Bulletin - John Jay College Of Criminal Justice - CUNY

Academic Honors, Awards & Special Opportunity Programs
Graduation with Honors
Baccalaureate students qualify for three levels of academic honors
awarded at graduation:
• Summa cum laude (with highest distinction), awarded to
students whose cumulative grade point average is at least 3.8
• Magna cum laude (with great distinction), awarded to students
whose cumulative grade point average is at least 3.5
• Cum laude (with distinction), awarded to students whose
cumulative grade point average is at least 3.2
This distinction will be noted on the student’s transcript.
To be eligible for graduation with honors, a student must complete at
least 56 credits at the College. Students who entered the College
with an associate degree qualify for these honors with a minimum of
52 credits earned at the College. All courses and earned grades
obtained at John Jay enter into the computation of the GPA.
Honors in the Major
To qualify for honors in the major, a student must have completed the
credit requirements for the major and have earned at least a 3.5
cumulative grade point average in courses above the 100-level in the
major. Credit for courses required as prerequisites for major courses
and transfer credits applied to the major will not be calculated into
the major cumulative grade point average. Students must have also
earned at least a 3.2 overall cumulative grade point average. This
honor will be noted on the student’s transcript.
event that two students have identical grade point averages and have
earned the same number of credits at the College (up to 120 credits),
they will be declared co-valedictorians and no salutatorian will be
designated. In the event that three or more students have identical
grade point averages and have earned the same number of credits at
the College (up to 120 credits), the valedictorian and salutatorian will
be selected by the Committee on Undergraduate Honors, Prizes and
Awards.
HONOR SOCIETIES
The following Honor Societies have chapters at John Jay College.
For more information about them, please call 212.237.8553.
Alpha Phi Sigma: Eta Phi Chapter
National Criminal Justice Honor Society
In 2006, John Jay established a chapter of Alpha Phi Sigma, the
nationally recognized honor society for students in the criminal
justice sciences. The honor society is open to those with a declared
Criminal Justice major or minor. The society recognizes the
achievement of academic excellence by undergraduates as well as
graduate students of criminal justice. To become a member, students
must have completed 40 credits at the College, with a minimum of
3.2 overall Grade Point Average (GPA) and a 3.2 GPA in criminal
justice courses. Students must also rank in the top 35 percent of their
classes and have completed a minimum of four courses within the
criminal justice curriculum.
Valedictorian and Salutatorian
The valedictorian and salutatorian for commencement exercises are
chosen from among the June baccalaureate candidates and the
graduates of the previous August and February. The two students
with the highest grade point averages are awarded these distinctions.
In the event of identical grade point averages, the students with the
greatest number of credits earned at John Jay College (up to 120
credits) will be designated valedictorian and salutatorian. In the
Phi Eta Sigma
National Freshman Honorary Society
In 1999, John Jay College established a chapter of Phi Eta Sigma. As
the oldest and largest national freshman honor society, Phi Eta Sigma
encourages and rewards academic excellence among first-year
students in institutions of higher learning. Membership is open to
individuals who have earned grade point averages of 3.5 or better
during one or both semesters of their freshman year as full-time
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