Phi Beta Kappa and Engineering Students

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
1

<p>For those who are engineering students who want to be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa…</p>

<p>The fact that Bama has PBK is impressive. Many universities do not have PBK chapters. In the state of Alabama, only 3 schools have PBK chapters…Bama, Auburn, and Birmingham Southern. </p>

<p>PBK requires that students have 90 credits in Arts and Sciences (A&S) in order to be invited. I’m not sure of the GPA req’t…but probably at least a 3.75 overall and in A&S. (Anyone know?)</p>

<p>The challenge is that it is sometimes hard for an engineering student to have 90 credits in A&S, because engineering majors have fewer Core Req’ts which are largely within A&S. </p>

<p>The good news is that if you come in with lots of AP/IB/dual/CLEP credits, you do an A&S minor, and/or you are also pre-med, then it’s not so hard to get those 90 credits. That said, I believe you’d have to have them complete by fall of senior year to be inducted that last spring.</p>

<p>Of course, if you get those A&S credits earlier, you are inducted at that point. For instance: older son was inducted his second year at Bama (he’s a math major, so easier to get those A&S credits…lol), and younger son (engineering major) will be inducted this next fall (his 3rd year)…he finished his 96th A&S credit this last spring. He’s pre-med, so his AP credits, pre-med req’ts, his minors (Math, Chem, & Bio), and his foreign language credits from placement pushed his A&S numbers up. Otherwise, I don’t think he’d have ended up with enough to qualify. </p>

<p>Also, if you are rather strong in a language, taking CLEP or placing into a higher level and then getting the “back credits” can really help boost your A&S totals. </p>

<p>Of course, various Engineering specialties also have their own Honors societies and also, Phi Kappa Phi, is another honor society that an engineering major can be inducted into. Phi Kappa Phi (I think) requires that juniors be in the top 7% and seniors be in the top 10% to be invited. </p>

<p>But, for those who are pre-med or will be applying to various grad schools, it’s nice to be able to put that you’re PBK on your med school apps. </p>

<p>As for those in the B-school (or other colleges)…I’m not sure how it all works for them to qualify for PBK. I imagine that they also need the 90 A&S credits. Perhaps Sea_Tide knows. </p>

<p>For more info…</p>

<p>PBK chapter: University of Alabama
Mr. Stephen Arnold Borrelli
Department of Political Science
PO Box 870213; 307 Ten Hoor Bldg
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0001</p>

<p><a href=“mailto:sborrell@bama.ua.edu”>sborrell@bama.ua.edu</a></p>

<p>At some point, we’ll need to have a thread about grad school application process.. I learned a lot this year when older son went thru the process. It’s quite different from the undergrad process and it’s easy to do some “slip ups”. The app process is one of those “you don’t know what you don’t know,” so you can easily makes some mistakes.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, I found the “grad school section on College Confidential” to be very uninformative. Such a contrast to the med school forums on CC which are very good!</p>

2

<p>Great info - printed out copy for DS and for my college “need to know” binder.</p>

<p>I’ll definitely be on the lookout for the grad school thread. I’m getting the impression there is a lot to know and prepare for ahead of time. I was at the book store the other day and found myself in the grad school test prep section and realized that although I know DS has plans for grad school - do “we” know how to get there?</p>

3

<p>Apart from the earlier thread in the Parents Forum, I haven’t heard much about PBK. I do know that having economics courses being in CBA even though it can be an A&S major and would be in A&S at many colleges means that I need to take more A&S courses if I want to be inducted. I didn’t know that AP/CLEP/other colleges’/other universities’ credit counted, so that is good news. That said, I was inducted into a business honor society due to being a senior (by credit standing) with a 4.0.</p>

<p>I do need to learn more about the grad school admissions process and would appreciate a thread on the topic.</p>

4

<p>Well, you know there’s an engineering equivalent to Phi Beta Kappa, Tau Beta Pi, right?</p>

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<p>Website for UA TBP:</p>

<p><a href=“http://tbp.eng.ua.edu/index.htm[/url]”>http://tbp.eng.ua.edu/index.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Yeah, I can tell you that the process for applying to graduate school is very different than the process for undergraduate admissions.</p>

6

<p>Yes! I know about the engineering society and specific engineering societies.</p>

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<p>Cool. I believe Tau Beta Pi is equally as prestigious as Phi Beta Kappa, certainly for law school and med school admissions.</p>

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<p>So I don’t think engineering students shouldn’t fret if they are unable to get into PBK for lack of qualifying hours. But it’s certainly an outstanding accomplishment for those who are able to do it!</p>