<p>“I still have my key on a necklace that I wear in times of stress. Kind of a touch-stone that I used to have brain cells and may still have them.”</p>
<p>Dragonmom, you took the words out of my mouth! I too have my key on a necklace and look at it once in a while to remind me that I am not as dumb as I feel sometimes. (Parenthood alone can do that to a person…) I used to wear my key once in a while when I was younger but got tired of explaining its meaning to people who asked about it. Most who asked had no idea what PBK was and I always felt a bit pretentious after I finished telling them what it meant. I have my framed certificate put away in a closet since I felt it a bit unfair that my husband was not eligible for PBK since his university did not have a chapter (He has a B.S. degree in Computer Science and is brilliant in many ways that I am not!). But that’s just me. But there is a segment of society who do know what PBK is and view it as something awesome. Personally, although its something I earned almost 30 years ago, it has given me a quiet sense of accomplishment that no one can ever take from me whatever life brings. Maybe I will pull my key pendant out of my jewelry box and wear it to work tomorrow…after I load the dishwasher and take out the trash!</p>
<p>PBK is a very big deal. It’s especially acknowledged on my D’s campus, Willliam and Mary, where it was founded and lends its name to a major campus building.</p>
<p>“I do know he will never list it on his resume.”</p>
<p>First, congratulations to your son. Second, you might want to convince him to change him mind about leaving it off the resume. After all, the purpose of a resume is to get a job interview. You therefore want to include anything that might be a hook to the reader (within the space constraints). Many hiring managers will be impressed by this designation, particularly if he doesn’t give his actual GPA. Phi Beta Kappa becomes a short-cut way of indicating that the GPA was high. I was not into the dinner or the key or the newsletter, but it is still on my resume 20+ years later.</p>
<p>sax, you should probably tell your son that for a number of jobs, Phi Beta Kappa is the only honor society that is worth putting on the resume (with the exception of specialized honor societies for engineering or the equivalent). </p>
<p>A friend of mine, applying for a job, was introduced to the person making the decision with “This is the one that’s Phi Beta Kappa.” She got the job. It is the only college honor society still on my resume, after 35 years. No idea where my key is, though. As I recall, we had to buy the key at my school, while some chapters apparently give them to the new members?</p>
<p>Junior-year Phi Beta Kappa is an even bigger deal, particularly because HY & P are quite selective about the election of members in the junior year–so it has carry-over value to other schools. Princeton makes a very big deal of election, and holds the induction in a room that undergrads would otherwise rarely see (at least this was so in the past).</p>
<p>Years ago, I read a book about the advertising agency Doyle Dane Bernbach (now DDB). DDB is actually in the Britannica, as well as wikipedia. One of the more creative people there would only hire Phi Beta Kappa members, and gave preference to those elected as juniors.</p>
<p>dragonmom and jdasmom, I do that too! I always swore I was going to get one ear pierced and wear my key as an earring, but I never had the nerve! Also, sax, the designation is right on the transcript (at least mine is) so grad schools would automatically see it. My husband likes to joke that we are probably one of the few homes in America to include the Key Reporter amongst our bathroom reading material.</p>
<p>Congratulations! I still have my key and include the designation on my resume. You should definitely let your S know that including PBK on his resume just might be that little extra something that gets him the interview (either for grad school or a job). And, yes, it is a big deal.</p>
<p>Congrats, Sax. My son was also nominated this year (as a senior); I had to tell him I’d pay for the key so he would order one. (No idea if he actually did.) At his school there is a special ceremony during commencement week–</p>
<p>“The Phi Beta Kappa Literary Exercises are held each year on Tuesday of Commencement Week. They have been a traditional part of Commencement since the eighteenth century. The Literary Exercises celebrate the humane learning and passion for intellectual exchange that are the ideal and hallmark of the Chapter. The two foci of the Exercises program are a reading by a Poet and an address by an Orator invited by the Chapter.” </p>
<p>After he was inducted I did a search of the school newspaper and found a nice article about the society and listing the inductees. You might look for that.</p>
<p>My sister never bought a key, but I did. I never wear it; it’s just a little treasure to enjoy.</p>
<p>My father went berserk with joy when she and I (#s 3 and 4 of four girls) were elected. He has our certificates in a big double frame and displays it in his office. I’m not sure why that particular honor was so important to him, but it was really nice for us to be able to give him something physical that he’s so proud of.</p>
<p>When I was a “hippie” I planned to disregard the PBK invitation but my basketball coach (okay I was not a very convincing hippie) talked me into accepting membership anyway. I have to admit that occasionally it has been something an interviewer in the job process made a specific comment about, so I don’t regret having given into “the system” in this regard. It is an honor and worth accepting graciously. Jewelry not required.</p>
<p>My sponsor and his wife, both professors at my University, were both honorees themselves, and at the induction ceremony she wore their keys as earrings. Mine is still in a drawer somewhere, all these decades later, but I do occasionally pull it out to show the kids, nudge, nudge.</p>
<p>Well, I don’t know that it’s really a big deal. I would call it a small deal. It hasn’t affected my life at all (although it has always been on my resume), and I have no idea where the darn key is. But certainly worth accepting.</p>
<p>I’ll tell you the most value I got out of PBK, especially junior elections. I had known my future spouse for years, but we weren’t romantically involved yet. She was always very anxious about school work, and conscious of how poor her high school preparation had been. No one ever talked about grades. Her election to PBK as a junior was the first indication I ever had that her grades might be better than mine.</p>
<p>Science and Math are “Liberal Arts and Sciences”. “Liberal Arts” is just a shortened version of “Liberal Arts and Sciences”. More “applied” degrees are the ones excluded.</p>
<p>Hanna, all these years later I too remember how happy my father was when I called him to let him know I was to be inducted. I found out a few days before my graduation from Smith. I am not sure if I could have been inducted as a junior since I had taken my entire junior year on exchange at Dartmouth. No matter, it still was a complete surprise to me to get the letter about PBK in my dorm mailbox. I had no idea what my class rank was etc. So I called my parents and my father got rather choked up (I am one of four children and two of us made PBK.) My parents always liked to kid that they themselves were no better than average students -my Dad at Dartmouth, my mother at Skidmore. So to them, this was a very big deal. Dad bought my brother and I our keys and I bought a $3 frame for my certificate. Today, my brother is a veterinarian, a professor and is a department head at his university’s veterinary school and has made a wonderful career for himself, lecturing all over the world etc. My work experience has been solid but much less remarkable. We read our Key Reporter issues, but neither of us send in money to PBK. PBK has been a quietly proud thing for my brother and I but we are a good example of the fact that it won’t be career making or truly life altering, that kind of thing is up to a person’s own drive and motivations.</p>
<p>It’s a big deal, but it’s not going to affect your life. It meant nothing other than a May dinner, a key that’s somewhere in my jewelry box, a line on a resume, and bragging rights over dh, LOL.</p>
<p>BTW, as a freshman moving into my dorm, my roommate’s mother was wearing a PBK key around her neck. I thought it was a little odd to wear as an adult, honestly. The satisfaction should be enough. I mean, I don’t wear my sorority pin as an adult either!</p>