Of the approximately 1,600 seniors who will receive degrees today from the nation's leading academic institution, a very small fraction--just 7 percent--will receive an academic distinction that stands out above all others.

They will graduate with highest honors, summa cum laude.

The award is designed to recognize the highest level of achievement in academic endeavors and is based on the combined criteria of a departmental recommendation for highest honors and the approval of the Faculty at a degree meeting held in early June.

Candidates for the honor were informed of their status before the June 2 degree meeting; the names of those who will receive the degree will not be released until today.

Seniors who have been nominated to receive summa degrees today downplay the award's significance and some express dissatisfaction with the way their honors distinction was determined.

"For most seniors, what you graduate with isn't as important as it's made out to be," says summa nominee Jennifer M. Ty'96. "A lot of people are also accepted into some sort of graduate program or job, so what it says on their diploma has very little to do at least with their immediate plans."

But the honors distinction still has a powerful effect on the Harvard community.

"The last week of school when everyone starts to find out what their honors recommendations are.... It's very nerve-wracking", says summa nominee Susan S. Lee '96. "People talk about it a lot in the dining hall."

Departmental Evaluation

The criteria for departmental recommendation for highest honors varies from field to field, but is usually based on such factors as cumulative grade point average in the concentration, thesis evaluations, general written exams and performance on oral exams.

The weighting for each of those factors also varies, often depending on consideration of theses. Some scientific concentrations, such as chemistry, have no thesis requirement at all but provide honors based entirely on grades and exams.

In biology, Lee says that "for summa, it's not clear at all. It's very nebulous.... It varies a lot across the departments."

She says she was surprised to receive a summa nomination for her thesis, titled "Alcohol Dependence and the Brain: Towards an Understanding of Gene-Environment Interactions."

"I was hoping for a magna," she says. "That was my more realistic goal. The grades that I got back from my thesis were a lot higher than I expected."

Assistant Professor of Economics Andrew P. Metrick says that faculty members in his department are upfront about how the honors designations are determined.