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Honors & Awards

Academic Honors

Only grades in courses taken at the School of Law will be considered for determining eligibility for honors. Students who received the L.L. M. degree are not eligible for the honors listed below. Transfer students are eligible for honors if they have maintained the required minimum C.G.P.A. at the School of Law and at the law school from which the student transferred. Students who have been granted permission to visit at another law school will be considered for honors based on their C.G.P.A. for the hours of credit earned at the School of Law.

Students who complete all J.D. requirements will be awarded honors as follows:

  • Summa Cum Laude - 3.800 minimum C.G.P.A.
  • Magna Cum Laude - 3.500 minimum C.G.P.A.
  • Cum Laude - 3.300 minimum C.G.P.A.

Dean's List

Dean's List status is awarded to students who achieve notable academic performance in a given semester. Students who are awarded Dean's List status will be notified by letter and have the achievement officially noted on their transcripts.

Qualification for Dean's List status requires the following:

  • Completion of a minimum of 9 law credit hours - graded and calculated in the G.P.A. - for the semester.
  • Achievement of a G.P.A. of 3.500 or higher for the semester.

Excellence Awards

Students who earn the highest grade in a particular School of Law course receive an Academic Excellence Award. A certificate recognizing this honor is presented to students in the spring semester at the Excellence Awards Ceremony. Academic Excellence Awards are generally awarded in all courses in which a letter grade is earned that is calculated into a student’s cumulative GPA. Courses that are not eligible for an Academic Excellence Award include pass/fail courses, Competition Based Advocacy, and Directed Research. Clinic and Externship companion courses, Trial Advocacy courses, Moot Court courses, and law journals are also not eligible for Academic Excellence Awards as students in these courses are eligible for recognition through other awards.

Woolsack Honor Society

Woolsack is the School of Law honor society that encourages and rewards student scholarship and promotes high professional standards at the bar and on the bench. Members of Woolsack are elected by the faculty during the first faculty meeting of the academic year following graduation or following the publication of Final Ranks for that graduating class. Eligibility is limited to December, May and August graduates who are ranked in the top 10 percent of their graduating class. When the top 10 percent includes a fraction, it is within the faculty’s discretion to eliminate or convert the fraction to a whole number. Students who transfer in to the School of Law after completion of their first year are not eligible. Students elected to Woolsack receive a certificate of membership in the Fall semester following their graduation.