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Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 12:34 pm
Post subject: Honours systems |
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Hi,
I'm from Australia and have a question about the honours systems in
Australia and US. To me, it appears that First Class Honours in
Australia should be equivalent to Summa cum laude in US. However, in my
degree we usually have around 10-15% of graduants receiving first class
honours. So, is the honour system used in Australia equivalent to the
one used in US?
Cheers,
Michael |
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Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 6:34 pm
Post subject: Re: Honours systems |
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Here there's 'with honors', or cum laude, summa cum laude, and magna
cum laude. I can't remember if summa or magna cum laude is higher.
Cum laude afaik indicates high grades plus completion of extra work in
one's field, and that sounds more or less equivalent to your
percentages. The higher ecehlons have a very small percentage of
people.
[Some of the standards like GPA and honors get cheapened over time with
grade inflation, and of course over here we have these horrible
'universities' like the U of Phoenix, which are little more than
diploam mills. Even in hi school the standards are stretched so as to
maximize the glory, one hi school in the US recently had something like
44 valedictorians, i.e., 44 people with perfect grades.]
A high ranking gelogy major of course is a Magma Cum Laude. |
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Marvin
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 11:50 pm
Post subject: Re: Honours systems |
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dayzman@hotmail.com wrote:
| Quote: | Hi,
I'm from Australia and have a question about the honours systems in
Australia and US. To me, it appears that First Class Honours in
Australia should be equivalent to Summa cum laude in US. However, in my
degree we usually have around 10-15% of graduants receiving first class
honours. So, is the honour system used in Australia equivalent to the
one used in US?
Cheers,
Michael
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There are no nationwide standards for this in the US. Each college and university sets
its own standards. |
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Janet Puistonen
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 8:58 pm
Post subject: Re: Honours systems |
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dayzman@hotmail.com wrote:
| Quote: | Hi,
I'm from Australia and have a question about the honours systems in
Australia and US. To me, it appears that First Class Honours in
Australia should be equivalent to Summa cum laude in US. However, in
my degree we usually have around 10-15% of graduants receiving first
class honours. So, is the honour system used in Australia equivalent
to the one used in US?
Cheers,
Michael
|
I don't think there is a meaningful comparison. In the US, the percentage of
students graduating with any of the various grades of honors varies wildly
by school. At some schools, including many that have extremely competitive
admissions, 70% of students graduate with "honors." (Harvard, for example.
Although I believe the percentage graduating magna or summa is much, much
smaller.) At others, the grading is much stricter and the percentage
graduating with honors is tiny. In the US, the quality and nature of the
school and program makes a huge difference in evaluating a degree. |
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Janet Puistonen
Guest
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| Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 9:00 pm
Post subject: Re: Honours systems |
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roger61611@yahoo.com wrote:
| Quote: | Here there's 'with honors', or cum laude, summa cum laude, and magna
cum laude. I can't remember if summa or magna cum laude is higher.
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Summa is higher. |
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Guest
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| Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 3:43 pm
Post subject: Re: Honours systems |
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Janet Puistonen wrote:
| Quote: | dayzman@hotmail.com wrote:
Hi,
I'm from Australia and have a question about the honours systems in
Australia and US. To me, it appears that First Class Honours in
Australia should be equivalent to Summa cum laude in US. However, in
my degree we usually have around 10-15% of graduants receiving first
class honours. So, is the honour system used in Australia equivalent
to the one used in US?
Cheers,
Michael
I don't think there is a meaningful comparison. In the US, the percentage of
students graduating with any of the various grades of honors varies wildly
by school. At some schools, including many that have extremely competitive
admissions, 70% of students graduate with "honors." (Harvard, for example.
Although I believe the percentage graduating magna or summa is much, much
smaller.) At others, the grading is much stricter and the percentage
graduating with honors is tiny. In the US, the quality and nature of the
school and program makes a huge difference in evaluating a degree.
|
I see. Then how do Universities usually "normalise" the scores,
especially from Unis overseas?
