Honor Societies

[rottenapple]

I apologize in advance if this post sounds like its coming from a rebellious teenager (though it kind of is).

I got an email today inviting me to apply to an honor society for seniors in their undergraduate school (seniors as in fourth years).  I want to pose this question here before I give my opinion; what do you all think of Honor Societies?  Is it something that will help one get into grad school, or get a job?  Are they just things that look good on resumes?

All the invitation really said to me is that its a prestigious society and that it will recognize my achievement, but what good is that?  The website of the society just talked about networking, more recognition and connection, which all sound like a bunch of keywords with little weight behind them.  It really just feels like something that looks good on applications, but maybe I'm just cynical.

[lewin]

My impression is that unless it's Phi Beta Kappa (i.e., oldest and most prestigious honour society in US), or maybe Psi Chi, nobody will care.

 

B.S. honor societies, self-published print-to-order books, and scammy pay-to-publish open-access journals--let's call them Academic fraud schemes--are a burgeoning industry right now.

[Piagetsky]

51 minutes ago, lewin said:

My impression is that unless it's Phi Beta Kappa (i.e., oldest and most prestigious honour society in US), or maybe Psi Chi, nobody will care.

 

B.S. honor societies, self-published print-to-order books, and scammy pay-to-publish open-access journals--let's call them Academic fraud schemes--are a burgeoning industry right now.

Agree.  When I first started getting these offers, I was so excited.  Then they started coming in left and right and I was like hmmm, I don't think so.  We don't have Phi Beta at my school unfortunately, but I keep getting them from the Golden Key and Phi Kappa something or other.   My advisor says the same thing - unless its Phi Beta or Psi Chi, no one cares.

Edited December 16, 2015 by Piagetsky

[haltheincandescent]

47 minutes ago, lewin said:

My impression is that unless it's Phi Beta Kappa (i.e., oldest and most prestigious honour society in US), or maybe Psi Chi, nobody will care.

 

B.S. honor societies, self-published print-to-order books, and scammy pay-to-publish open-access journals--let's call them Academic fraud schemes--are a burgeoning industry right now.

Agreed. And when in doubt, OP, you can probably ask your academic advisor if s/he knows anything about the one you've been invited to, or, alternatively, just google the name. That's what I did when I got one from Golden Key, and quickly learned to be skeptical after seeing many others chiming in about the scamminess.

[xXIDaShizIXx]

I have noticed that academically no one cares about them, but questions did come up about them during my interviews with state agencies.