NUSWhispers – Confession #56498

To #56478: Dean’s list is an award recognizing a top percentage of students in terms of their grades for a single semester. Depending on how well the cohort performs, the cut-off can go from 4.5 to 4.9+. In most cases it’s 4.7-4.8. 4.5-5.0* (First Class Hons), is a degree classification rather than an award. *It is also not uncommon to see dean’s list holders not having first class when graduating. I.e they can’t maintain getting average of >4.5 for other semesters or they started off badly. Yes, Dean’s list is definitely a moral/ confidence booster. It’s a testament of your academic excellence by being top* of your cohort. There’s even other tier’s of award such as book prizes (for the top student of each cohort). And the even more prestigious IES gold medal award for the top student upon graduation by CAP. The list goes on... Being invited to get the cert and some buffet event lets you network with other fellow dean’s listers as well. Also, there’s still a motivation for you to aim for SAP 5 to get dean’s list if you realized that a first/ second (upper) is no longer in an attainable range. You can then tell your interviewers (probably you had some personal/ relationship issues) during the poorer performing semesters. Usng the dean’s list, you can still prove that you’re academically capable.