Phi Beta Kappa, should one initiate?

[Guest alpha beta gamma]

I have a friend who is invited to join Phi Beta Kappa but s/he is thinking about not doing it. The reasons are:

- costs money

- already got into a good PhD program

- not going to apply for grad schools or jobs in the U.S. in the future

But, I think Phi Beta Kappa is pretty reputable in the U.S. If I were him/her I would definitely accept the invitation. (I'm not in arts and sciences so I'm not eligible.) Does anyone have any thoughts on PBK? whether it's worth joining or anything about it. This is a very good friend of mine so I don't want him/her to miss out on anything. Thank you very much.

[PETRAL6]

It's worth it. It's one of the few honoraries that I actually accepted because I didn't want to spend money. Everyone knows Phi Beta Kappa, and it is a sign that you truly excelled at your school. It's not that much either. Encourage him/her that he/she should pay the money. I'm not sure we would guess the person if you gave a gender But, regardless of gender being Phi Beta Kappa is a definite bragging point.

[canadianundergrad]

What other honor societies would you say are worth joining? Just out of curiousity, most don't operate in Canada anyway.

[Sejla]

I got an invitation (or whatever it is called) and didn't do it because I just didn't have a sense of what it was. I was 20-something and could have looked into it, but I just saw it as a letter asking for $75 because I'd gotten good grades and thought "why would I pay for that?!"

I have done okay without it, but looking back I do regret my decision or just my lack of knowledge about it all. I still don't know the details, but I think it is a one-time fee, or if you just do it the first year and don't continue, you can still list it on the cv/resume. I'm not aiming to be a professor but many who get PhD's are, and I know that job market is extremely competitive. I think accepting (well, paying, whatever) is worth it and if it comes down to some small difference between two candidates, it would be nice to be the one with Phi Beta Kappa.

I think we are about a year later for the OP, but if other people read this, it is probably worth thinking about. [sorry to the last poster - no idea which ones are worth it aside from this...hopefully others will]