<p>We were thrilled when son was initiated into PBK last year. Younger son will be invited as soon as he has 90 credits in liberal arts (he’s an engineering major, but his minors will provide those extra needed A&S credits).</p>
<p>Yes, many schools do not have a PBK chapter on their campus. Presently about 280 schools have chapters.</p>
<p>I just want to point out that keys can be bought for about $29 on up online --that’s what I did for my daughter. (I let her pick out the one she wanted from the web site, so I’m not all that cheap – she just happened to like the smallest key, so it worked out fine). So it’s not much money & a nice little gift. It came engraved as well, so I thought it was a good deal.</p>
<p>[Phi</a> Beta Kappa Society :: Phi Beta Kappa Society](<a href=“http://www.pbk.org/infoview/PBK_InfoView.aspx?t=&id=8]Phi”>http://www.pbk.org/infoview/PBK_InfoView.aspx?t=&id=8)</p>
<p>My key is just a little treasure to enjoy. I’ve never worn it anywhere.</p>
<p>I’m PBK and so are my husband and daughter. I’m the only one who bought the key, and it was a waste of money.</p>
<p>But joining is not a waste of money. You pay the fee – once – and you get to put a widely recognized credential on your resume for the rest of your life. What’s not to like?</p>
<p>The corresponding honor for music is Pi Kappa Lambda. Nobody recognizes it, alas!</p>
<p>Besides, what matters is how well you play. You’re only as good as your last performance.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Are we talking about the same thing here? This is what I bought for my daughter – <a href=“http://www.pbkkey.com/Pages/images2pbk/pbk-smkey.jpg[/url]”>http://www.pbkkey.com/Pages/images2pbk/pbk-smkey.jpg</a> – it is described as “Small Phi Beta Kappa Key 1 1/4 inches high, chain not included. Matching 18 inch chain is available below.” – I also bought the chain. The less expensive gold electroplate is $29 for the key, $9 for the chain. </p>
<p>I can see why someone wouldn’t buy it for themselves. But as a gift from a proud parent, I certainly feel I got more than my money’s worth – just from seeing my daughter wearing it and in her cap & gown on graduation day.</p>
<p>I’d add that I posted in another “waste of money?” thread a couple of weeks ago that I had paid to have my daughter’s diploma framed, even though it will probably sit in a box in a closet for the next 20 years. Actually, we framed the PBK certificate as well - matching frame – and the framing cost a lot more than the little pin. Of course, some other parents opined that framing was a waste of money… because the diploma would likely end up in a box in a closet. </p>
<p>Maybe I’m just sentimental. I’m just so darn proud of my daughter, so a little bit of money spent to memorialize an honor or accomplishment is just my way of making that parental pride a little more concrete.</p>
<p>Many years ago, my D (now 21) found her fathter’s (my H’s) PBK key and asked what it was. Since then, she always dreamed of making PBK herself. She wasn’t sure she would be eligible, being in the business school of her university, which made the email inviting her to join all that much sweeter. She is thrilled, and so are we. We are even springing for the 14K gold key.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Ditto. It’s in my jewelry box along with other charms, mementos, sorority / fraternity pins, things of that nature. </p>
<p>When I moved into college as a freshman, my new roommate’s mother had her PBK key around her neck. We thought that was a little odd. I think at forty-something, you need to be over the excitement of being PBK.</p>
<p>Pizzagirl, since you are roughly my generation, I think you should cut your former room-mate’s mother some slack. She probably wasn’t so much excited about having been elected to Phi Beta Kappa as she was trying to avoid being patronized by everyone who would see her role as exclusively “mother.”</p>
<p>OP, PBK is a significant honor, with lasting resume value (not only for academia).</p>
<p>My college’s PBK chapter gave out ribbons to all PBK members to be pinned on gowns at graduation. Buying a key was optional. My parents were thrilled to buy a key as a gift - my key is on my charm bracelet, which has been in a safe deposit box for years. I’ve posted this on CC before, but this is the one academic honor that my parents were really proud of. Good grades were always just expected, but PBK was something more (to my parents, and, I have found, to many others as well).</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, do your kids’ schools require extra calculus & foreign language in order to be selected? My D’s requires Calc II and foreign language over & above the intermediate coursework required for the degree. She decided against PBK for that reason … she had other classes she much preferred to take, and she’s magna cum laude so she didn’t see the point. I respect her decision, but I wonder how common it is to require certain advanced coursework in order to be PBK.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The selection process for PBK varies at different colleges, but at least at my d’s college, it requires good grades AND a nomination by a faculty member who is PBK, based on personal qualities as well as scholarship. It’s one thing to earn good grades; it’s another to make a positive impression on faculty along the way. While my guess is that many students are fully capable of doing both, I think that it’s a little more special to know that someone had to make the nomination. </p>
