<p>I'm a graduating college senior, and about a month ago invitations for Phi Beta Kappa went out, and I didn't get in. I've read a lot about how Phi Beta Kappa is a big deal, and that it's the only honor society worth putting on your resume, etc., and I've been kind of bummed out for not getting it. I think part of it is that I was probably close (I have a 3.85 GPA as a math major, but have taken 10 humanities courses, including level four courses in two foreign languages). My school doesn't do Latin honors or anything like that, so Phi Beta Kappa is pretty much all there is for any sort of recognition beyond just graduating. Will not having any of these awards hurt me later on? I'm going to grad school for a PhD program next year if that matter.</p>
<p>With a 3.85 GPA in math I wouldn’t worry. You can always put that on your resume if you like. Aren’t there any math honor societies? I think that would be worth it too. I mean engineers always put Tau Beta Pi on their resumes.</p>
<p>Plus I think you might be able to get into PBK from grad school. Not sure.</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter. I was Phi Beta Kappa and not once did anyone pay the slightest attention to it in any interview or application. I actually think it means much less than it once did; my parents’ generation thought PBK was a big deal, but I don’t think it has the signaling power it once had.</p>
<p>Your major GPA is quite high, and that will be more important in applications. Don’t worry about PBK.</p>
<p>Junior PBK here. Never met anyone who cares (except my mother, and even she gave me back the key when she turned 80.)</p>
<p>If you haven’t already noticed, academics don’t put a lot of stock into honor societies at all, much less cross-discipline undergraduate honor societies. Nobody cares. Anybody it’d matter to isn’t worth your time.</p>
<p>My son’s school didn’t even have Phi Beta Kappa. He’s put his GPA on his resume.</p>
<p>I was elected to PBK but my boyfriend who had a higher GPA did not. I actually called to ask on his behalf and it turned out that it was an oversight because he was in a BA/MA program and his named got missed. They inducted him too, secret handshake and all. So it actually might be worth a call!</p>
<p>However, even after a long career in academia, I don’t think it has mattered at all. I took it off my resume after grad school, I think.</p>
<p>For grad school, all they will care about it GPA - not honor societies. Some schools don’t offer them and some people who are qualified don’t bother to apply. Don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>Well, I disagree with a lot of posters here. I think PBK is a big deal, and can help you on resume for the rest of your life. BUT, hardly anybody gets in, and you can certainly still be completely successful without it. Agree that you can (and should) put your GPA on your resume, that is a lot to be proud of.</p>
<p>I NEVER put my GPA on my resume. And having reviewed resumes for 20 years, I would look negatively (though it wouldn’t take a lot of my time) on anyone who ever did. (I wasn’t hiring for entry level positions.)</p>
<p>I am PBK, and don’t think it ever helped. GPA is only useful for a few years after graduation when you have nothing else on your resume. After that, school and degree, no GPA, no PBK.</p>
<p>After grad school, all anyone ever cared about (worked for US govt and international banking industry for 20 yrs) was that I actually GRADUATED. No one in the real world really cares about GPA or PBK or, usually, what college you went to - unless they are alumni of the same college. YMMV</p>
<p>What megpmom said.</p>
<p>I worked for the Federal government for 30 years and now with a major university for nine years. No one ever asked for my gpa. They only wanted to make sure I had the degrees, and that was only the Feds. My university gig is based on my experience not my education.</p>
<p>I graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Nobody cares, and I never mention it.</p>
<p>PBK is a nice recognition but I agree, it matters little in the grand scheme of things. Also there aren’t many colleges that have PBK chapters. Sorry your school doesn’t award latin honors. Those are a little more recognizable to the average person.</p>
<p>Agree with all of the above. I graduated with PBK and it never made any difference to anyone, expecially after school. Even for graduate school, GPA was the most important thing.</p>
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<p>Well, that is half-true. It is one of the only honor societies worth putting on your resume’ several years after graduation. However, most of the time your academic record stops being important after you get your first or second job. In cases where academic record <em>is</em> valued, they will just care about your GPA anyway. So yes, most people drop putting academic honors on their resume’ except for PBK, but jobs are not usually determined based on that once you’re in the workforce anyway.</p>
<p>In terms of post-graduate opportunities right now, I don’t think there is a big difference between a 3.85 GPA withouth PBK and a 3.85 with PBK.</p>
<p>I don’t think Caltech even has a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. I don’t think anybody would hold that against a grad with 3.85.</p>
<p>I’ve seen plenty of my expert technical witness adversaries with Tau Beta Pi on their CVs, even octogenarians. I don’t think it impresses anybody but me, since I was a mediocre engineering student. I still win most of my cases anyway.</p>
<p>Wife’s a PBK. It might have given her a slight bump in the graduate program she received her fellowship from but after that it meant nothing. Phi Beta Kappa chapters don’t select members based solely on GPA. My daughter was a STEM major who decided late in her college career that she wanted to double-major in a humanities discipline. She was able to work in the foreign language requirement for the major but lacked an extra semester of said foreign language needed to qualify for PBK. I don’t think that hurt her with grad school admissions.</p>
<p>No PBK = no gold key and no copies of the “Key Reporter” clogging up your mailbox.</p>
<p>However, like others have said, it’s the only college honor I keep on my resume.</p>