<p>S is a junior, ECE major and was just invited to join an engineering honors society. There are very few days to decide and the initiation for this semester conflicts with other plans he has. He wants to know, and has okayed me asking, if this is just a resume padder or is there a big return, i.e. big jump in networking contacts, any prestige/wow factor that would give him a significant boost in making connections. I figured all the expert CC engineering people out there might just have an opinion.</p>
<p>Which one is it? Some of the “honors societies” out there are for-profit scams that are a complete waste of money. The legitimate ones are not even really worth it, they’re pretty much just another line item for the resume. Once you’re out in the real world, nobody is going to care if you were a member of HKN (or whatever).</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply - this is exactly the type of perspective he was hoping to get - as in what is the value added, especially to an already busy schedule. It’s Eta Kappa Nu - legitimate, though PurdueEE, you feel that it is only a line item? Another thread asked about joining a professional association such as IEEE - any thoughts, anyone, as to whether the professional society is a better networking tool than the honors society?</p>
<p>Professional societies are definitely more beneficial than honor societies. In the ones I’m apart of, the professional societies are by far more active and have more members.</p>
<p>are you talking about professional fraternities?</p>
<p>Besides still wanting to hear some opinions on the honor society question, I was also asking about the value of becoming a student member of a professional society - if you even can do that. I don’t know anything about professional fraternities (?)</p>
<p>Yes, all of the professional societies that I know of have student chapters at colleges.</p>
<p>IEEE is massive and IMO is a waste of time. Joining something smaller and more focused on the kind of work you do will be of a much bigger benefit. However, you need to be in the workforce or graduate school already to know which societies you should be looking for.</p>
<p>Some of these societies can provide opportunities to do something noteworthy. Being a member itself is virtually meaningless. If it enables your son to work on an interesting project, take on a meaningful leadership role, etc. then it will be worth the time. Otherwise it doesn’t matter, at all. If his schedule is already packed full of other activities I wouldn’t even consider it.</p>
<p>
That is key. Saying you are a member does nothing for you. Participating in events, competitions, networking, etc will make it worth it. If he doesn’t plan on doing this, then don’t bother. You get what you put in.</p>
<p>Okay - that’s good advice. It is sounding like no honors and no professional societies as he would not do either just to fill time - not enough time as it is. Purdue - are you a grad student?</p>
<p>No, I already graduated but am considering graduate school by way of night classes in the near future.</p>
<p>Sorry, I was just curious because your advice doesn’t sound like you are an undergrad but your user name implies you are in school! Thank you and Ken285 for your opinions, I will pass them on.</p>
<p>Eta Kappa Nu varies tremendously from school to school. As a national organization it is a little better than the average honors society, but not by much - it is not tremendously active and provides few benefits that most people really use. Some local chapters are tremendously active, and a real benefit to the members, others do nothing and are a waste of time, most are somewhere in-between.</p>
<p>Yes, I was a member, and even a chapter officer. My chapter was one of the relatively inactive ones - the advisor resisted all attempts to reform it - and had I not been an officer I would have thought it a waste of my time. In my case, being an officer gave me a lot of good contacts and opportunities in the college - among them a grad school letter of recommendation, a summer research opportunity, and a few grand in scholarships. So perhaps it is safe to say that he is likely to get out of it what he puts in.</p>