A Dean's List is an academic award, or distinction, used to recognize the level of highest scholarship demonstrated by students in a college or university. This system is most often used in North America, though institutions in Europe, Asia, and Australia may also employ similar measures. It is often synonymous with honor roll and honor list, but should not be confused with honours degrees. Generally, students enrolled in college or university would need to satisfy a series of specific requirements before receiving the Dean's List. These requirements may differ across institutions, but in most cases will require students to enroll in a full-time capacity, to achieve a specific grade point average within the academic term, and to maintain a specific cumulative grade point average throughout enrollment. Universities may often establish further rewards, such as Annual Dean's Lists, for students that demonstrate even greater academic distinction. As such, a Dean's List and its direct derivatives are usually intended for students that demonstrate highest scholarship across multiple disciplines, and not necessarily bound to a specific field of study. Over time, the Dean's List has also led to the creation of additional rewards with similar nomenclatures, including the Provost's List, the Chancellor's List, the Rector's List, and the Director's List. The additional requirements to be met for such honors may include academic distinction within a target field of study, extracurricular achievements, continued high scholarship throughout enrollment or other noteworthy accomplishments.
Although the Dean's List and Latin honors may both be issued in recognition of high scholarship, they are mostly separate awards not intended for direct comparison. Many institutions confer three levels of Latin honors, as follows:
* In North America, this honor is typically awarded to graduates in the top 25% of their class.
magna cum laude, meaning "with great honor"
* In North America, this honor is typically awarded to graduates in the top 10% of their class; this is the highest honor awarded at some institutions.
summa cum laude, meaning "with highest honor"
* In North America, this honor is typically awarded to graduates in the top 1-5% of their class.
Because Latin honors are often conferred to the approximate class rank whereby students also receive the Dean's List, magna and summa cum laude are usually held in higher regard. A Dean's List may therefore be seen as equal tocum laude, depending on the specific requirements involved.
The Dean's List GPA requirements vary from school to school, although there are general standards:
With the GPA scale from 0 to 4, 4 being an A, the dean's list cutoff is typically around 3.5-3.7.
Top 10% of the class in GPA
Some schools maintain two lists for two different levels of GPA. For example, the dean's list records students with at least a 3.5 GPA whereas the chancellor's list records students with a higher 4.0 GPA. Different from an academic scholarship, the dean's list award does not come with any financial aid. However, students high on the dean's list are often offered extra financial aid, especially if they express a desire to transfer or exhibit more financial need.
