Summa, Magna, Cum Laude on a Resume: Where It Goes and When to Drop It
Where summa, magna, and cum laude go on a resume, how to format and capitalize Latin honors, when to drop them, and how ATS software actually reads them.
Canonical: https://www.prezumi.com/blog/summa-cum-laude-resume
Latin honors go in the education section of your resume, on the same line as your degree, in lowercase and usually italics: *Bachelor of Arts in Economics, summa cum laude, University of Michigan, 2024*. They never get their own section, they never appear in your resume headline, and if you graduated more than about ten years ago, you can usually leave them off without anyone noticing.
That's the whole answer for most people. The details below cover formatting, the GPA cutoffs schools commonly use, capitalization, and the point in your career where the honors stop earning their line.
Formatting examples that work
Here are four correct ways to write it inside an education entry. Pick one and stay consistent.
Same line as the degree (most common):
Bachelor of Science in Biology, *magna cum laude*
University of Texas at Austin, May 2023
With GPA, for recent grads when a posting asks for it:
B.A. in Political Science, *summa cum laude* (GPA: 3.94)
Boston College, 2025
As a separate honors line, if your education entry already lists other distinctions:
Bachelor of Engineering, Purdue University, 2022
Honors: *cum laude*, Dean's List (6 semesters)
Parenthetical, when the degree line is getting long:
Master of Accounting (*magna cum laude*), University of Georgia, 2024
This is what the most common format looks like on a finished resume — the honor on the degree line, in the education section, with the GPA in parentheses:
A few small rules apply to all of these. Spell the honor out in full, never abbreviate it. Keep it attached to the degree it belongs to, since honors from your bachelor's don't transfer to your master's entry. And don't bold it; it should read like a plain fact.
What summa, magna, and cum laude mean
The three levels translate from Latin as "with highest praise," "with great praise," and "with praise." Most US universities award them by GPA, and while the exact cutoffs vary by school, the typical bands look like this:
- Cum laude — commonly a GPA around 3.5 to 3.7
- Magna cum laude — commonly around 3.7 to 3.9
- Summa cum laude — commonly 3.9 and above
Some schools use class rank instead, awarding summa to the top 5% of the graduating class, magna to the next 10%, and so on. Others set their own thresholds entirely, which is why you should never claim an honor based on your GPA alone. If your transcript or diploma says it, list it. If it doesn't, list the GPA instead.
Should you list your GPA next to the honor?
Usually no, because the honor already tells the reader your GPA was high. Listing both is redundant unless a job posting specifically asks for GPA, in which case give them the number they asked for. After two or three years of work experience, drop the GPA first and keep the honor, since "magna cum laude" ages better than "3.78."
Do you capitalize summa cum laude? Do you italicize it?
Lowercase. Latin honors are Latin phrases, and the long-standing convention in American English is to write them lowercase even mid-sentence, the same way you'd write "et al." Major style guides treat foreign-language phrases this way, and university registrars print them lowercase on most diplomas.
Italics are traditional but optional. Italicizing signals that it's a borrowed phrase, and plenty of editors prefer it, but a resume that prints "magna cum laude" in regular type is also fine. What actually matters is consistency: if you italicize it in one entry, italicize it everywhere, including your cover letter.
The one version to avoid is title case. "Summa Cum Laude" mid-line looks like you're not sure what the words are, which slightly undercuts the point of listing an academic honor.
When to drop it
Latin honors have a shelf life. Keep them while your education section is still doing work on the resume, and cut them once your experience answers the same questions better.
In concrete terms:
- 0–5 years out: keep it. For new grads it's one of the few verified signals on the page.
- 5–10 years out: keep it if you have the space and your roles are on a normal trajectory. Cut it if you're tight on room.
- 10+ years out: cut it. Recruiters spend roughly seven seconds on a first scan, by the widely cited estimate, and a senior candidate spending one of those seconds on their undergraduate GPA is sending an odd signal.
There are exceptions. Academia, law, and some research roles keep caring about academic credentials much longer, so a *summa cum laude* on a law school application or a faculty CV stays relevant indefinitely. For everyone else, the honors should leave the resume around the same time your college coursework section does.
How ATS software handles Latin honors
Applicant tracking systems, which around 75% of mid-size and large employers use to screen resumes by the widely cited estimate, do not have an "honors" field. They parse your education entry for the degree, the school, and the dates. The Latin honors come along as part of the text but aren't scored or filtered on.
That has two practical consequences. First, the honor exists for the human reader, so put it where a human scanning the education block will see it, which means on or directly under the degree line. Second, don't let the honor break the parsing of things ATS systems do extract: keep the degree name and school name clean and uncluttered, and attach the honor with a comma or parenthesis rather than weaving it into a sentence.
If you want to see how your education section actually survives extraction, Prezumi's free ATS checker runs real text extraction on your PDF and flags structural problems. Starting from an extraction-tested template avoids most of the risk in the first place.
Edge cases
Your school doesn't use Latin honors
Plenty of systems don't. UK and Irish universities award classed degrees, so write what your institution awarded: *BA (Hons), First-Class Honours, University of Leeds, 2023*. Australian universities often use "with Distinction" or "with High Distinction." Don't translate any of these into Latin equivalents, because the recruiter reading a UK degree expects UK terminology, and "summa cum laude, University of Manchester" reads as a mistake.
If you're applying to US employers with a non-US degree, you can add a short gloss in parentheses, such as "First-Class Honours (highest classification)," but keep the original wording as the primary text.
Online degrees
Treat them exactly the same. If an accredited online program awarded you *cum laude*, it goes on the degree line like any other honor. The format doesn't change because the lectures were recorded.
LinkedIn vs. the resume
LinkedIn gives each education entry a dedicated honors field, so use it there and skip the italics question entirely. On your resume you control the layout, so follow the formats above. The one place Latin honors don't belong on either platform is the headline. "Marketing Analyst | Summa Cum Laude" reads like the degree is still your biggest accomplishment, and past your first job search, you don't want that to be true.
FAQ
Is summa cum laude worth putting on a resume?
Yes, if you graduated within the last ten years. Summa cum laude is a verified academic distinction that typically reflects a GPA of 3.9 or higher, and for early-career candidates it's one of the strongest signals on the page. After ten or more years of experience, drop it, because by then your work history carries the resume and the honor reads as reaching back.
Do you capitalize summa cum laude?
No. Write it lowercase, even mid-sentence: "graduated summa cum laude." Latin honors follow the convention for foreign-language phrases in American English, which is lowercase, often italicized. Title case ("Summa Cum Laude") is the common mistake to avoid. Italics are traditional but optional, as long as you're consistent across the document.
Where does magna cum laude go on a resume?
In the education section, on the same line as the degree it was awarded with: *Bachelor of Science in Finance, magna cum laude, Ohio State University, 2024*. It can also sit on a separate "Honors:" line under the degree if you're listing several distinctions. It should never get its own section or appear in your summary or headline.
What GPA is summa cum laude?
Commonly 3.9 or above on a 4.0 scale, though the cutoff varies by school. Magna cum laude commonly covers roughly 3.7 to 3.9, and cum laude roughly 3.5 to 3.7. Some universities award honors by class rank instead of GPA, so check your own institution's threshold, and only list an honor your transcript or diploma actually shows.
