Golden key membership anyone?

[stepbystep]

Hello all,

I keep receiving invitations from my university to join golden key honour society (https://www.goldenkey.org/) , since it offers awards and scholarships for distinguished students. Membership is restricted to A/A+ students, yet there is a membership fee.

 

Do you know about it? Is it worth it?

 

 

[Cookie]

I was member of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), then GK and Phi Kappa Phi (PKP). At my undergrad, there was no internal GK awards/scholarships, but I managed to get scholarships for both PTK and PKP.

So I would say join GK if you are not invited to more prestigious societies (with more opportunities) and if money is not a problem. It adds a nice (although not so impressive) line on your CV so it doesnt hurt.

[biotechie]

I joined Golden Key as an undergraduate. Then it looked good on my resume... now they just spam me with things asking me to buy insurance and, ironically, popcorn poppers. If you need to pad your resume, go for it, but I did not get any direct benefits out of being a member.

[TakeruK]

In my opinion, Golden Key and similar honour societies are really only beneficial if you are willing to be involved and put time in the society. Otherwise, it's just going to be paying a fee to add a line on your resume. I didn't join GK because I wanted to spend my time volunteering with societies within my university instead of something like GK. But it's up to you! 

[biisis]

I have no respect for the Golden Key. The scholarships are small and few, and it offends me to pay for a resume line. Being in the top 15%, particularly among the grad crowd, isn't that exclusive. Plus, according to their annual report, their spending looks a little dodgy (what a vague category "student recognition" is!) https://www.goldenkey.org/media/84817/2013_annualreport_final3.pdf 

[TakeruK]

Indeed, although I feel like Golden Key might be a legitimately useful program for a select few, I get the sense that the majority of their money comes from students who just pay the fee but then do not do much else with Golden Key. It's almost predatory, the way they send the invitation letters!