<p>I don’t think lack of participation in PBK will have any significant impact on your S’s career; even some very accomplished and competitive college graduates don’t because PBK has strict percentage requirements. I’m studying for an Ivy League PhD and I am not in PBK. I certainly wouldn’t choose a college on the basis of that.</p>
<p>I think a PBK chapter can be a plus, but the absence of one doesn’t indicate a lack of dedication to the liberal arts and sciences.</p>
<p>I think it is a decent screening tool–esp for smaller less well known LACs and such.</p>
<p>My dad did use it as a screening tool for colleges. He felt that the fact that a college had a chapter was a good sign–and the absence of one was a bad sign. I don’t think he would have applied that rule to engineering schools, but for LACs he did.</p>
<p>If your son plans to be an engineering major than Tau Beta Pi would be more important for him. It’s hard for engineers to get enough broad humanities courses to get PBK.</p>
<p>My economics major son made Phi Beta Kappa at his college. I told him to put it on his resume, it’s a universal touchstone that is recognized. But again, for engineers, it would be Tau Beta Pi.</p>
<p>My D’s college just got a PBK chapter her freshman year. They were incredibly excited about it, seeing it as a sort of validation of the school. But it had never occurred to me to ask about it beforehand.</p>
<p>mihcal1, you asked about my “rock solid student who gets an A- in any environment”. She has proven this between her high school and a highly selective summer program (two college courses in 3 weeks where she earned a 3.8 average both summers she went, so slightly above an A-). She is a kid who does what she needs to in order to have an A- average, but has a higher gear (or two) when she needs it and feels the effort is worthwhile.</p>
<p>I am still very proud to have been PBK and when my son looks at colleges, if I see there is a PBK chapter, I take it as a sign of the quality of the academics and a commitment to well rounded eduction. Nevertheless, my older son attended a LAC that had different honor societies and I was very proud when he was invited to those. I don’t think it is odd to consider the presence or absence of PBK, any more than the myriad of other factors that may make a college more appealing.</p>