<p>About 10%-12% of students are elected into Phi Beta Kappa, and I know it's based purely on cumulative GPA, so I was wondering what the cut-off is. It must be around the same each year.</p>
<p>There are actually multiple cutoffs depending on when you’re elected. For the small number elected their 3rd year, I think it is somewhere above 3.8</p>
<p>Ultimately, when the dust clears, it’s supposed to be the top 10% of the class by GPA, but there always seems to be more than 10% of the class elected. I suspect what they do is look at the 90th percentile GPA, round it to one or two decimal places, and then elect everyone with that GPA or higher (rounded to the same number of places). But I don’t actually know – that’s just an educated guess.</p>
<p>As for what that GPA is . . . I haven’t met that many recent Chicago PBKs, and there’s only a couple for whom I have a rough idea what their GPA was. In both cases, it was above 3.8, although one was not elected until the third and last tranche.</p>
<p>Would a 3.82 or something around that make it? Also is PBK purely based on GPA or other factors too?</p>
<p>Megara – if you actually have a betting interest in the cut-off for Phi Beta Kappa at Chicago, chances are you have at least 100 sources of information better than anyone on College Confidential for figuring out what it is. For one, you can call the Registrar’s office, or Dean Boyer’s office, and say “I have a 3.82 GPA. How close is that to the line for Phi Beta Kappa? Does anything else matter?” I bet they tell you approximately where the cut-off is, or at least give you great big hints, and they answer the second question (no).</p>
<p>If you find something out, make sure to tell us.</p>