Cheers,
Michael |
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Janet Puistonen
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2005 6:11 pm
Post subject: Re: Honours systems |
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dayzman@hotmail.com wrote:
| Quote: | Janet Puistonen wrote:
dayzman@hotmail.com wrote:
Hi,
I'm from Australia and have a question about the honours systems in
Australia and US. To me, it appears that First Class Honours in
Australia should be equivalent to Summa cum laude in US. However, in
my degree we usually have around 10-15% of graduants receiving first
class honours. So, is the honour system used in Australia equivalent
to the one used in US?
Cheers,
Michael
I don't think there is a meaningful comparison. In the US, the
percentage of students graduating with any of the various grades of
honors varies wildly by school. At some schools, including many that
have extremely competitive admissions, 70% of students graduate with
"honors." (Harvard, for example. Although I believe the percentage
graduating magna or summa is much, much smaller.) At others, the
grading is much stricter and the percentage graduating with honors
is tiny. In the US, the quality and nature of the school and program
makes a huge difference in evaluating a degree.
I see. Then how do Universities usually "normalise" the scores,
especially from Unis overseas?
Cheers,
Michael
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For graduate admissions, you mean? As far as I know they handle graduate
school admissions the same way they handle undergraduate admissions: look at
the details of the program the student has taken, look at the school, look
at the grades, look at the recommendations, look at the standardized test
scores. I think it depends on the type of department. In the lab sciences,
at least with people I knew, whether someone was willing to give you a job
in their lab also seemed to be a big factor.
I really don't think there is any particular effort to "normalize" grades or
degrees here. |
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usc33
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2005 7:08 am
Post subject: Re: Honours systems |
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Private firms and or (less likely) universities "interpret" the
grades/scores/units/credits of an international U into values
(units or credits [kinda of a west vs. east coast word-usage for the
same thing; ususlly "3" => 3 hours/week in class for at least 15 weeks;
the sum of 3+3+3+. . . 3 = 120 = bachlors degree], course level [100s =
freshman undergrad; 500 = lowest level masters, for example],
accredidation [approved curriculi], etc.)
that are recoginzed by an institution of higher ed. (Unis) the US. Ivf
you "go" private, MAKE SURE they're certified to make VALID --
RECOGNIZED -- interpretations.
Must sleep . . . Peter, over and OUT! (usc33@yahoo and good luck!) |
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Leo_XL
Joined: 29 Jul 2005
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 8:30 am
Post subject: |
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Hello from the Ukraine!
Could you please tell me if there is any difference in American English between these two phrases :
He graduated with honors from his college.
He graduated with honor from his college.
Thank you in advance.
Leo |
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kp
Joined: 09 Jun 2005
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 2:40 pm
Post subject: |
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| Leo_XL wrote: | He graduated with honors from his college.
He graduated with honor from his college.
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The first expression is preferred, which means "Special recognition for unusual academic achievement". I would avoid using singular in this context. |
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Leo_XL
Joined: 29 Jul 2005
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 6:18 pm
Post subject: |
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| Does that mean that "with Honor" will sound somewhat foreign in my resume? |
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kp
Joined: 09 Jun 2005
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 8:04 pm
Post subject: |
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| Leo_XL wrote: | | Does that mean that "with Honor" will sound somewhat foreign in my resume? |
I don't think it's a correct usage in this context. |
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Leo_XL
Joined: 29 Jul 2005
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 8:14 pm
Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Ms. Schoem graduated with Honor from the University of Maryland School of Law in 2000 and earned a Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in Psychology from the University of Michigan in 1996. |
http://www.lawyers.com/hepferlaw/jsp2439317.jsp
Is "with honor" without 's' just a spelling mistake in this case?
Thank you for all your answers. |
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kp
Joined: 09 Jun 2005
Posts: 7
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| Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 9:24 pm
Post subject: |
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| Leo_XL wrote: | | Is "with honor" without 's' just a spelling mistake in this case? |
I can't say for sure, but searching the usage with Google, the result seems clear:
"Graduated with honors" returned 192,000 records, but "graduated with honor" only got 4,230, which is a huge difference. |
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Leo_XL
Joined: 29 Jul 2005
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Fri Jul 29, 2005 10:33 pm
Post subject: |
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So , it is just a spelling mistake, right? Sorry if I am such a bore, but nobody seems to have a definite answer.  |
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