My DS is a second semester sophomore by year but a senior by credits. He has been asked to join Mortar Board. Can he do that if he is a senior by credits? He has also been asked to apply for The Anderson Society, The Carl A. Elliot Honor Society, Blue Key, Cardinal Key, Lambda Sigma, Omicron Delta Kappa. I think he also got an email from Phi Sigma Theta. How do you know which ones are worthwhile? Any guidance will be greatly appreciated.
Those are all very worthwhile societies. I know that Mortar Board, Anderson Society, ODK (all among the most prestigious on campus and nationally) and at least a couple of the others will ONLY take seniors.
Congratulations!
My kids were asked “early” because of the credits that they came in with. That happens a lot.
these are the ones my kids joined:
Phi Beta Kappa
the national eng’g honor society (don’t remember the greek name)
Phi Beta Phi
Mortar Board
Golden Key
the math honor society (don’t remember that one’s name, either)
So does that mean he can join because of the credits he came in with? Tau Beta Pi is the Engineering honor society and he knew to join that one because of advice you gave us last semester 
Thank you for your help!
If a student has been invited then they’ve determined that his number of credits qualify.
Thank you for clarifying this for me. DS is my oldest child so this is my first experience parenting a college student. I know I ask tons of questions and need extra reassurance at times. Things have changed a lot since I was in college. I appreciate your willingness to help so much!
Do the students know of all the awards or honors they will receive on honors day in advance? Any surprises? Just trying to see if my daughter should cancel her spring retreat with the local church that she is very actively involved with and they plan on leaving on Thursday. I’d hate for her to miss something and then the society or college feel as though she snubbed them. If she does decide to go on the retreat, maybe she can send a thank you email ahead of time.
After reading advice here on CC, my sons joined a freshman honor society and Golden Keys. They did not do much with either, but I thought the cost was worth it as it was something they could put down on their resume when looking for internships. For my older, just graduated, son, he ended up also joining the engineering, math and CS honor societies. These were his majors, and did not cost anything to join (that I know of - I don’t know if they were free, UA paid or if my son ended up covering the cost…which doesn’t sound like him.)
Usually it’s a surprise when students are tapped, but I think - THINK - that may be for certain groups such as Jasons, Mortar Board, Omicron Delta Kappa, XXXI…there may be others. Jasons and XXXI are unique to UA, while Mortar Board and ODK are national in scope.
Those 4 I know are leadership honoraries, and are quite impressive on a resume. Depending on your area of study there are academic honoraries that are also impressive and based on GPA, such as Phi Beta Kappa for liberal arts, other groups for engineering, science, etc.
Also in particular majors, honoraries and fraternal groups are good for networking. You never know when someone you meet through them might be someone you’ll work with in the future or (even better) might be hiring in the future. So those are good for networking.
The freshman academic groups are nice, but not terribly impressive on a later resume.
Most of these groups cost something to join. There are always expenses to cover, even if it’s printing certificates on a computer printer. I wouldn’t pay more than, say $100 to $150 to join something. I’d expect it to be $100 or less.