Do I need help from NARIC?

I thought the student area would be a good place to ask this, and I've browsed through a bit. I read that finding the equivalent of a US degree to a UK degree isn't that hard, with the assumption that they are generally the same. However, I got confused when I ran across UK "BA Honours"...so I don't know if a US GPA/honors status affects the type of UK degree it would be equivalent to? So, I'll just blatantly put out there what I've graduated with (though it's not "official," even though I walked at graduation, since the diploma isn't sent until 2 months afterwards...however, it should be the same because I have my final grades):

Bachelor of Arts in English, (with a Geology minor...does this matter or translate to anything in the UK?), magna cum laude (3.86 GPA), with University Honors, and English Departmental Honors

Any help would be appreciated, as I'm moving over in the fall to be with my fiancee after our US wedding and will need to know what to put on my CV

To be honest, US honors doesn't really equivocate to UK honours.  My BA degree is considered equivalent to a UK honours degree (which is why I was admitted to MA programs here), but I did not graduate "with honors" from my US university. 

Basically, a 4-year US bachelor's is generally considered equivalent to a UK honours degree, which is the standard degree in the UK.  Non-honours ("ordinary") degrees are comparatively rare and definitely looked down upon by most employers (less so in Scotland because their system is different.)

Bachelor of Arts in English, (with a Geology minor...does this matter or translate to anything in the UK?), magna cum laude (3.86 GPA), with University Honors, and English Departmental Honors

Our major/minor degrees are roughly equivalent to combined degrees here which are 75%/25% (as opposed to joint which are 50%/50%).  Combined degrees are stated as English with Geology and joint degrees are stated as English and Geology...so if you use the word with it should translate.

You should only need to get your qualifications NARICed if you plan to apply for graduate school here.  From working in the admissions department at a uni here for the past 5 months, I can tell you that "magna cum laude (3.86 GPA), with University Honors, and English Departmental Honors" would be confusing to my English colleagues.  They only know classifications (1st, 2:1, 2:2, 3rd) - which of course, you'll only know if you go through NARIC.

Our major/minor degrees are roughly equivalent to combined degrees here which are 75%/25% (as opposed to joint which are 50%/50%).  Combined degrees are stated as English with Geology and joint degrees are stated as English and Geology...so if you use the word with it should translate.

That is an interesting piece of info, thanks KK!  I've been representing my English/Music double major as "Bachelor of Arts in English and Music" on my UK CV so it's good to know that that actually means something to British people, hehe.

Although, I don't think it's necessary to pay for a NARIC evaluation with US qualifications when applying to UK grad school- I've never known anyone that's done it.  I'm pretty sure most universities have their own way of determining equivalencies, because I just sent in my transcript and my department decided what level my qualifications translated to on their own (I think they might have had some help from the uni's International Office, though.)

(That's only for US university qualifications though because the university systems are roughly comparable...I think NARIC is really useful in other cases.  For example, my mother applied to MBA programs in the States with no bachelor's degree and UK ACCA (accounting) qualifications. She sent her quals to an organisation like NARIC who determined that they were equivalent to a bachelors in accounting and she used that evaluation to successfully apply for her MBA.)

Although, I don't think it's necessary to pay for a NARIC evaluation with US qualifications when applying to UK grad school- I've never known anyone that's done it.  I'm pretty sure most universities have their own way of determining equivalencies, because I just sent in my transcript and my department decided what level my qualifications translated to on their own (I think they might have had some help from the uni's International Office, though.)

That's so interesting because we require every overseas educated applicant to go through NARIC...although the majority of our applicants are applying to teacher training programmes and the TDA has strict entry requirements that we must ensure are met.  Also, we're a very small uni with no International Office 

Thanks guys, that 75/25 vs. 50/50 info is helpful. Good to know it can count for at least something, hehe. I'm not planning on going to graduate school when I move (too many expenses, along with the loans I already owe on--you know the drill) but going to grad school at some point is in the back of my mind, so this is all good to kind of mesh around in my head should I decide to eventually go