What does 'cum laude' mean and how common is it at Boston University?

1. What “cum laude” literally and institutionally means at BU

Cum laude is the lowest of BU’s standard Latin honors, translated as “with praise” or “with distinction,” sitting below magna cum laude (“with great praise”) and summa cum laude (“with highest praise”) in the university glossary of terms ^[1]; beyond the label, BU’s implementation is not uniform across the university—some degree programs publish explicit GPA ranges for cum laude, while many undergraduate schools assign honors by class rank percentiles that produce fixed shares of the class receiving each honor ^{[2] [6] [3] [4] [5]}.

2. Numeric GPA thresholds: examples and limits

At least one BU professional program gives a clear numeric definition: Boston University’s School of Dental Medicine lists cum laude as a cumulative GPA between 3.20 and 3.49 for its DMD students, and it similarly specifies numeric ranges for magna and summa in that school’s policies ^[2]. The university registrar warns, however, that “break points” (the GPA ranges corresponding to honors) are determined individually by each school or college annually and are based on the total cumulative GPA of eligible graduates, which means that a published GPA band in one school does not automatically apply university‑wide ^[6].

3. Percentile method: how common cum laude is within BU colleges

Several BU schools use a percentile system that makes cum laude a fixed share of each graduating cohort: commonly cited rules award summa to the top 5 percent, magna to the next 10 percent, and cum laude to the next 15 percent of eligible undergraduates in each school or college—meaning roughly 15 percent of a college’s graduating class will receive cum laude under that model ^{[3] [4] [5]}. The registrar page confirms that break points are set per school using the cumulative GPA list for the graduating class, which explains why many BU colleges prefer the percentile allocation—it standardizes relative honor frequencies even as absolute GPA distributions shift from year to year ^{[6] [3] [4]}.

4. Why discrepancies and misunderstandings persist — competing definitions and third‑party claims

Confusion arises because BU simultaneously allows school‑level numeric thresholds (as with the Dental School) and school‑level percentile schemes for undergraduates, and the registrar explicitly states that Latin honors will not be awarded below a minimum GPA threshold (no Latin honors for GPAs below 3.0) while also reserving the right to exclude certain course types from calculations in some colleges ^{[6] [2]}. External sites and calculators sometimes list fixed GPA cutoffs for BU (for example, a third‑party GPA calculator lists cum laude at 3.5), but those outside resources conflict with BU’s decentralized policy and are not BU’s official positions—BU’s own school pages and registrar guidance are the authoritative sources ^{[7] [6] [2]}.

5. Practical takeaway: how common is cum laude at BU and what to check

For undergraduates in most BU colleges expect roughly 15 percent of each graduating cohort to be designated cum laude when the percentile method is used, though the underlying GPA breakpoint that lands a student in that 15 percent will move with the class GPA distribution; for certain professional schools or programs, check the school’s published GPA bands (e.g., SDM’s 3.20–3.49) because they apply numerically rather than by percentiles ^{[3] [4] [5] [2] [6]}. For a definitive answer about a particular program or graduating class, the BU Office of the University Registrar and the student’s specific school or college are the controlling references because BU’s policy explicitly delegates break points and calculation rules to the schools ^[6].