/Institutions/Molloy-College/json/2020-2021/Undergraduate-Catalog-local.json

/Institutions/Molloy-College/json/2020-2021/Undergraduate-Catalog.json

Undergraduate Catalog 2020 - 2021 > Honors Awards and Policies > Degree Distinction at Graduation

Degree Distinction at Graduation

To be eligible for a degree distinction notation to the diploma and records at graduation, students graduating with any Baccalaureate degree must earn at least 60 credits with letter grades (not Pass/Fail credits) at Molloy and achieve a minimum cumulative index.

Challenge Exam credits, Credit by Examination, waived credits, Lifelong Learning (Experiential Learning) credits and transferred credits from other colleges are not considered as part of the 60 credit minimum needed. Credits and grades for courses officially registered and completed as part of the Study Abroad Program at Molloy will be counted as part of the cumulative overall GPA and minimum of 60 credits earned at Molloy. For any students with Study Abroad Index Amnesty, those credits and grades will not be included in determining degree distinction eligibility.

Students in the 5-Year Education Programs being awarded a Bachelor's/Master's combined degree at the completion of all requirements for the 5-Year Programs will be considered for degree distinction based on overall GPA for courses taken in both undergraduate and graduate divisions. (For the Commencement Brochure, no additional notations for achieving a 4.0 GPA are made for the 5-Year Program students.)

Categories of Degree Distinction:

• Cum Laude: index of 3.60 or better.
• Magna Cum Laude: index of 3.75 or better.
• Summa Cum Laude: index of 3.90 or better.

Students should not repeat courses for better grades to qualify for degree honors. When students have earned acceptable grades towards satisfying their program requirements, some types of financial aid, including TAP, will not cover unnecessary repeats. Required repeats or courses required to have a higher grade will have the flagged course credits and grade forgiven in the record and not calculated into the overall cumulative GPA for degree distinction. The cumulative GPA is based upon the complete record of courses taken at the college.

NOTE: For the commencement brochure, anticipated degree distinction will be noted based upon student's cumulative GPA up to the end of the Fall/Winter Intersession term before graduation. Student registration must show the student will have the 60 Molloy credits. The finalized degree distinction is noted on the diploma and final transcript.