What's "who's who of american universities"?

[Informer]

I got a letter in the mail from the school congratulating me re: nominated for Who's Who. I'll be recognized oh honors day

What in the world is who's who and who nominated me? Is it common? Top 30%, top 5%? Grades? Clinical rotations (im a 4th year) or is it based on good looks? I have no idea

any help is appreciated

(and no i didnt nominate myself)

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[LabMonster]

I got a letter in the mail from the school congratulating me re: nominated for Who's Who. I'll be recognized oh honors day

What in the world is who's who and who nominated me? Is it common? Top 30%, top 5%? Grades? Clinical rotations (im a 4th year) or is it based on good looks? I have no idea

any help is appreciated

(and no i didnt nominate myself)

Do they want money for a certificate, book etc?

 

[Informer]

nope, it's directly from the school

"congrats on your nomination to who's who. you will be recognized for this honor on honors day on April 10th at the school ampitheatre"

 

[Hurricane]

I got a smiliar letter in college. I have no idea how the nominating works.

Look for something in the mail in the next few weeks offering to sell you a lovely bound book listing all of the who's who honorees for the low low price of 50 bucks. They pitch it like it's some prestigious directory, when the only other people who own a copy are the parents of the people in it.

 

[StevenRF]

I got a smiliar letter in college. I have no idea how the nominating works.

Look for something in the mail in the next few weeks offering to sell you a lovely bound book listing all of the who's who honorees for the low low price of 50 bucks. They pitch it like it's some prestigious directory, when the only other people who own a copy are the parents of the people in it.

Exactly. These honors clubs are for suckers. I "got in" to who's who. I knew it was bogus, but my *****ic parents couldnt wait to shell out 50 bucks every year for a new book. Who's who even tried to get me to go to a foriegn pre med program for a "prestigious few honorees" for a low low price of like 3k+. If you have to pay for your honor or award, it's bogus. Plain and simple. Unfortunately companies like this prey on stupid parents.

 

[happydays]

The people who are stupid enough to buy into this scam deserves to be cheated.

 

[omgwtfbbq?]

i'm pretty sure who's who is a scam. i think i got a bunch of offers for that in undergrad, all with another "offer" to buy the book with my name and bio in it along with all the other paying students! a croc.

BUT

be careful, and check into it or call your school if this is different and could be legit. I was so jaded by all these fake "honor" organizations that I almost completely ignored my invitation into Phi Beta Kappa, because i didn't know anything about it. i offhanded mentioned it to my Dad when they sent me an e-mail about how i hadn't responded and he set me straight. I'm so glad I joined. Who's who... still no regrets about not dropping $50

 

[Nittany Lion]

i'm pretty sure who's who is a scam. i think i got a bunch of offers for that in undergrad, all with another "offer" to buy the book with my name and bio in it along with all the other paying students! a croc.

BUT

be careful, and check into it or call your school if this is different and could be legit. I was so jaded by all these fake "honor" organizations that I almost completely ignored my invitation into Phi Beta Kappa, because i didn't know anything about it. i offhanded mentioned it to my Dad when they sent me an e-mail about how i hadn't responded and he set me straight. I'm so glad I joined. Who's who... still no regrets about not dropping $50

I don't think it's a scam. I'm pretty sure at least at my school, people were nominated for that by their academic advisors. I was nominated and received a certificate saying I was "in", and I thought it was kind of an honor. I think it's something worth nothing on a resume.

Oh, and you don't have to buy the book or send any money or anything. You *can* buy that stuff, but it's optional. Just like you can buy a key and other stuff if you're in Phi Beta Kappa, but you don't have to.

 

[Risa]

like others have said, "who's who" is a scam. it's pretty much a gigundo book of everyone who pays to be in it.

i thought this was common knowledge!

 

[Nittany Lion]

like others have said, "who's who" is a scam. it's pretty much a gigundo book of everyone who pays to be in it.

i thought this was common knowledge!

You pay to GET the book, you don't pay to be IN the book.

 

[unoriginal]

i always laugh when i see "who's who ... member" written on applications/resumes. it is just a resume padder that most college students get. have seen one of the books before? there are tons and tons of people. because they give it out so loosely, it means almost nothing. do not put this on your resumes... if you are actually interviewed by someone who knows what it is, they will laugh at you for not realzing it is a scam.

if i had only thought of starting a fake honor society that fed off people's egos and off proud parents. i could put people's kids pictures in books and charge them twice what it is worth.... i would be rich!

 

[nebrfan]

like others have said, "who's who" is a scam. it's pretty much a gigundo book of everyone who pays to be in it.

i thought this was common knowledge!

