#  Honors 

 



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 Senior oral exam committees determine concentration honors on the basis of the student’s performance in the oral exam. This page explains History & Literature's concentration honors process. The concentration honors GPA scale used in History & Literature is available at the bottom of the page.

 History & Literature's honors recommendations for joint concentrators take into consideration thesis readings from both concentrations, and a faculty member from the other concentration is often invited to participate in the senior oral exam that confirms honors for primary concentrators in History & Literature.



 

##  Concentration Honors 

 Based on a student's thesis grades, a Committee on Instruction (COI) subcommittee provides each oral exam committee with two English honors options: one recommended (or strongly recommended) grade, and another possible grade. The options are *Highest Honors*, *High Honors*, *Honors*, and *No Honors*.   
  
Students will be informed of the COI subcommittee recommendation when they receive their thesis readings. To be eligible to graduate with *Honors* in History & Literature, a student must have a concentration GPA of at least 3.0 and receive at least one honors grade on the thesis. To be eligible to graduate with *Highest Honors* in History & Literature, a student must have a concentration GPA of at least 3.85 and receive at least one *summa* or *summa minus* grade on the thesis. To receive a COI subcommittee recommendation of *High Honors*, a student must have a concentration GPA of at least 3.64.

 The senior oral exam committee will assign one of the two possible grades. A student must have a strong performance on the oral exam to earn the higher grade. Students will receive their final concentration honors in a letter from History & Literature shortly after Reading Period ends.



 

##  Latin Honors 

 While English honors (also known as departmental honors) are determined by History & Literature based solely on work done in the concentration, Latin honors (also known as College honors) are awarded based on the entirety of the student record.

 Recommendations for Latin honors are made to the Governing Boards of the University by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. If departmental honors are awarded, the student may then be recommended to the College for a determination of Latin honors. Thus, the awarding of departmental honors for work in a concentration is a precondition for the recommendation by the College of Latin honors in a field. The standards used to determine Latin honors each May will be applied at subsequent degree meetings until the following May.

 Both English honors and Latin honors are noted on the official transcript. Only Latin honors are designated on the diploma. See the Harvard College Handbook for Students for more information on Latin Honors.



 

##  Concentration GPA 

 All courses that count for concentration credit are factored into the concentration GPA, which can be found on the Academic Advising Report. Grades for courses taken in the second semester of the student’s senior year are not included in the concentration GPA.

 If the student is a joint concentrator, courses in both the primary and allied programs are taken into consideration in calculating a joint concentrator's concentration GPA.



 

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###    Honors GPA scale  expand\_more  

 

Sort    Summa 

  3.925 - 4.000 

    Summa minus 

  3.850 - 3.924 

    Magna plus 

  3.781 - 3.849 

    Magna 

  3.710 - 3.780 

    Magna minus 

  3.640 - 3.709 

    Cum plus 

  3.427 - 3.639 

    Cum 

  3.213 - 3.426 

    Cum minus 

  3.000 - 3.212