In the College of Engineering there are two types of recognition for student excellence that can appear on the diploma. One is graduating with distinction, which is solely based on GPA and is awarded by the college registrar. Graduating with distinction appends the Latin terms "cum laude", "magna cum laude" or "summa cum laude" to your diploma depending on your GPA. For more information see the Engineering Handbook.

The following requirements are for major honors, which are awarded by the ISST major and are reflected in the words "with honors" on the diploma. All coursework for major honors must be completed in addition to the major requirements, major-approved electives and advisor-approved electives. No courses can count for both honors and the major.

If you intend to pursue major honors, you must inform the Undergrad Coordinator by the end of your seventh semester by email.

Students planning to pursue honors must meet the following requirements:

  1. Cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher at the time of application and maintained through graduation.
  2. 3.0 credit hours of ISST letter-graded coursework at the 5000-level* or higher (graded courses only; no one or two credit seminars or two-credit project courses). 5000- or 6000-level courses taken to fulfill the honors requirement may not be counted toward any other major requirements.
  3. 6.0 credit hours of INFO 4900 Independent Study and Research with an IS/ISST faculty member, spread over two semesters, with a grade of at least an A- in each of the two semesters (except for courses taken in the Spring 2020 semester, a B+ (but not an S) will satisfy this requirement).

Confirming honors research: It is expected that the INFO 4900 research will result in either a programming project and/or a written report. To have research honors confirmed with the ISST advising office, the faculty member overseeing the research must email ISAdvising@cornell.edu no later than the final grades deadline at the end of the student's final undergraduate semester. The email must include a copy of the student's project/report and confirmation that the student met the research requirements as defined for INFO 4900.

Latin designations** (appended to the degree) are based on final cumulative GPA, as follows:

  • cum laude, 3.50 or above
  • magna cum laude, 3.75 or above
  • summa cum laude, 4.00 or above

*When registering for dually numbered courses (e.g. 3000/5000 or 4000/6000 level), undergraduate students must enroll for the 3000 or 4000 level option. As a result, dually numbered courses will not count towards fulfillment of the 5000 or 6000 level requirement. Please submit a ticket to the Bowers CIS Enrollment team to request to be switched into the 5000- or 6000-level version of a course.

**A note for December 2026 graduates and beyond: Beginning with the December 2026 conferral date, Cornell University will institute a standardized Latin Honors system based solely on final cumulative undergraduate GPA. The Latin Honors categories include: Summa Cum Laude (top 5%), Magna Cum Laude (next 10%), and Cum Laude (next 15%). The student’s cumulative undergraduate GPA percentile at the time of degree conferral will be computed with respect to the student’s particular college/school degree program (e.g., B.S. in CALS, B.A. in A&S, B.S. in ILR, B.F.A. in AAP). Existing college/school-specific Latin Honors systems not based upon the new standardized criteria will be discontinued at the end of Summer 2026.