<p>I’d also note that at some colleges, it’s hard to know what to make of a strong GPA because of grade inflation. When parents see good grades, they don’t really know how much credence to give them – maybe the kid just opted to take easy classes – but I think the PBK nomination is reserved for the students that the faculty perceive to demonstrating the highest levels of scholarship.</p>
<p>PBK is prestigious- and I suspect not only the top colleges have chapters. I claim NHS and NMS plus an Honors degree, but not PBK- we dragged our PBK fellow chemistry major friend out of the library on Saturday nights (he was not a NMS)… Perhaps if I had picked a major I was more suited for? The math/physics part of chemistry were not my strongest suits- more the biological end was my liking, but I took plenty of courses most couldn’t handle…</p>
<p>Engineers needn’t feel left out. They have their own honor society: [Tau</a> Beta Pi - The Engineering Honor Society](<a href=“http://www.tbp.org/pages/main.cfm]Tau”>http://www.tbp.org/pages/main.cfm)</p>
<p>I think Phi Beta Kappa is a very big deal. I remember distinctly how happy I was all those years ago when I found out that I’d been “elected” to Phi Beta Kappa. I don’t think I was ever prouder of any academic achievement. It’s certainly been right there on my resume ever since, and I’m pretty sure it’s mentioned both in my Martindale Hubbell listing and on the listing for me at my law firm’s website. </p>
<p>I have no recollection that (at least at Yale 35 years ago) it required anything other than having grades in the top 10% or so of the class – no special courses or recommendations. (I think I barely made it, by the margin of one “A.”)</p>
<p>I have the certificate framed up on my wall at my office; it wasn’t difficult at all to get one reissued in my current name five years ago. (It was way more of a pain to get my college and law school diplomas and New York bar admission certificate reissued – those took forever, and I had to return the old ones in exchange!) I have a couple of keys, since I lost the one I bought originally, and found it after I’d ordered another one. I certainly never wore one in my former incarnation (I used to think it was pretentious, and that people who wore them – especially guys – were gauche.) I probably wouldn’t do it now; certainly not unless I ordered yet another one, with the correct name on it! (If anyone wants to buy two old Yale Phi Beta Kappa keys with someone else’s name on them, in order to impress somebody, I’ll listen to offers!) </p>
<p>But I do like the idea of having a key, and I like the way it looks, complete with the tiny “Alpha of Connecticut” inscribed on it. So maybe I will order a new one, one of these days.</p>
<p>I know my son would be equally proud of being elected to Phi Beta Kappa; obviously he knows that I was, and understands that it’s meaningful, and, besides, they don’t have Latin honors at the U. of Chicago. I’m not sure exactly how they select people for it there, but I’m pretty sure it’s based only on grades as well; I think I read somewhere that you need around a 3.8 to be in the top 10%. And that’s a lot harder to achieve there than it was for me when I was in college, since he’s had to take all those “core” science and math courses, whereas I managed to slide through without taking a single math course; the only “science” course I took was in anthropology! (I understand that distribution requirements are harder to fulfill at Yale now than they were in my day.) So even though his GPA is above 3.7 (which I personally think is fantastic), and he’s been getting very close to straight A’s lately, it may be too late to bring it up by now, with only a year left. (He’s planning to finish one term early to save his parents some money, which he can do because he’s taken the maximum number of classes each term.) But it really shouldn’t matter; I think he knows that I’m unbelievably proud of him regardless, and I hope he isn’t too disappointed if it doesn’t work out. Not that it wouldn’t make him very happy, and wouldn’t be something he’d have forever.</p>
<p>Well, my daughter’s college is a little bit vague on the qualifications at her school… so I don’t really know how much GPA plays into it, as opposed to GPA + other factors. Phi Beta Kappa itself doesn’t set specifics other than a college can nominate no more than 10% of its students, and a high level of scholarship is the main criteria. If you do a google search for “qualifications for phi beta kappa” – you’ll find a bunch of different college sites, all with different sets of requirements. Some colleges have specific course distribution requirements, or set rules to try to make sure that the nominations are evenly spread across various disciplines. </p>
<p>Here’s what Harvard does:
See: [Phi</a> Beta Kappa Accepts 24 | News | The Harvard Crimson](<a href=“http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2007/4/17/phi-beta-kappa-accepts-24-span/]Phi”>Phi Beta Kappa Accepts 24 | News | The Harvard Crimson)</p>
<p>At many schools, it’s strictly GPA-based, and at some, those with the very highest GPAs are selected as juniors, and those with slightly lower GPAs are selected as seniors.</p>
<p>Getting into PBK as a junior is a very nice thing because you can mention it on your resume or graduate school applications when you’re a senior.</p>
<p>Here’s what S’s college website states:
</p>
![http://www.pbkkey.com/Pages/images2pbk/pbk-smkey.jpg[/url]](http://www.pbkkey.com/Pages/images2pbk/pbk-smkey.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
