Is the "International Dean's List Society" a scam?

Student Lounge College Life
1

<p>I got a letter from the International Dean's List Society (IDLS) asking me if I would like to join as a member. The fee for a lifetime membership is $48. It says you can apply for grants, scholarships, and study abroad programs.
I do not want to join something that people are going to look at and say, "Oh man, they fell for that one..."
What are the formally accepted societies that people consider to be legitimate?
I have been on the Dean's list every semester I have been in college, do I really need to be in a society to reinforce this?
Any thoughts?</p>

2

<p>I just went to their website, it looks like a scam. These things make me mad. :(( </p>

3

<p>

Phi Beta Kappa is the only legitimate national honors society that is not intended for a specific subject. Various subjects each have their own legitimate honors society as well.</p>

4

<p>The Association of College Honor Societies keeps track and has useful info about scams. They also have a list of member societies.
<a href=“http://www.achsnatl.org/standards_alert.asp[/url]”>http://www.achsnatl.org/standards_alert.asp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

5

<p>“scam” isn’t the word. They’re perfectly legal. It’s just that they are not set up like organizations membership in which really gives people a leg up. Those organizations are usually local or at least have a local chapter with meaningful activities, focused on some topic or area of service besides just ‘success per se’, and give you opportunities to network. Whereas something like IDLS would be recognized, if you put it on a resume, as a meaningless distinction where you just send $50 in the mail to somewhere and they send you some newsletters about irrelevant and unhelpful scholarship opportunities and whatnot. </p>