honor societies--what do you think?

[syzygy]

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I was inspired to start a thread devoted to this subject after reading the "National Dean's List" thread. I'm interested to know how much weight, if any, people place on all the various "honor societies" that are offered at different schools. And why/why not? Does your school have any specific requirements for them?

My own feeling is that many--perhaps not all, but still many--of them can be worthless, unless you're actually putting effort into it. I know where I go to school (would rather not reveal where), most people don't. I woke up to that fact after sending out $60 to NSCS only to then spend the last year not doing a thing with them--I didn't even go to the induction for lack of time. I "misplaced" an invitation for Golden Key after rolling my eyes at the letter which claimed the usual--"congrats, you have the semblance of a brain, come join us....opportunities for service and scholarships....blah blah blah"--and of course asked for the fat check made out their way. 🙄 I don't really know if listing every single honor society is helpful in med school applications, but my gut is that it won't break me.

 

[doc05]

the only well-respected honor society is Phi Beta Kappa. In fact, at many colleges (e.g. my alma mater), this is the ONLY honor society on campus.

 

[JM.]

what about gamma sigma kappa

or tappa kegga?

 

[Bonds756]

List Phi Betta Kappa, no questions about that. Most everything else is a money-making scheme unless you are really involved.

 

[cad_15]

Anyone heard of Alpha Sigma Nu, the National Jesuit Honor Society. only the top 4% of the combined Junior and senior class get invited every year. It is only present in the 27 jesuits universities in the country, and you have to have more than just the grades but leardership and service too.

 

[lola]

at my school pbk goes by gpa, teacher recommendations, and diversity of coursework taken. everyone with a certain gpa is eligible (top 10% or so, 3.7 maybe?), but they cut people from that who aren't recommended or have only taken humanities courses or have only taken science/math courses. we didn't have summa/magna cum laude, and it was the only honors society on campus. the only other possible honors would have been graduation with general honors (given to top 20% -- maybe this is like one of the cum laudes), graduation with deparmtental honors (mainly based on thesis work), or individual department awards.

 

[IrishOarsman]

alpha sigma nu is also very good, as good as PBK to loyola / gtown etc but probably slightly less to your hardcore research schools

 

[Bonds756]

Originally posted by lola
at my school pbk goes by gpa, teacher recommendations, and diversity of coursework taken. everyone with a certain gpa is eligible (top 10% or so, 3.7 maybe?), but they cut people from that who aren't recommended or have only taken humanities courses or have only taken science/math courses. we didn't have summa/magna cum laude, and it was the only honors society on campus. the only other possible honors would have been graduation with general honors (given to top 20% -- maybe this is like one of the cum laudes), graduation with deparmtental honors (mainly based on thesis work), or individual department awards.

Yeah, it is definitely not done by GPA alone, but GPA is used as an initial cutoff. After that, they look at recommendations and coursework diversity as Lola said, as well as research, ECs, and leadership positions on campus. At most schools, an undisclosed committee simply appoints individuals and you can not apply.