Golden Key?

[Nor2themax]

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I just got invited to join Golden Key. I'm a senior graduating in May. Would this be useful to me? Would med schools want to see that I joined? Is it worth my money at this point?

Nora

 

[PianoGirl04]

Golden Key is a really great, worthwhile activity. I'd definitely recommend joining. It's one of the few honor societies that is more than just a title...you can really get involved by doing community service and going to their meetings. You will have to amass a number of "service points" to graduate (this corresponds to the number of hours you spend doing community service). It's also a pretty big honor because only the top 15% of your class gets invited to join. Congrats!

 

[plusminus]

So thats what Golden Key is.......good to know since its been on my resume for over 5 years.

 

[fiatlux]

since GK only offers invites to juniors and seniors you must be in year 7 of college or had a couple years break in between... i guess u'll have alot of experiences to be talking about at interviews

to op... Golden Key is good but go out to the events or its just like any other honour society

 

[robotdancing]

it took me 3 angry messages to get off of their email list.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I believe golden key sent me something last year, when I was a sophomore, that went into the trash.

 

[usmaple]

Originally posted by plusminus
So thats what Golden Key is.......good to know since its been on my resume for over 5 years.

Me too. I wrote them a check a few years ago, and other than a lot of junk mail that was basically it for me.

 

[Amy B]

I would recommend that you join. I did and I think it was only $60. You can put it on your application as another thing showing you are a great student with a decent GPA. 😀 😀

 

[king_robert12]

Yeah I joined. If you are a member you can get a Golden Key MBNA credit card with 0% interest until May of 2004.

 

[noy]

Its bunk. JoinTau Beta Pi or Phi Beta Kappa instead, much bigger honor.

 

[dan0909]

Yah...i still dont konw what golden key is...i wish they would take me off their mailing list, too.

 

[say aaahh!]

My understanding is that it depends if the chapter is active at your school.

At my school it was not, but I sent in the check, and I think it was a waste of money. At other schools I've been told it's a more worthwhile endeavor.

 

[28129]

I think Golden Key is a waste of money.

 

[Amit1]

Damn golden key - they keep sending me junk mail. Also they send me "member e-mail". I got upset and said if I was a member - then I would be entitled to some of their discounts. They said it was a mistake, however they continued to e-mail me "member" messages.

They suck. Your $60 would be better spent on an ounce than on golden key. They email anybody who has a GPA over 1.2 and try to hit them up for some money. Some scumbag is out somewhere lounging on a beach with all the dues collected from poor college kids.

 

[Amit1]

If you are doing medicine for the money, give it up. It is much more lucrative to make up your own bogus honor society and collect from college kids who will pay to put it on their resume.

 

[commy-superman]

While we are on this subject, do you think joining every honor society that sends you an application (because your the top --% of your class and its an enormous honor...blah blah blah) will look good or will it just be a flagrant attempt to beef up the med school application?

 

[PianoGirl04]

Originally posted by commy-superman
While we are on this subject, do you think joining every honor society that sends you an application (because your the top --% of your class and its an enormous honor...blah blah blah) will look good or will it just be a flagrant attempt to beef up the med school application?

The latter, unless you actually attend meetings, service projects, etc. If you just do it for the title, forgetaboutit.

 

[indianboy]

I'm going to tone-down my comments because it's important that you get a fair sense of golden key: I would staple a Big Mac wrapper to my C.V. before I added trash like golden key to it.

Hope that Helps

P 'Preaching the Word' ShankOut

 

[CaMD]

Along similar lines, what about putting that you graduated with high honors or that you were on the honor roll every semester?
I would never have thought of putting it as one of my 15 thingies, but I was just looking at the amcas worksheet (I will apply next summer) and its example was, ~ "if you made honor roll, just put it down once and say in the comments how many times it was repeated.")

It seems somewhat innapropriate to list it because there wasn't any "hours/wk" time involvement (well, aside from studying...😉 ) plus I assume that most pre-meds have similar honors but I also don't want them not to be able to sort of scale my GPA to my school peers.

How many of you put that down on your amcas? Anyone have an opinion of if its good or bad to put it?

Thanks.

 

[PianoGirl04]

I put my honor societies on AMCAS because I do devote some time to each of them. I attend their meetings and service projects...it's not a lot of time, but these activities are significant to me.

I don't know why the opinion of Golden Key is so negative here. It's not trash or junk mail or a waste of money. It's a great honor because you have to be in the top 15% of your class to even be considered. And it's something that I care a lot about...apparently I'm the only one. 🙄

 

[Sophie]

Imo, Golden Key is very much like "Who's Who of High School Students", "Who's Who of College Students", and "National Dean's List"... they were all just created to get your $$. I have thrown my invitations to each in the trash (besides the first year I was offered WWoHSS, because I was still naive) and have not regretted it for a minute.

Not to rain on your parade, PianoGirl, but the top 15% doesn't really seem that impressive; I would assume a very large number of premeds fall into that percentile. Besides, Adcoms can just look at your transcript to see your GPA.. they don't need you to list an honor society to know you did well.

 

[drlexygoat]

Like any organization, simply adding it to your resume means next to nothing. HOWEVER, joining and taking on some leadership role does have a place on a resume. I don't think adcoms are the least bit inmpressed by a laundry list of clubs and orgs. If you can list what you actually did or accomplished in them, that's another story.

My own experience with GK has been great. We've got a strong chapter here and I'm on the Bd ofExecs as Historian and a few other positions. I've had several schools ask me about it. You'd be suprised how many of those old geezers were in it too.

 

[premedi-kid]

I think it really depends on which college/university you're from. I f you go to podunk U then getting a goldenkey award may not be really stellar. But if you go to University of Chicago or any other college that is known for extreme competition and bright students then I would say getting the GK is pretty impressive. Anyhow, why are we all picking on GK?? How about Dean's List or NCSC which actually accepts almost everybody? 😎

 

[Amit1]

Im sure the adcom members and interviewers appreciate being called "old geezers".

Everything about Golden Key is wrong. If you want to do service do service with one of the many legitimate service organizations. There are plenty of organizations where you can do service and not have to PAY money to do it. And why is it that you can only do service with the top 15% of the class. Class ranking should be arbitrary when doing community service.

On top of that all why do they send you junk mail and try to lure you in like rabid salesmen? If the organization was legit they would send you one letter which would elicit one response. Not 15-20 letters in your mailbox and e-mail trying to get you to join after you have declined so many times.

Its an obvious sham - doing a little token community work does not substantiate the club.