Tips on getting into Phi Beta Kappa?

[OrangeCaramel]

Anybody have any tips to get into Phi Beta Kappa? Or did the people who get inducted just get in by chance (not really have PBK goal in mind)?

I searched through the pre-med threads, and nobody seems to have any tips. Most people are just wondering if it is worth it to join (many people reply with emphatic yes).

What do the guidelines mean when they say that getting the minimum GPA does not ensure induction?

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[NP545]

Get all A's.














.......
Seriously, they only invite the top 10% of the class I believe

 

[OrangeCaramel]

I see, so most schools invite? Not nominated by faculty? My school is a little vague/doesn't have much info on this.

 

[Relax!]

Although I got inducted, I never really had PBK in mind until I received an invitation. I don't think faculty nomination was required by my school. They said they consider all "eligible" students. Once I received the invitation, I tried to figure out why I was invited. So basically, at my school, they not only want a high GPA (3.75+ I believe?) but also a well-rounded list of courses on your transcript. This means that if you are a science major, also take classes in the humanities, and if you a humanities/arts major, take classes in the sciences. Different schools have different specifications. Some want at least one foreign language course...others want you take a minimum number of credits in the humanities/sciences. Try to get in touch with someone who got into PBK at your school and ask what classes they took.

 

[Noctámbulo]

My school nominates based on faculty recommendations, after the baseline requirements (e.g. GPA cutoff at upper x% of college, humanities coursework, etc ) are fulfilled. Half of it is GPA, half of it is having both depth and breadth in science and humanities courses. I personally took some upper-division language courses early-on, but it depends on your academic interests.

 

[sat0ri]

Each school is different. For us, I forget the exact wording but it was something like "of the top 10% we chose have of them based on rigorous course load and diverse course working (i.e., not only science classes, and not 12 credit hours semesters)" and also that "3.90" was the GPA per-requisite for being considered. I could possible send you the email (redacted for any confidential info and provided it is not prohibited) if you were really interested. It was fairly informative actually. At any rate, there's nothing you can directly do to get considered. It all happens behind closed doors in a committee .

 

[Lucca]

My school was just GPA and good academic standing as in you don't have an IA or anything like that. The GPA requirement is 3.96 within the College of Natural Sciences however. I blame bio majors.

 

[dellprecision]

At my school, it was to have a high GPA (not sure what exactly, I think at least a 3.8), have an arts or science major, and to have taken a large variety of courses from various disciplines. Most of the people there had multiple majors and minors in unrelated fields.

Needless to say, there were a lot of humanities/social sciences majors there.

 

[Silverflash]

I didn't even know what it was until I got invited to it. I was going to ignore it until my roommate said something about being excited he got in. That made me google it and realize it was a decently big deal, so I was inducted.

They didn't say anything about diversity at my school, just high academic standing. But I was an honors students that took a bunch of literature classes with that department, so it could just be a requirement I wasn't aware of.

Just get nearly all A's and don't only take classes in your major, and you'll probably be fine.

 

[Doug Underhill]

I got into PBK. In the six years since I've been inducted, I have not noticed any instances of it benefiting me. Adcom member Goro on this site said he considers honor/professional societies to be fluff.

 

[pinstriped1992]

My school inducts based on high GPA (all members were also summa cum laude) and they mentioned that they selected many based on research. They also said you had to have taken a wide range of courses outside your major...

 

[NickNaylor]

Step 1: get good grades
Step 2: profit

 

[crossingthefingers]

At my school there are two faculty members who nominate, and induction seems to be variable based on whether you actually like, know the people who are supposed to be nominating.

 

[deeproots]

Personally, I got in by chance. I actually almost trashed my PBK invitation because I have never heard of it and thought it was another random "honor club" trying to take my money.

Although I got to PBK with no intentions of doing so, I tried to take diverse classes in college (to get my money's worth 😉) so that probably helped.

 

[DoTheTrick]

Like everyone has said, each school is different. At my school, getting it is not really something you can plan on. I didn't even know about PBK until my school's chapter sent me a letter telling me I had been nominated. I was surprised....You get nominated by the faculty and to be inducted you must have demonstrated intellectual curiosity, integrity and academic honesty, and high academic achievement. It seems that they award it to people who show an appreciation for the liberal arts and basically seemed to have gone to school to learn for the sake of learning.

 

[Catman21]

Anybody have any tips to get into Phi Beta Kappa? Or did the people who get inducted just get in by chance (not really have PBK goal in mind)?

I searched through the pre-med threads, and nobody seems to have any tips. Most people are just wondering if it is worth it to join (many people reply with emphatic yes).

What do the guidelines mean when they say that getting the minimum GPA does not ensure induction?

does getting into gamma phi beta even mean anything? (never heard of it 😳)