<p>Son (a Junior) received an invitation to join Tau Beta Pi engineering honor society. Is this good? any experience? any stories?</p>
<p>Congrats, very good indeed to be invited to join TBP. Very high academic standards required to join. TBP is widely known in the engineering profession, will be helpful when looking for a job. Also have some scholarships available for members for senior year and grad work.</p>
<p>Level of activity in each school chapter is different. My S is very involved in his chapter. It is fairly active on his campus running the campus used book sale and other "fun" events such as a Pi Run.</p>
<p>Tau Beta Pi is one of the few organizations I joined - it has been around for a very long time and is one of the more highly respected honor societies.</p>
<p>This one caught my eye.</p>
<p>I met my husband when he was a junior joining Tau Beta Pi. I was a senior and working on whatever process we used (believe it was community service related) when new members joined. We met on work weekend the first time and then met again at an AIChe (the chemical engineering professional society) student function. All you can drink for a dollar at the campus pub. (am dating myself). Twenty-five years later we are still together, with two kids in college, one of them an engineering student.</p>
<p>So go ahead, tell you son to join. You never know what is going to happen</p>
<p>Being selected for Tau Beta Pi is definitely a high academic honor. It is the engineering equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa (for which engineering majors are not eligible). Both my husband and I joined. Depending upon the particular chapter, membership may be very active -- inviting in speakers, organizing field trips to construction projects or tours of research facilities, working on community service projects, etc. That can lead to all sorts of networking opportunities. It looks good on a resume too!</p>
<p>Congrats to your son, simba.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the encouragement. Since I am not from this country, I thought it was another fraternity.</p>
<p>"I met my husband when he was a junior joining Tau Beta Pi"</p>
<p>I hope he is fortunate. I think he is bit gullible in that department. We think there is no hope unless a girl picks him.</p>
<p>Simba, TBP is a fraternity but not a social fraternity. As you know it is the engineering honor fraternity. It still does have traditions and rituals similar to a social fraternity. My son is as anti-greek as they come, but is a very active member of TBP. He abides by the secrecy of the fraternal organization, even though it is an honor society.</p>
<p>Although some of these organizations have the word "fraternity" in their name, and certainly sound like sororities or fraternities with all the Greek letters, they are honor societies and students earn their way in via scholastic achievement. Many of them are very prestigious and are worth the fee to join (even if the campus chapter isn't terribly active).</p>
<p>However, students do need to be good consumers. High-achieving students will get lots of invitations to join honor societies and other organizations, starting when they are freshmen. You could go broke joining them all. Some don't have great value; some are actually scams. Students should talk to professors, directors of Honors Programs, and other trusted university staff to ask if they should consider joining.</p>
<p>Simba - I think I might have picked out my husband. Waiting for some girl to find my oldest. Youngest S seems to have a little more skill in that department. Congradulations.</p>
<p>"We think there is no hope unless a girl picks him."</p>
<p>Oh, Simba, that is funny. I bet he surprises you or manages to arrange for a "girl to pick him."</p>
<p>Congratulations on his achievement.</p>