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I would like to ask if there are people out there having made experiences regarding the following quesion:

Assume you would like to stay in academia. How important is the final grade of your Maths PhD thesis - assuming that the PhD holder will stay in Germany (say) ?

Rumors told that some professors don't care what your final grade is and they say instead that only publications matter.

On the other hand, I have also heard that other professors say that if you get a grade which is lower than "magna cum laude" then you can resign.

Hence, it would be most interesting if some people which know examples of that kind shared their examples / experiences.

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  • Seems like it depends which of those professors is on the hiring committee.
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Commented Mar 18 at 23:58
  • Requiring Magna Cum Laude for hiring seems like a foolish standard. I don't know if it happens, but...foolish.
    – Buffy
    Commented Mar 19 at 0:07
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    If you publish your thesis in Annals or Inventiones or JAMS (my list is incomplete), I do not think anybody will care about your grade.
    – Moishe Kohan
    Commented Mar 19 at 1:24
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    My understanding is that German-speaking Europe is different than most other places in this regard. Might be worth stating more strongly (in the title, say) that you’re asking about Germany, if that’s indeed where you’re applying for jobs.
    – cag51 ♦
    Commented Mar 19 at 1:37
  • @MoisheKohan: Well, if ones publishes the results of one's thesis in Annals or Inventiones or JAMS, then it's extremely unlikely to get a grade that is not at least "magna cum laude".
    – Jochen Glueck
    Commented Mar 19 at 6:53

2 Answers 2

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There are a number of laws that explicitly define the prerequists to become a professor in Germany:

On the one hand, there is the "Hochschulrahmengesetz" (which can be roughly translated as "regulatory framework about institutions of higher educations"). This is a federal law. In § 44(3) the following requirement for becoming a professor is listed:

besondere Befähigung zu wissenschaftlicher Arbeit, die in der Regel durch die Qualität einer Promotion nachgewiesen wird [...]

My translation:

Particular qualification for scientific work, evidence of which is usually given by the quality of the PhD.

In addition, each federal state has a law about institutions of higher educations - called "Hochschulgesetz" or a version thereof for most states - where one typically finds similar requirements (examples for Bavaria, see § 57 (3), and North-Rhine Westphalia, see § 36(3)).

To understand how those laws are applied in practice, one needs experience with the common meaning of PhD grades in Germany. If you get a PhD from a German university, you will get one of the grades "summa cum laude", "magna cum laude", "cum laude", and "rite". Those latin expressions are purely traditional. Their literal translations have very little to do with their actual meaning nowadays. Their actual meaning is roughly as follows:

  • summe cum laude: an exceptionally strong thesis

  • magna cum laude: this is the standard grade that you'll get when your thesis is of a reasonable quality.

  • cum laude: the thesis is subpar

  • rite: this should happen really rarely. If you get this grade, something went really wrong during your PhD

So if you have a PhD from a German university and your grade is not "magna cum laude" or "summa cum laude", this will typically be interpreted in the sense that you do not meet the requirement in law explained above. Note that arguments of the type "if you did good work during your PhD, then nobody will care about your grade" are a bit strawmanish: if you did good work during your PhD, you will get "magna cum laude" or better, so the issue will not arise.

Summary: Yes, if your grade in a PhD from a German university is lower than "magna cum laude", this will cause severe problems for an academic career in Germany and those problems exist by law.

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    Honestly this answer surprises me, as a US academic. But it is good to see an answer that is both knowledgeable and definitive. Thanks for the education. And then there is "habilitation", of course. Mystifying.
    – Buffy
    Commented Mar 20 at 20:21
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If you wish to stay in Germany, please ignore my answer.

However, if you are prepared to consider relocation to the US/Canada, please be advised that here no one even knows that in some European countries people get grades for their PhD dissertations. (Sexagenarian, I only recently learned this curious fact -- and I learned it from someone's question at Stackexchange.)

On our side of the pond, you will be judged by your publication record and by your reference letters. Your marketing skills (like your performance at conferences) will matter also. Of a great importance will be your ability to strike collaborations. But no one will ever ask you about your PhD thesis grade.

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    One's history of failure can be forgiven by future success in the US system. It gives the opportunity to work hard and improve.
    – jdods
    Commented Mar 24 at 13:06
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    @jdods "We know from what failings our virtues spring." Gotthold E. Lessing
    – Michael_1812
    Commented Mar 24 at 14:19

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