Graduation Honors

Latin Honors include Summa, Magna, and Cum Laude. Honors points are accumulated on required courses and are calculated as follows:

• For each calculation the Honors Multiplier is:
  • 2 for Honors
  • 1 for High Satisfactory
  • 0 for all other grades
• Pre-clinical courses Honor Points = Course Hours x Honors Multiplier
• Clinical year Honors Points= Weeks of clerkship x Honors Multiplier

Only required courses are tabulated.

Candidates for Summa Cum Laude must achieve 90 percent of all available honors points, candidates for Magna Cum Laude must achieve 85 percent of all available honors points, and candidates for Cum Laude must achieve 75 percent of all available honors points.

Research honors are awarded based on the following criteria:

• Duration of research while in medical school
• Focus research effort
• Evidence of significant participation
• Quality of effort as revealed by publication or presentation of results and
• Receipt of award(s) for research.

The application form is available as a PDF file and should be submitted to Dr. Charles Severin in the OME. The deadline to apply is February of the senior year.

The award of Thesis Honors is intended to recognize outstanding academic achievement in a specific area of study by an individual medical student and to encourage scholarship while pursuing the Doctor of Medicine degree.

Thesis Honors are awarded based on the criteria similar to that of research honors with these additional components:

• The student must complete a meritorious thesis based on an original contribution to medical science
• The work must be completed under the sponsorship of a faculty member of the medical school

Students must indicate their intention to apply for Thesis Honors by October of senior year by responding to the message sent to the class listserv. The reply must contain the student’s name, the title of the thesis, the major adviser, and the department affiliation.