Most certainly a scam....I got another letter from them for my "outstanding undergraduate performance" - funny, because I graduated nearly a year ago and I'm now a M1. Unfortunately, it's not common knowledge. Every now and then in my high school's alumni news section I see ppl braging up being a "Who's Who"...kinda sad.

 

[BlondeCookie]

I'm voting scam on this one.

 

[Vox Animo]

definately a scam. They have been sending me things since high school.

 

[Samoa]

Whether it's a scam or not depends on your school. At my school, the nominations were made by the faculty Honors and Awards committee. So it was a big deal to be nominated. People actually got upset over who was or wasn't nominated. Can you imagine?

I agree that the whole book thing is a scam, but people should not assume that the award itself is just resume padding.

 

[billclinton]

Whether it's a scam or not depends on your school. At my school, the nominations were made by the faculty Honors and Awards committee. So it was a big deal to be nominated. People actually got upset over who was or wasn't nominated. Can you imagine?

I agree that the whole book thing is a scam, but people should not assume that the award itself is just resume padding.

haha.. no this is not how it is done. Who's Who gets a copy of the dean's list. They then send everyone who made the dean's list a certain amount of time's an application.

 

[Samoa]

haha.. no this is not how it is done. Who's Who gets a copy of the dean's list. They then send everyone who made the dean's list a certain amount of time's an application.

Not at my school. Your school may have done that, but my school did it exactly as I described.

 

[synapse lapse]

Whether it's a scam or not depends on your school. At my school, the nominations were made by the faculty Honors and Awards committee. So it was a big deal to be nominated. People actually got upset over who was or wasn't nominated. Can you imagine?

I agree that the whole book thing is a scam, but people should not assume that the award itself is just resume padding.

v |2 73h 1337 h4x0r!!!1one

 

[Law2Doc]

When I was in college, something like 75% of the school got the who's who offer. It's hardly a prestigious award, nobody voted on it, and it was certainly not on the same level of phi beta kappa, etc. It is a company that gives you an honor so you will buy their book. And not once, but annually. Then they sell their mailing list to other companies who will target you for other similar stuff (seeing as you are a sucker for such made up awards). The offers will never end. Congrats. Perhaps you should throw a party in your honor.


Oh, and for $50 I will be happy to list you in my annual email of outstanding SDN members, a truly prestigious honor. For $100 I will even spell your name right.

 

[fun8stuff]

When I was in college, something like 75% of the school got the who's who offer. It's hardly a prestigious award, nobody voted on it, and it was certainly not on the same level of phi beta kappa, etc. It is a company that gives you an honor so you will buy their book. And not once, but annually. Then they sell their mailing list to other companies who will target you for other similar stuff (seeing as you are a sucker for such made up awards). The offers will never end. Congrats. Perhaps you should throw a party in your honor.


Oh, and for $50 I will be happy to list you in my annual email of outstanding SDN members, a truly prestigious honor. For $100 I will even spell your name right.

you know what... you could call it "the national dean's list" ...oh wait, i think that one has already been taken.

this is not something people vote on... don't be fooled. these companies get your info from public info made available by the university. These companies are out to make money.

The general rule is if you are receiving an award from someone or some organization that knows nothing about you.... in other words, you just get the nomination in the mail... it's fraud! lol

 

[Informer]

im the original poster and can tell you for a fact I am NOT dean's list at all

 

[Samoa]

At my school, the process was overseen by the Cabinet of College Councils, which distributed a set number of nominations to each college. How that college determined its nominees was entirely up to the dean. My college (pharmacy) delegated the decision to a faculty committee, in keeping with its Orwellian philosophy on student affairs. The liberal arts school let the college student council decide. Probably other schools' deans just sent off a list of honors students.

That's why there's the discrepancy in how much the award means. It's not a fraud, in and of itself, but its meaning is entirely dependent on how that individual school chooses to decide the nominees.

And the reason I know this is because I served on the Cabinet of College Councils at my school, so I've seen the process firsthand, and I know the award has whatever meaning the college gives it. I was high enough up in the student heirarchy at my university to know about a lot of stuff that most students had no idea about. And while I wasn't personally involved in this process at all, I am aware of how it was done.

The book, however, is a thing completely separate from the award, and is always a scam.

The other scam part of it is that, once you're in their file, they keep sending you self-nomination forms for various Who's Who things. Those don't mean anything, and if you don't reply, they eventually quit sending them. But then few months ago, I got one again for Who's Who in american colleges, and I threw that one away, since my own med school never said anything to me about it.