Perhaps the ΦΒΚ chapter at that school takes seriously the idea that students have significant study of all of the liberal arts areas including sciences.
My daughter paid her membership fee, but I bought the key for her – it’s really an item that is perfectly suited to be a gift from a parent or grandparent, so I didn’t even think twice about it.
So a full-year sequence in CS for majors doesn’t count?
Usually the CS sequence would not count for Phi Beta Kappa, cobrat, because that is not considered to be a “liberal art,” unlike biology, chemistry and physics. It is classified as a “technical” course at many schools. Exceptions would occur if the introductory course is highly mathematical and is taught outside the College of Engineering.
“PBK standards for admission with various chapters vary.”
You’re right. I should have said that at every campus, PBK means outstanding performance relative to your peers in a broad and demanding liberal arts curriculum. (At schools such as Yale that elect PBK members based on grades alone, the distribution requirements of the college ensure that every graduate has the requisite depth and breadth.)
Was curious as I was thinking specifically of someone who took the intro CS for majors course sequence from the CS department in the Arts & Sciences division of a university(i.e. Columbia College rather than Columbia SEAS) or an LAC like Oberlin, Reed, or Swat.
My D was one who nearly missed her PBK invites but her school was persistent. She had deleted the first seven emails but an eighth popped up on her phone while we were talking to her about something unrelated. We told her, “Yes, sweetie, join that one.”
She had seen so much chaff related to colleges selling their 3.5+ gpa email list. Her college, btw, requires a foreign language to get invited in addition to all the other stuff. She said only about 30 or 35 were at the initiation ceremony for a college with 20,000 undergrads. Previous years had 50-75 listed.
Back almost 40 years ago I got a BS in Computer Science and Math. I was invited to join Sigma Xi. I paid the fee but didn’t think twice about attending the dinner/reception (would have cost more money). The day of the dinner, my mentor Comp Sci professor tracked me down to tell me that I must go to the dinner and bring my parents (I commuted so they were close). Turns out I was the recipient of the Sigma Xi award that year (I think they only gave one each year to a graduating senior). I am sure it was a big deal for my professor who had fought for me to receive the award even though I was not majoring in a “pure science.” I did put the award on my resume for the first few years out of college.
I got curious so looked up Harvard requirements. http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k19082&pageid=icb.page189953 They distribute the awards approximately the same as majors in Social Science, Humanities and Sciences are distributed. There is no requirement to take a full sequence of Bio, Chem or Physics, but you do have to have a breadth of courses. Since Harvard’s Gen Ed requirements require that as well, there shouldn’t be any great difficulty for one to fulfill the requirements. Spring juniors and fall seniors have to provide faculty recommendations, those chosen spring senior year do not. There’s a fixed number chosen, 24 as juniors, 48 as fall seniors and spring senior year they can as many as they want of those in the top 10% of the class. (Could be 90 or so more.) They apparently have students on the committee who will ding you for taking too many gut courses and the like.
Seems that there may be variation by chapter for whether CS majors have ΦΒΚ eligibility. At some schools, CS majors are eligible. For example:
https://www.cmu.edu/dietrich/news/news-stories/2016/november/phi-beta-kappa-initiation.html
However, whether CS courses fulfill the ΦΒΚ chapter’s general education requirement can be different from whether CS majors are eligible.
Worth mentioning that since Brown doesn’t have distribution requirements, a 4.0 in all science/engineering/math classes is inelligible for PBK but perfectly eligible for graduating with a degree and magna cum laude.
https://www.brown.edu/academics/college/degree/sites/brown.edu.academics.college.degree/files/uploads/PBK-Election-Procedures.pdf specifies the Brown ΦΒΚ requirements.
There are students every year who map out their courses specifically to make sure they fulfill the PBK requirements and every year there are a few kids with better GPAs than the PBK kids who get locked out by the requirements.
Seems to me that this honor, due to the financial component, separates the haves from the have-nots. My kids received invitations to a few different honor societies but generally turned down the ones with fees. The simply notes magna cum laude on their resume and let that speak for itself. Seems to have not hindered them in any way.
Side note: my daughter was invited into the nursing honor society. Getting in seemed to be something of a big deal, but there was a fee so I came to CC to ask about this honor society. Should my daughter join it? After reading all the answers, we opted not to spend the money for joining. She still got a terrific job (the exact job she wanted in the hosp dept that she wanted) even without that on her resume.
“Seems to me that this honor, due to the financial component, separates the haves from the have-nots.”
It’s not even a drop in the bucket of college costs. It’s a molecule in the bucket.
Adding to what Hanna has said, the induction fee for Phi Beta Kappa is about half the cost of one textbook for a STEM course. However, I am sensitive to the situation of students for whom this is just one added cost they don’t want to bear, and it seems inessential. Not to overdo my contribution on behalf of my students who are elected to Phi Beta Kappa, but this is why I pay their induction fees; for 3 out of 248 students, it has been quite manageable (so far). I think that the Princeton faculty pay on behalf of all of their students.
It would be great if more faculty/chapters did this for their students.
PBK has a site explaining why you should accept the invitation if you get it:
It’s still a huge chunk of change not everyone can afford…especially after 4 years of college tuition, fees, and expenses.
Wonder if there’s any PBK prohibitions on getting the money for defraying their entrance fee by other means…like organizing a pirate crew and raiding a few vacation resorts a la Blackbeard…
Or maybe organizing a memorable and yes, unforgetable music festival on some barren tropical island surrounded by shark-infested waters with supposedly famous musical acts, “gourmet” cooking, luxurious villas, and tickets starting at $450+. 
found this article online. A fun read.
I don’t remember paying any fee to join, just the cost of the key if you wanted one. Maybe the school paid it.