<p>I got an invitation in the mail today for this....will this benefit me?? It says that for the first year of membership I will have to pay $60 and $30 renewals after this. I am going to be a sophomore in the fall so if I keep a membership throughout undegrad I will have to pay $120! </p>
<p>I had decided on not joining other things I was invited to like Golden Key because my friends had told me to save my money. Is Phi Kappa Phi similar to those?</p>
<p>I’m a member but I can’t exactly say why. I signed up in grad school, I don’t think my undergrad schools had this society.</p>
<p>If it were a financial burden I certainly wouldn’t have signed up, I’m probably wasting my money as it is, but I don’t notice it so much. It is certainly not as presitiguious as something like PBK, but at some schools it is all there is.</p>
<p>All I know is Hillary Clinton and Linus Pauling were members, but that’s not why I joined. I can’t really remember why now - and I keep renewing automatically. They do send out a magazine that sometimes has some reasonably interesting articles.</p>
<p>LOL. I’m sure my equivocating post was absolutely no help. If it is more than you want to spend I say don’t join. You can always join up later after thinking about it, or when money isn’t so tight.</p>
<p>I joined Golden Key as an undergraduate and now I am about to start grad school at NYU. Golden Key gave me the opportunity to apply for MANY MANY MANY scholarships, some of which I won. Golden Key also gives me 10% off my Geico car insurance for the rest of my life! $70 to join and it has EASILY paid for itself off just in Geico alone! Don’t listen to your jealous friend who told you not to join the honor socities. They are well worth it and provide opportunities such as internship, work and scholarships you would otherwise not be able to get. Look at what Phi Kappa Phi can offer you and then decide if the money is worth it.</p>
<p>
I’d just point out that PBK charges a one-time lifetime membership fee – nothing to renew. </p>
<p>I’m not disputing your “equivocating” post – just pointing out the possible benefits that may accrue to the organization from signing on members who are willing to pay the annual renewal fee. (In that respect, I joined AARP solely for discounts offered to members – so I can certainly see the attraction to SallyNYU of Golden Key. But after I joined AARP I realized that probably 99% of its members join for the discounts, and the aggregate of that $16 annual membership fee with more than 40 million members certainly has made AARP a powerful and influential organization)</p>
<p>
Yeah, I have no idea what you’re talking about. My post, like the subject of this thread, is about Phi Kappa Phi, not Phi Beta Kappa. Phi Kappa Phi does require an annual renewal.</p>
<p>I only mentioned PBK as a comparison to PKP. It’s just an aside. THe majority of my post actually pertains to the question asked.</p>
<p>I really don’t know what the point of your comment is, since I didn’t address any of this stuff you are talking about. My point was that I can afford the $30 annually, and I don’t know if it’s worth it or not. As I recall, I pretty much told the OP that it probably wasn’t that much of a benefit.</p>
<p>So I don’t even see where you’re disputing me. I don’t see how anyone can view my post as a strong endorsement. If you think it’s a waste of money, tell the OP.</p>
<p>Er… the reason I wrote, I’m not disputing your post is that I wasn’t disputing it – I was just adding a comment.</p>
<p>PBK is a one time fee. PKP charges an annual membership. You don’t know whether its worth it or not – I’m pointing out that PKP stands to benefit financially more from recruiting members, and that may be a factor to consider before joining.</p>
<p>The reason Phi Beta Kappa was mentioned above is that, by-and-large, two multi-discipline societies stand out at the top: Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi. Whereas PBK is restricted to liberal arts and sciences, PKP is open to all, regardless of area of study. </p>
<p>Part of PKP’s mission is to recognize academic achievement in all disciplines. It does this by offering membership to students in the top 7.5% or 10% (or higher, depending on the chapter) and by spending over $700,000 annually on awards to its members, and these awards are funded in part by annual membership dues. It is incorrect to say, though, that PKP charges an annual renewal. To maintain /active/ membership, which means being eligible for the aforementioned monetary awards and to receive their publication (and to help fund $700k a year in awards to other members), one pays an annual fee. Nonetheless, once one accepts and pays the initiation fee, one is a member for life. PKP will not revoke your membership if you become inactive.</p>
<p>Whether you join depends on what you hope to to do with the membership. You can just pay the initiation fee and put it on your resume or hang the certificate in your office, or you can support the ongoing mission of the society by remaining an active member in dues alone, or going further by becoming involved in your a local chapter or the national society, or by volunteering time or becoming an officer. Remember that once you join any honor society–Golden Key, Phi Kappa Phi, etc.–you are a member, which means “they” becomes “we”, and what you get depends in part on what you give.</p>