My DS is is in his second year at Alabama (sophomore by year) but is a Junior by credits. Spring semester he will be a senior by credits. He was invited to join Tau Beta Pi. Can he join? He was invited last year too but he hadn’t even been on campus a year. He hasn’t been able to find anyone to answer this question. Thanks!
@BamaMom18 - My son at TAMU was invited at the end of his freshman year, when he was a junior by credits. But the letter did say also that he needed to have completed several 300-level courses in his aerospace engineering major to be eligibler. So he will not be actually able to join until the end of his sophomore year. You will need to carefully read the letter.
If your son is eligible, he should definitely join. Tau Beta Pi is the equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa for engineers (engineering and business majors are not eligible). Your son should respond as detailed in the letter.
Yes, he can join…and should join.
Thank you! There was confusion last year because he was invited as a second semester freshman and when they realized they had asked freshman by year who were juniors by credit, the students were told they could not join due to being first year students. He inquired by email after this current invitation but did not hear back. Thanks for your help with this! He will definitely join.
Just going to weigh in about Tau Beta Pi being equivalent to Phi Beta Kappa. I don’t believe this is true. PBK is generally the top ~10% of a graduating class (give or take - sometimes even less than that?), whereas TBP takes the top 1/5th of seniors and top 1/8th of juniors. Naturally, it is better to get the nod to join these societies earlier, as it is more of an honor since fewer students qualify so early.
There are honor societies for each branch of engineering, and there may be a more prestigious group to belong to, depending on your major. When your student qualifies for every single honor society at UA (as many of our high stat kids will do), you have to be fairly selective in what you join and where you spread your time and effort. TBP held info meetings over the last two weeks, which would have given your student a flavor of what the group is all about. Most HS groups do philanthropy and other service-related activities on campus. Many HSs just want as many people to join so that their scholarship coffers are flush. Sorry to be blunt, but that’s the reality of it. Be selective. But a hearty ‘well done’ on your son’s achievements so far!
@aeromom TBP is indeed the functional equivalent of PBK for engineers, just as Beta Gamma Sigma is for business students. Tau Beta Pi “is for engineering college graduates what the Phi Beta Kappa society is to arts and sciences graduates.” Wikipedia
I do understand the class-standing requirement for PBK is somewhat higher, but with all due respect, engineering classes are much harder than your typical university classes. Further, PBK’s requirements are irrelevant because engineering and business classes don’t typically count towards PBK’s 90 credits of arts and sciences requirements. They are not considered to be either science or liberal arts classes, rather they are considered to be for practical education like nursing, teaching, etc. A student also needs two years of a foreign language for PBK. The PBK requirements are therefore almost impossible to satisfy for engineering or business majors, except possibly with enough AP credits (including a language) and willingness to postpone graduation a bit.
Tau Beta Pi is unquestionably the number-one national engineering honors society and looks very good on a transcript.
My son was give a scholarship from the National Tau Beta Pi orgn.