<p>Son rec'd invitation in the mail today.</p>
<p>It does list nomination from his college due to % ranking.</p>
<p>Worth it to join?</p>
<p>IMHO, if the club/society has a chapter on campus and is very active. I would consider it, otherwise…</p>
<p>If they pay him money without the need for you to pay them money then it’s good but if it’s that they want you to pay money to them to either be listed in their ‘book’ or to buy the book - skip it - it’s just a money-making scam. Listings like this are meaningless anyway. There are lots of these ‘xyz’ honors … listing/book’ things soliciting fees targeting HS students that play on the vanity of the students/parents (mostly the parents). (I haven’t checked on this specific one)</p>
<p>Golden Key isn’t a scam, though it’s not necessarily worthwhile. I don’t think that you should join it solely out of vanity, but only if you’re interested in what they do on campus. I believe the admission fee is around $100.</p>
<p>crazed, thanks for bringing up this mailing. My S also received the invitation and I was curious how they got my S’s class rank from his college. Do universities provide the names and addresses of the top X% students to certain organizations? Anyone know? He’s not joining GK–we’re just curious. :)</p>
<p>Here’s one tangible benefit of joining Golden Key. It is considered an honor society by the federal government. If there is a chance that your student might be interested in a federal career, and is selected for a position, membership in the honor society could bump their starting pay up one grade, usually from a 5 to a 7. The difference in starting salary is around $4-5K. This doesn’t apply at all agencies, but it does at many.</p>
<p>thanks – that is useful information that changes the equation a bit. Do you know of a list of other honor societies that also get this bump?</p>
<p>crazed~Congratulations to your son!
DD received the invitation both her Jr and Sr. year. The invitation did give a deadline to respond, and she was honored, but decided in both cases to pass. Given her time commitments, and her reasoning, her decision seemed thoughtful and appropriate.</p>
<p>Seems legit- I googled and also found the chapter into on his school link, etc.
Payment required, but not for listing in any “book”- that would go in the garbage!! I figure, we paid for Nat’l Honor Society in HS so this may be the same. </p>
<p>I will mention it to son.</p>
<p>(other son, a sophomore) got invitation to some “fraternity” that is national, based on GPA and whatever. Refused to attend the meeting. Yup- sounds just like him.</p>
<p>D received the invitation, too, at the same school as your S, crazed. I found the chapter link, as well, but the info is from a few years ago. Wish I could find out more about it.</p>
<p>Notan4me~
What I did to find out more information, and you may be able to do the same, is to send my inquiry by email to the chapter President. If the website is not current, the National Office should be able to get you the name/contact information for your D’s University.
I hope this helps-
APOL-a Mum</p>
<p>arabrab, when the exception applies, the job announcement will generally give a list of conditions that will lead to a starting grade of 7, instead of 5. One of those conditions is:</p>
<p>“Have completed a 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor’s degree in an accredited college or university and a member of a national honor society (other than freshman honor societies) recognized by the Association of College Honor Societies.”</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the recognized societies. [ACHS</a> Quick-links to Member Honor Societies](<a href=“http://www.achsnatl.org/quick_link.asp]ACHS”>http://www.achsnatl.org/quick_link.asp)
There are a lot of them!</p>