet the GPA cutoff for cum laude in field) no Latin honors. For May 2023 graduates, the GPA cutoffs to receive Latin honors were as follows:
summa cum laude: 3.986
magna cum laude: 3.920
cum laude in field: 3.753
A small number of students with high overall GPAs who did not qualify for departmental honors—often because they did not write senior honors theses—also qualify for a type of Latin honors. These students, whose overall GPAs place them in the top 10% of the graduating class, will graduate “cum laude for the overall record.” The GPA cutoff for that level of Latin honors is the same as the GPA cutoff for magna cum laude.