Many colleges are members of international honor societies for certain majors and some function as professional organizations. Some examples are: Psi Chi for Psychology, Phi Alpha theta for History, Omicron Delta Epsilon in Economics, Sigma Theta Tau - International Honor Society of Nursing ..Chi Sigma Iota in Counseling. Most require that you have completed a certain number of credits in their discipline with a fairly high grade point average. Some allow membership in special categories as nurse leader. Some require that a Chapter nominate you to be allowed to join. Some require yearly membership fees. Does having these (being a member) on your resume have any value -educational and employment wise?
It might help a little bit to get hired, but one will never know if it had an influence on the employer! NCU has the following two organizations: Alpha Phi Sigma, Iota Pi Chapter (requires a 3.5 GPA to join) National honor society for criminal justice . Delta Mu Delta, Lambda Eta Chapter (requires a 3.9 GPA to join) International honor society for business administration
I know the federal government sometimes offers hiring preferences to those students who are members of certain honor societies that belong to the Association of College Honor Societies under the Superior Academic Achievement program. This hiring preference takes GPA, class standing, and honor society membership into consideration and is separate from the Outstanding Scholar Program which is only based on GPA and class standing. When I was hired by the feds in 2001 I was able to come on as a GS-7 instead of a GS-5 based off my final GPA and I was also a member of Alpha Phi Sigma at my undergraduate school as well. This resulted in a $5,000 - 6,000 salary increase during my first year on the job so I would say there is definitely some value to honor society membership for those seeking federal employment. abnrgr275
I'm a member of Phi Alpha Theta, but considering most people have no clue what it is, I don't put it on my resume. As a teacher, administrators don't care about stuff like that. They're only interested in what I'm doing now. Because of this I don't put it on my resume. -Matt
I am in Phi Kappa Phi, an all-discipline honor society. One day, I found an invitation in my mailbox and was initiated a few weeks later. Since then, I have been paying $30 membership a year and not done terribly much with the membership. In theory, there are all kinds of opportunities: tons of scholarships, networking, a job board. In practice, I have never taken advantage of any of these things. But they gave me a medal, a pin, and a really nice-looking certificate. That's pretty cool.
It's important to note that some "honor societies" are basically money-making scams. Where I taught there was a chapter of "Golden Key" which calls itself "the world’s premier collegiate honor society", a statement that is an outright lie. In fact if you look at the location of chapters, the best colleges and universities don't have one. In my opinion, having Golden Key on your resume indicates that you're a naive sucker. I didn't know about the Federal job points for being in an honor society. I would like to see a list of the ones they recognize.
Here "3. Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society -- Applicants can be considered eligible based on membership in one of the national scholastic honor societies listed below. These honor societies are listed by the Association of College Honor Societies. Agencies considering eligibility based on any society not included in the following list must ensure that the honor society meets the minimum requirements of the Association of College Honor Societies. Membership in a freshman honor society cannot be used to meet the requirements of this provision. Alpha Chi Alpha Delta Mu Alpha Epsilon Alpha Epsilon Delta Alpha Kappa Delta Alpha Kappa Mu Alpha Phi Sigma Alpha Pi Mu Alpha Sigma Mu Alpha Sigma Nu Beta Gamma Sigma Beta Kappa Chi Beta Phi Mu Chi Epsilon Delta Epsilon Sigma Delta Mu Delta Delta Sigma Rho-Tau Kappa Alpha Delta Tau Alpha Eta Kappa Nu Gamma Theta Upsilon Kappa Delta Pi Kappa Mu Epsilon Kappa Omicron Nu Kappa Tau Alpha Lambda Iota Tau Mortar Board Omega Chi Epsilon Omega Rho Omicron Delta Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta Phi Kappa Phi Phi Sigma Phi Sigma Iota Phi Sigma Tau Phi Upsilon Omicron Pi Alpha Alpha Pi Delta Phi Pi Gamma Mu Pi Kappa Lambda Pi Omega Pi Pi Sigma Alpha Pi Tau Sigma Psi Chi Rho Chi Sigma Delta Pi Sigma Lambda Alpha Sigma Lambda Chi Sigma Pi Sigma Sigma Tau Delta Sigma Theta Tau Tau Beta Pi Theta Alpha Kappa" You will need to read the entire section F. to place this provision in context.
honor societies Thanks, this list is very helpful. I knew nothing about this and I'm actually a member of one of these. Oddly, I note that Phi Beta Kappa is not included. Certainly it's the premier honor society. However, note that other honor societies can be considered for the Federal program if that "honor society meets the minimum requirements of the Association of College Honor Societies." A query: You say You will need to read the entire section F. to place this provision in context. Section F of what?
honor societies Ah, sorry. I did not see the link. Many thanks for this useful information. For anyone else that missed it: http://www.opm.gov/qualifications/policy/ApplicationOfStds-04.asp
From the BGS website: "Beta Gamma Sigma is the international honor society serving business programs accredited by AACSB. To be eligible for invitation, students must a) be enrolled in a business program at a school accredited by AACSB International that has a chapter of Beta Gamma Sigma; and b) be in the upper 10 percent of the junior class (second semester), upper 10 percent of the senior class, upper 20 percent of the graduating master's class, or completed all requirements to receive a doctorate" http://www.betagammasigma.org/masters.htm If you seek to attain a teaching job at an AACSB accredited school and your PhD/DBA is not from an AACSB school, I imagine it might look good to have BGS membership from your master’s degree (assuming that school is AACSB accredited). I did list it on my CV when I was interviewing. Most AACSB business school faculty members are familiar with BGS.
The first honor society that I joined required a GPA of 3.8 or higher -- and the next honor society that I joined required a GPA of 3.5 or higher. It seemed like the right thing to do at the time and I have no regrets. At least they have entry-level GPA requirements for potential suckers. Does it help me now? No. Would I do it again? Sure! lol
