As a student who just finished high school and wants to get into college and also wants to know what percent of college students graduate with honors. It is essential to know that the university grading system will be different from what you’re used to. When you start at university, any mark over 50% is a great grade.
Getting a mark over 50% means that you are beginning to understand the difficult work of your degree. Getting over 60% is excellent because it means you have demonstrated a deep knowledge of your subject to the marker.
You may be used to getting marks of 90–100%, but this is very unlikely to happen at university. Remember that marks in the 50–70% range are perfectly normal. Your grades will improve as you get used to working at university level and in the style required by your degree subject.
What is an honors Degree?
We would look at what an honors degree is as we talk on what percent of college students graduate with honors, which is an academic distinction awarded to students who achieve a high level of academic excellence in their undergraduate or graduate studies. The specific requirements and criteria for earning an honors degree vary by institution; below are the popular types of honors degrees that we have from various populations.
Honors degree in the US
In the United States, there is no such thing as an ‘honors’ degree” per se. Students can only graduate with a regular Bachelor’s degree.
There is such a thing as ‘graduating with honors’, but that just refers to being an exemplary student and finishing your studies with a very high GPA. Such students are awarded honorific titles like:
- cum laude (with praise)
- magna cum laude (with great praise)
- summa cum laude (with the highest praise)
Honors Degree in Canada
In Canada, an honors degree usually refers to a bachelor’s that takes 4 years to complete. This honors bachelor’s is more intensive and involves a higher level of specialization. To enroll in most Master’s programs offered by Canadian universities, you will need a 4-year honors degree.
Canadian universities use ‘(Hons)’ or ‘(Honours)’ to indicate that a specific bachelor’s is an honors degree. Here are a few examples:
- Kinesiology (Hons)
- Applied Psychology (Honours)
- Honours Bachelor of Arts
Honors Degree in the UK
The United Kingdom is the most popular study destination where you can graduate with honors. In fact, the majority of bachelor’s programs offered by local universities are honors degrees, and almost all of them include a thesis or research work in the final year of studies.
UK universities generally use ‘(Hons)’ to indicate that a specific bachelor’s is an honors degree. Here are a few examples:
- (Hons) Chemistry
- Business Marketing (Hons)
- BA (Hons) in Creative Writing
It usually takes 3-4 years to graduate with honors, and the type of honors degree you receive depends on your overall grades. Based on your academic efforts, you can graduate with:
- First-Class Honors (First or 1st): You need to complete your studies with an overall mark of 70% or above. It is a great academic achievement and represents an advantage when applying for a Master’s degree or a job.
- Upper Second-Class Honors (2:1): You need an overall grade of 60–69% to receive it. This degree type is a common admission requirement when applying for a Master’s program.
- Lower Second-Class Honors (2:2): To obtain this degree, you need a mark of 50–59%. It is not as prestigious as the first or 2:1 degree but is still accepted by certain master’s programs.
- Third-Class Honors (Third or 3rd): It is offered to students who finish their studies with an overall mark of 40-49%. While it is still a pass, it will be challenging to compete with other students when applying for a Master’s degree.
- Ordinary Bachelor’s degree: It is awarded if you miss the 40% mark by a small margin.
Based on data from the University College London (UCL), almost 50% of students graduated with an Upper Second-Class Honors (2:1) degree in the last 4-5 years.
Honors degree in Ireland
In Ireland, the differences between ordinary bachelor’s and honors. Bachelor’s are few but clear. Admission requirements for honors degrees are stricter
Bachelors involve more demanding assignments, classwork and examinations
Irish universities use ‘(Hons)’ and ‘(Honors)’ to indicate that a specific bachelor’s is an honors degree.
Other countries where universities offer honors degrees
There are other places where students might encounter honors degrees, but their number is lower when compared to the countries listed above. Here are some of them:
- honors degrees in Germany
- honors degrees in Greece
- honors degrees in Malta
- honors degrees in the United Arab Emirates
- honors degrees in Hong Kong SAR
In your first year at university, achieving a grade of 50% or more is a good thing. You can build on your work and improve as you work towards your final grade. Scores above 70% are classed as “First”, so you should be very excited to get a grade in that range.
It is rare for students to achieve grades higher than 90%, though this can happen. Remember as well that you will be surrounded by other highly motivated and capable students, so you may not automatically be at the top of the class anymore! Don’t worry—lots of your fellow students will be feeling the same, and there is always someone you can talk to about this. Having realistic expectations about your grades will help to reduce the possibility of feeling disappointed with yourself. And you ask what percent of college students graduate with honors.
The outright percentage is not given but we can see from below the different honors degree requirements and their percentage.
What are the requirements to graduate summa, magna and cum laude?
There is not currently a nationwide standard for earning any of the Latin honors, so universities are free to form their own requirements. In all instances, universities often reserve these distinctions for students who reach a certain GPA or rank in a certain percentage of their class compared to their peers.
Some universities also hold additional requirements to earn one of the honors, including needing a letter of recommendation from a faculty member, completing special projects or finishing a certain number of advanced courses. Generally, the requirements for each academic honor are:
- Cum laude: Top 20% of students or those with a GPA between 3.5 and 3.7
- Magna cum laude: Top 10% of students or those with GPAs from 3.8 to 3.9
- Summa cum laude: Top 5% of students or those with a cumulative GPA of 4.0+
Since every university and the specific colleges or programs of study can decide what they consider summa, magna and cum laude, check with your academic advisor so you’re aware of honors eligibility and what you need to accomplish to earn such distinction.
For example, the college of medicine may decide that students with a GPA of 3.85 or above qualify for summa cum laude given the intensity of undergraduate courses in this field of study. The college of communications may decide that summa cum laude is reserved for students with a GPA of 3.95 or higher. The above are the necessary honors requirements the cum laude, summa cum laude and magna cum laude has stated what percent of college students graduate with honors
Is an honors degree worth it?
Well, it depends. As you already know by now, an honors degree can refer to different things depending on where you study. In Canada, for example, you will need a 4-year honors bachelor’s to apply for the vast majority of master’s programs.
In other countries, the distinction between ordinary bachelor’s and honors bachelor’s is relatively minimal, with differences being in the amount of work, the type of (final) assignments, and the overall difficulty of the courses.
In the end, it’s about your particular goals. If you’re the type of person who doesn’t back down from a challenge, an honors degree could be right for you. On the other hand, if you plan to focus on part-time work or other demanding activities while studying, perhaps a regular Bachelor’s degree is the way to go.
Final Words
From what was stated above in this article, there are various requirements involved before you can attain the honors degree; the percentage you are looking for is in the various requirements there, like the cum laude, summa cum laude, and magna cum laude.
Just to help you know what really is an honors degree, we stated above in this article what it is and also provided you with the necessary and popular honors degrees and their different countries. Getting an honors degree as a college student and what type you get actually depends on your school and country where it is located, just like stated above. I hope that with this article you have gotten to know what percent of college students graduate with honors degree
