Honors and Awards

Matriculated students with superior academic records are honored in various ways, such as by placement on the Dean’s Honors List, election to honor societies, and admission to major honors programs.

Additional information may be obtained from a student’s advisor and from the Academic Affairs Office.

Honors

Dean’s Honors List

A Dean’s Honors List is compiled at the end of each academic year, in June. This is an honors roll of matriculated students who have achieved an average of 3.65 or higher for that academic year (September to May) in at least 28 graded credits. To be listed, a student must not have any grades of Incomplete or N at the time when the list is compiled. Note that grade point averages are carried to two decimal places (but are not rounded off ).

Eligibility for Graduation With Latin Honors

All graded courses taken before a student’s final semester while enrolled either in NYU Shanghai [or in another school of NYU] will be used in computing the grade point average on which Latin honors are based. Pass grades are not counted; grades received in courses taken at other institutions are also not counted. The student must also have a clean record of conduct.

The GPA cutoffs for each category are determined by the combined GPA distribution from all graded courses taken through the J-term before the graduating cohort’s final spring semester. This means that final spring semester grades are not used for determining Latin Honors and no adjustments are made to a student’s status regarding Latin Honors based on final spring grades. Latin Honors are calculated once a year and only students who have at least 110 earned credits before the spring semester and have their degree conferred that spring or earlier are eligible for consideration. Students who complete their graduation requirements before the beginning of the final spring semester have all grades counted toward calculating Latin Honors.

The GPA cutoff for summa cum laude is the GPA included within the top 5 percent of the graduating class. The cut off for magna cum laude is the GPA included within the next 10 percent of the class. The cutoff for cum laude is the GPA included within the next 15 percent of the class.

Major Honors

Students may be awarded degrees with major honors if they complete the designated honors sequence in the major, maintain the requisite grade point average, and are selected by their major faculty. No more than 10 percent of students in a major may graduate with major honors.

Students seeking admission to and graduation with major honors are expected to have a minimum grade point average of 3.65, both overall and in the major. Majors may exercise some flexibility in admissions, as follows. In rare cases where a candidate for admission to a major honors program falls short of the expected minimum GPA, the major leader may petition the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs for an exception. In all cases, once admitted, students are expected to maintain the GPA at the stipulated level in order to graduate with major honors. Should there be an exceptional circumstance in which the stipulated GPA is not maintained, the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs may be petitioned for an exception. If the case is compelling, the latter will inform the Registrar’s office of the waiver.

All students completing departmental honors must make public presentations of their work, preferably at the NYU Shanghai Undergraduate Research Symposium held at the end of the academic year, or in a major forum (e.g., oral defenses or presentations) held in conjunction with the Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Provost’s Award for Scholarship and/or Service

Presented by the Provost of NYU Shanghai to a graduating senior for outstanding accomplishment in either or both of these areas.

Dean’s Award in Arts and Sciences

Awarded to the graduating senior who has excelled in arts and sciences and who has contributed in a noteworthy way to the life of the campus during four years.

Dean’s Award in Business

Awarded to the graduating senior who has excelled in business and who has contributed in a noteworthy way to the life of the campus during four years.

Dean’s Award in Computer Science, Data Science, and Engineering

Awarded to the graduating senior who has excelled in computer science, data science, and engineering and who has contributed in a noteworthy way to the life of the campus during four years.