<p>I’m an older student nearing the end of accounting degree. Got an invitation to join the University Phi Kappa Phi. Does it help on job applications? Or is just seeing the GPA enough?</p>
<p>I was a member of Phi Kappa Phi…asked to join while completing my masters degree. At the time, it wasn’t all that expensive, and my school didn’t offer Phi Beta Kappa. So…I joined. I felt like it was something I could put on my resume that at least acknowledged my academic performance.</p>
<p>I joined one of these in college. No one I interviewed with had ever heard of it.</p>
<p>I see it on resumes occasionally, most of them I’ve never heard of, so I ignore it.</p>
<p>My S, who is a junior this year, is now getting a constant stream of invitations to join one or another. The latest was the “National Society of Leadership and Success”. I never heard of it. It costs $85. S is not interested at all.</p>
<p>It seems to me a person’s GPA is exactly equivalent to having membership in one of these societies. The listed “benefits” seem marginal and easily obtainable outside of these societies. Except maybe the tee shirt, that has some value I guess.</p>
<p>“Kick off each week with an inspiring recording delivered right to your inbox” just doesn’t have much appeal.</p>
<p>It will be much respected, if you belong to the honor society of Price Waterhouse Coopers…:)</p>
<p>Phi Kappa Phi is a national scholastic honors group. It is like Phi Beta Kappa but is on campuses that don’t HAVE Phi Beta Kappa. It’s not like the “National Society of Collegiate Honors” which asks you to pay to have your name published in a book. There are active chapters on the college campuses that offer this (there was on MY campus). </p>
<p>No…you don’t need to do it. BUT I had a section for “honors” on my first resume…and it was nice to have something to put there that was NOT just Dean’s List. </p>
<p>Phi Kappa Phi actually verifies your academic record in much the same way as Phi Beta Kappa. Those “collegiate honors” things you get…well…my joke about those…JUST FRAME THE LETTER. They are often inaccurate. My son was asked to join and they claimed he was in the top whatever % of his college class, which just was NOT true.</p>
<p>The one I joined way back when was a three-Greek-letter type of society, not a “National Get Your Name in a Book Because You’re Gullible” type.</p>
<p>Never did anything for me.</p>
<p>The wikipedia page for “honor society” lists over 100 of the Greek ones. Maybe I’m wrong and some of these have value, but I’ve never seen any in my industry.</p>
<p>As an academic, I can tell you that aside from discipline-specific honor societies, Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi are the two most recognized societies. But your question whether Phi Kappa Phi membership is redundant to your GPA is a good one. Phi Kappa Phi (and PBK for that matter) invite primarily by class rank (top 10%, for example). Depending on grade inflation at your institution, half the graduating class hypothetically could have a 3.5, putting you in the top 50%. To be in PKP says that you are in the top 10% (or higher, depending on the chapter). PKP also takes into consideration your character. That is, if you have a high GPA yet word on campus is that you’re an aggressive grade-grubber, or recalcitrant, or a racist, then you stand a good chance of /not/ being tapped (invited to join), even if you have a 4.0/4.0. So, membership in PKP will say more than just GPA. Will it necessarily help with job application as an accountant? There’s no way to say for sure, but I would guess every slight edge you could gain would help.</p>
<p>Beta Alpha Psi is the accounting honor fraternity. When I was an undergrad, it was a big question mark if you were not a member, especially from the Public firms, as they knew the school quite well. My membership came late, as I transfered to the school my Junior year. It was an easy explanation.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>My understanding is that the distinction between the two is that Phi Kappa Phi is university-wide, whereas Phi Beta Kappa is for liberal arts only. I was invited into both, so clearly it is possible for them to co-exist on the same campus.</p>
<p>The other difference is that everyone has heard of Phi Beta Kappa.</p>
<p>This is correct. There are campuses with both. Universities are generally made up of several colleges (college of law, college of education, college of liberal arts and sciences, college of engineering, etc). A very simple and perhaps overly-reductionist distinction is that PKP is usually found at large public universities. PBK is usually found at private liberal arts colleges or in liberal arts colleges within private and flagship universities. The reasons for this can be found by looking at the history of each organization. Of course, there are exceptions, but I think they prove the rule.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the input. I guess I will go ahead and join - with my age as a negative any slight positive helps!</p>
<p>
Yes, I have an invite to join that as well. I didn’t this semester as they require you to attend all the meetings. The meetings sound very interesting, but as I commute 60 miles each way to the school and the meetings are in the evenings, I didn’t want to commit having to be here every other Thursday evening as well. Maybe I will join that in the spring, though I am trying really hard to organize my classes where I don’t drive here 5 days a week and Tuesdays and Thursdays are looking like very long days already!</p>
<p>I am a phi kappa phi. Doubt it made a hill of beans difference but I have a nice pin somewhere. It is an honor, fwiw.</p>
<p>Hey Jym…we’re "sisters!</p>
<p>Well hey!! Cyber sisters!</p>
<p>Here’s another thread on the topic <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1021787-phi-kappa-phi-legit.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1021787-phi-kappa-phi-legit.html</a></p>
<p>Artlovers-
Phi Kappa Phi is a legit honor society. That national society of Leadership and Success is a scam, started by some marketing guy. We threw the letter in the trash <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1203238-national-society-leadership-success-sigma-alpha-pi.html?[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1203238-national-society-leadership-success-sigma-alpha-pi.html?</a></p>
<p>^^jym,</p>
<p>It was a joke… Since OP is in accounting, PWC is one of the big 4 Public Accounting firm, if the OP is graduate from the Big 4 accounting firm, it will be respected on the resume…:)</p>
<p>My bad artlovers-- it was the post ABOVE yours that I was responding to, written by notrichenough. I understood your joke.</p>