How to List Cum Laude on Your Resume

Latin honors show you’re a cut above your classmates. Whether it’s cum laude, magna cum laude, or summa cum laude, including these academic achievements on a resume could be highly valuable. When the hiring manager sees these accolades, they’ll instantly sit up and pay attention to your application.

If you want to write cum laude on your resume but don’t know how, you’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about how to highlight your Latin honors.

What are Latin honors?

Before we get into how to list Latin honors on your resume, let’s talk about what they mean. The tri-level Latin honors system is common across the US, meaning most employers will understand the system.

Typically, only around the top 14% of graduates are eligible for these honors. While each college may have its own system in place—based on students’ GPAs and other achievements—it’s worth looking at what each Latin honor means.

Here’s a breakdown of what the Honors Society says about each:

As you can see above, the Latin honor that you achieve tells the hiring manager about your GPA and position as a graduate. This could be the very thing that wins over the reader. In certain—more competitive—fields, listing cum laude on your resume shows you’re an exemplary candidate.

Should you include cum laude on your resume?

If you worked hard and achieved Latin honors, you’ll want to shout about them. However, it’s worth considering whether it’s necessary to add this to your next application.

Here are some things to think about before deciding whether this is right for you:

You should always refer back to the original job advert when in doubt. You’ll get clues about whether including your Latin honors is appropriate from this posting.

Where should you list Latin honors on your resume?

If you’ve decided to write your Latin honors on your resume, you have two sections to choose from: your education or a dedicated honors and awards section.

Education section

In your education segment, you should list “cum laude” directly after your degree title. For example, you might write:

“Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Cum Laude”

Of course, if you have other Latin honors—such as magna cum laude or summa cum laude—they go in the same place.

Honors and awards section

While it’s most common to list Latin honors next to the correlating degree, there are times when you might want to make a separate honors and awards section. For example, if you want to draw more attention to these achievements and you have multiple to show, you can include them there. Add the honor as a title and then give a brief description about it along with why you were awarded it.

Quick formatting guidelines for Latin honors

Ready to show cum laude on your resume? If so, you might be wondering how to get the formatting right from the start.

Ahead of getting started, take a peek at our formatting guidelines below:

Text style

You can use either italics or normal text when listing Latin honors. However, there’s one golden rule: you need to keep the style consistent throughout your resume. For instance, if you’re listing multiple honors and you italicize the first one, you need to do the same for every honor after that.

Capitalization

When adding Latin honors to your resume, you should capitalize them. So, instead of writing “cum laude,” you should always write “Cum Laude”. Once again, ensure this approach is consistent throughout your resume. These small details are a savvy way to make your resume stand out from the crowd.

Placement

As we’ve covered above, there are two main places you can write about your Latin honors. In the education section, add this honor next to the title of your degree. If you’re including it in an honors and awards section, you should make the name of the honor a title in its own right.

Examples of listing cum laude on a resume

Searching for some creative inspiration? Let’s take a look at how you may include Latin honors on your resume with some specific examples.

Education section example

Let’s take a look at an example of how to list cum laude neatly in your education section:

Honors and awards section example

If you’re creating a separate honors and awards section on your resume, it could look something like the example below:

GPA and Latin honors example

Want to list both your GPA and your Latin honors?

Here’s an example you can use as a template:

Understanding how to format your resume currently doesn’t have to be hard. If you want to make sure your application hits the mark, use one of our industry-standard resume templates.

Common mistakes to avoid when listing cum laude

By this point, you should be feeling confident about sharing your Latin honors. However, there are some pesky mistakes that you need to avoid.

We’ve broken them down for you here:

Conclusion

Showcasing cum laude on your resume may help you to land that next interview. However, you should consider whether it’s relevant before you add it to the document. As always, you need to tailor your resume to meet the needs of the business and vacancy.