<p>Hi, I am a student at a CCC with an offer to join Phi Theta Kappa. The cost to join is $80.
I really do not have a lot of money (80 bucks is 2/3 of my money for food per month, to put it into perspective), so I want to know if it's really worth it. I intend to transfer to UCLA for Linguistics and Computer Science.</p>
<p>I never see PTK doing anything on campus (even fundraiser sales), so I'm wondering how I would even get involved. I am already in my school's Honors club and I am very active with them, so. I also volunteer for AFS-USA a few hours a month every year. </p>
<p>PTK was big at my school and was worth the money since I earned it back many times over in 3 scholarships I won through PTK. But I’ll be real blunt, if they’re not active on your campus and you don’t plan on being active, the 3 letters aren’t really worth that much. Jobs, Scholarship apps, and everything don’t want to know what groups you were with, they want to know what you did in them. Did you show leadership, did you do this or that, were you active and involved. </p>
<p>With it being that much of your budget, and you won’t have the opportunity to do anything with it, then I’d have to say no, not worth it in your case. </p>
<p>Absolutely not, unless you intend to be involved in a leadership role with the organization. My two cents, I joined my CC’s chapter and served on their board for a term. Mostly it was a waste of time for me.</p>
<p>Like they’ve told you, is only worth it if you get involved. I have received a lot of invitations from prestigious universities thanks to the program (Cornell, Columbia, UPenn)… Especially after winning a recognition by the state of California… Schools seem to be able to look at your stats and accomplishments through this program, that’s the only explanation I have for having received invitations from various prestigious universities. Good luck </p>
<p>Like @Freetofly112, I was a member of PTK for one semester two years ago and it was a waste of time. Nice organization that does nice things, I guess, but not really worth the time unless you get really involved, and as @ucastell said, lots of prestigious schools look for people who are involved in this kind of organization.</p>
<p>But if your goal is UCLA, you don’t need it. Keep the $80. @Freetofly112 and I got accepted to UCLA without doing much for the organization over a long period of time.</p>
<p>I didn’t even mention it on my application, lol.</p>
<p>I joined it last year but I didn’t even become a part of it since I was too busy at that time. It’s not worth it if you don’t plan to have a leadership position like @Freetofly112 said. </p>
<p>Hey everyone! Thanks for your input - it is very valuable
I didn’t think it would be worth it because 1) they do literally nothing on campus and 2) leadership positions at my school stay occupied for years and years and years because for some reason people spend 6 years at a 2 year school =__= I just wanted to be sure I wasn’t shorting myself by not applying.</p>
<p>I’m very active in the groups I’m in and hopefully, I will be able to run for an office position in some of them this fall.</p>
<p>Also, I’m in the Honors program and I am doing UCLA TAP, so I guess that + grades + clubs I’m in now is all I need? </p>
<p>I myself didn’t join because of the cost, actually I didn’t even participate in any clubs. I was in the honors program for TAP though and got accepted to UCLA as a Linguistics major. My friend on the other hand, joined because they said it was okay for her to not be active–I’ve never seen her do anything for them. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t have a huge effect on admissions.</p>
<p>I joined because I was interested in Columbia GS and their application asks if you’re a PTK member, which probably indicates that if you’re in PTK you have better chances… I didn’t end up applying though, but if you are I’d recommend joining.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m only interested in UCLA/other UC’s, so I think I’m going to skip on joining. Especially because it seems like my school doesn’t offer much of an opportunity to participate in anything regarding it haha. I’m thinking of saving those “expensive” honor societies for the ones that “actually matter” at UCLA.</p>
<p>Another thing with PTK that others have mentioned here is how much involvement they require of you to receive their benefits. At my school’s chapter, I had to do 5 “events” to be considered an “active member” and 10 or so to be considered a higher-level member. Many of the events were difficult for me to participate in for scheduling reasons and I didn’t even have a job at the time. I could only imagine how difficult it’d be to go to so many of these events if one had a part/full-time job as well as school. The distinctions that come with the titles don’t matter much in the grand scheme of things…</p>
<p>…but hey, I must thank Phi Theta Kappa for doing one certain thing for me: they introduced me to college confidential! :D</p>
<p>I am a member of the SMC PTK. OP, there is a tl;dr for you at the bottom. For others who are curious:</p>
<p>The points made above are very sound, however I have a few comments. I have enjoyed my 2 semesters so far. The SMC PTK is huge, so it is fun to talk with other members and make friends. I have found that all of the members are fun and interesting, and there is a camaraderie after you are there for a while. As Cayton said, some of the events are a bit difficult to work around a full time school schedule and a part time work schedule (per my experience), but they do try to offer different types at different times. I always manage to go to the food ones because a) I like food, and b) there is a time gap that make it easy to do. The events vary from fundraisers to volunteer work to networking or having guest speakers. It is also a great chance to get to know the advisers, who offer excellent advice or can point you in the right direction. PTK does offer some scholarships at schools, (not some major ones though) so if you have a specific school in mind double check their financial aid website. If the PTK at your school is like mine, you can go to meetings without having to be a full fledged member. I would suggest that you go and see if you like it! </p>
<p>Now, some negatives. As mentioned above, you get a ton of emails. It has never bothered me before, and I just delete the ones I don’t want. Another is the application fee, which varies from school to school. Lastly, the scheduling, but that will vary from person to person.</p>
<p>I do want to disagree on one point. I think that joining a club with the sole goal of being in a leadership position is a bad reason to join. I also disagree that clubs only have value if you have a leadership position. While that point might be valid from the perspective of transferring, one would miss all of the other great things that make a club special. However I do submit that if the club itself is not very active, it may not be worth the time and money.</p>
<p>tl;dr: OP, I understand the money situation, and in my personal opinion PTK is not worth it for you. From your posts you seem involved at your campus and on the right track to transfer. I have never heard of PTK making or breaking someone’s admission, so it will not count against you. I wish you luck in your journey, and thank you for letting me put up some PTK info on your post.</p>
<p>It depends on if it is worth it to you. $80 is a lot for a college student. And I have already received $1,000 from them to cover that cost via the Leader of Promise scholarship.
I am a chapter officer, regional officer, and my college’s chapter is one of the top 5 internationally. We meet constantly, do our Honors in Action and College Project, write Hallmark Awards, and are very involved. We volunteer at Relay for Life, Special Olympics, and multiple other organizations throughout the year. We have regional and international conventions that are really fun to go to if you like building up leadership and listening to some amazing speakers.
There are some people who are just, like, RAH RAH RAH EVERYONE SHOULD JOIN PTK, but I feel to be more truthful about it.
My friend is at a different CC and their chapter only meets once a month, does not do any of the projects, does not write any hallmark awards, is a one star chapter, etc.
Check out how involved your school’s chapter is, and whether you want to put in the time and effort instead of adding a line to your resume.
I have gotten invited to the National Society of Collegiate Scholars twice, in my freshman and sophomore year. Their membership fee is $95. I know with the commitments I already have that I would not be able to be an active member with them. But, I will list the Certificate of Nomination I got from them as something.
Getting invited to PTK means you are doing great, and you can write about how you were nominated to join if you know you cannot sacrifice the time to be involved.
Message me if you have any other questions, I am happy to answer.</p>
<p>And also, reading other peoples’ comments, you do not have to be involved AT ALL to have the Phi Theta Kappa seal on your diploma, to walk with the PTK stoles and cords, or to have Phi Theta Kappa written on your transcript. And colleges such as Columbia GS and others offer exclusive PTK scholarships, which is probably why they asked about it on their app.</p>
