Your resume plays a vital role in projecting your capabilities as a prospective employee. Hence, you would undoubtedly take pride in receiving Latin Honors; these are hard-earned, after all.
But in a more practical sense, beyond medals and certificates, where do these awards go on your resume?
Here are 4 experts and their inputs plus case-by-case examples that can give you an idea on how to list them on your resume.
Table of Contents
Latin Honors are listed only in the Bachelor Degrees
They are not recognized in graduate degrees for most universities because, in most schools and grad programs, it is required to have no less than a B (*3.0 GPA) for any/all classes in one’s major discipline to graduate from the program. Thus it’s a mandated grade achievement already; indicating summa, magna, etc., is a moot point.
Educational degree will be noted on the last page
The educational degree will be noted on the last page of the resume if the resume owner has been out of school for a while and done years of career work since graduation.
For example:
FORMAL EDUCATION:
08/87
Bachelor of Science, Psychology
San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
GPA: 3.81 magna cum laude
Courses: (name or list any or all courses completed during this degree relative to job or career. No need for the course ID numbers; only the course titles for keywords)
Note education at the top
If the job seeker is a new career/market applicant, then they would note their education at the top in a one-line mention, without the date. Then, elaborate. The reason to note this education / Latin honor at the top of the resume is that they need to emphasize their education because there isn’t much to include in a career at this point.
Related: How to Write a Resume for the First Time
Once the resume owner has at least 2-3 years of experience under their belt, it’s time to move the entire Education section to the bottom of the resume.
As an example:
OBJECTIVE: Program Analyst / Purchasing or Authorizing Officer
EXPERIENCE SUMMARY:
- 11 years, Program Administrative Management (Environmental, Government Contracting)
- 8 years, FinancialPrograms Analyst (HAZMAT, Environmental, Purchasing, Acquisition)
- 2 years, United States Air Force Airman/E2, Honorable Discharge: 08/03
FORMAL EDUCATION:
05/11
Associates of Science, Business Administrative Support Technologies
Thomas Nelson Community College, Hampton, VA
magna cum laude, GPA: 3.7
Courses: Desktop Publishing (MS Publisher), Business Law, Business Letter Writing, Composition, Consumer Economics, Editing/Proofreading, Ethics, Business, Computer Applications and Concepts, Office Technology, Keyboarding, Microcomputer Office Applications, Office Administration, Accounting, Records and Database Management, Technical Writing, Word Processing Advanced Operation
Most of the time, Latin Honors should naturally be listed in the education section of the resume. That said, there are certain exceptions where it makes more sense to include it as a separate section or remove it altogether.
Consider what you are applying for
As a general rule of thumb, the more work experience you acquire, the less important your education becomes.
It all comes down to what you have done lately vs. how high your college marks were five to ten years ago.
The approach is quite inverse, however, when you’re applying for academic positions, graduate schools, or are a freshly minted college grad. Here, your education is the biggest selling point due to the nature of the position you’re applying for or the fact that it is literally what you’ve done most recently.
Therefore, this is the time to shine, and being able to include Latin Honors will certainly help your chances and makes for a wonderful icing on the cake.
So how should one include it?
Many roads lead to Rome, so there isn’t one specific way.
But, I’m of the opinion that including the italicized Latin version (vs. say Highest Honors) as it has more gravitas and noticeability about it.
Some examples:
09/2015 – 05/2019
Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, summa cum laude
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
09/2015 – 05/2019
B.A. in Economics
Honors: summa cum laude (GPA 3.86)
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
09/2015 – 05/2019
BSc in Biology, Graduated with Highest Honors
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
09/2015 – 05/2019
BA with High Honors in Political Theory
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Ultimately, listing the Latin Honors can be part of the Education section or separately as a bullet point:
- Graduated magna cum laude
Mention it in the education section
There are usually two ways you can list your Latin honors. The more common way is to mention it in the education section of your resume.
For example:
Ohio State University – Columbus, OH – Graduated 2015
Bachelor of Science in Finance
Honors: magna cum laude (GPA: 3.8/3.9)
List under the achievements or academic awards section
If you already have an achievements or academic awards section, you can also consider listing it there as well.
For example:
Graduated magna cum laude
GPA 3.8/3.9
President of Stocks Investment Club
Valedictorian – Class of 2015
As a recent college graduate, it might be everything but easy to find your first entry-level job.
The good news is, you can increase your chances of securing employment if you know how to spotlight your academic background.
First, you want to decide where to put cum laude on your resume.
You can create a stand-alone ‘Honors and Awards’ section for achievements and academic awards and list cum laude in the form of a bullet point next to your other wins. Another option is to put cum laude in your education section.
Which one is better?
If you have several major academic achievements to go with cum laude, it’s best to create a separate section, because it’ll help them stand out. Otherwise, you can safely put cum laude in the education section in the same line as your degree, or add an extra string of text below it.
Here’s a real-life example:
2019
Honors BA in English Philology, magna cum laude (GPA 3.75)
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
