Poll: university honor societies. Are they worth the time?

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elcyclista
elcyclista Posts: 393
in Chit-Chat
I been invited to a few. They all want money. In your experience have they been worth your time and money?

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  • clh126
    clh126 Posts: 115 Member
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    I would say that if it were a well-recognized national honor society like phi beta kappa, yeah, put up the $100 or whatever, but if it's not something that employers/schools would recognize on your resume, save your money.
  • elcyclista
    elcyclista Posts: 393
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    The ones I've been invited too are somewhat recognizable. Maybe. XD they're engineering-specific honor societies. And one called Golden Key which isn't something I've heard before.
  • clh126
    clh126 Posts: 115 Member
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    I've heard that Tau Beta Pi is a good one for engineering, but it's not my field so I can't really comment further. Congrats on the invitations though!
  • Louisianababy93
    Louisianababy93 Posts: 1,709 Member
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    uhh,idk.
    but,it'd look good on a resume!
  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
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    Because I joined Phi Theta Kappa ($75 fee) in community college, I was offered a huge scholarship to do my junior and senior year at University college. Now once I finish that, my graduate school will be looking at whether or not I participated in Honors College events (more fees) and if I volunteered and many other things that honors organizations help put together.

    Looks great on any applications - be it to graduate school (like I'm aiming) or employers
  • regraves
    regraves Posts: 12 Member
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    I was also invited to Golden Key, in grad school at the moment. From what I have gathered from the ones that I am already in they are useful for a resume for employers who don't know much about higher education and are awed easily by the concept of a membership in an honors society. For those that do, your GPA generally suffices as most of those honor societies are GPA based. A lot of them tout benefits such as reduced car insurance prices etc, but depending on the company you can generally get the same discount by showing them your GPA, its a good student discount essentially as that supposedly signifies higher levels of responsibility. Ultimately its a decision of whether being able to say you are a member of X society is worth the money as that is about the only "benefit" they provide.

    Honors societies for a particular field, engineers, lawyers, teachers etc. are a whole other ballgame as they are more specific and can provide employment and networking opportunities.
  • khara2012
    khara2012 Posts: 1,051 Member
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    I was a member of the Golden Key, Phi Theta Kappa, and a few others. I had the money to join them so I did, and I think it did help as far as applying for scholarships. It also helped in my line of occupation because everything you can put on your resume for a prospective employer that shows you are interested in something outside of school, and that you have the time and dedication to apply to extra-curricular activities was a benefit. However, I think the most important thing if you choose not to accept the invitations to other honor societies is to follow the Honors Track at your school so you can graduate with Honors from your University. I graduated from the Honors track at TCU. I was also ranked Magna Cum Laude or something like that, and my degree reflects my Honors graduation status. I went into education, a very competitive field, and feel that I was able to hand pick the district and school I went to work for due to my Honors status. I was literally offered every position I applied for in every district I went to. Good luck!

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