<p>No but I was elected to Tau Beta Pi (engineering). I think I could have been involved is some of their service projects, but chose not to be.</p>
<p>DH & I got Beta Gamma Sigma, no keys though, but a certificate suitable for framing</p>
<p>Elected in 1970–my budget allowed for a key OR a dress for the initiation and graduation; the latter won out. Bought a key a couple of decades later and wore it once.</p>
<p>I’m not PBK, but I’m surprised at those of you who are and don’t put it on your resume. In my opinion, it is an amazing accomplishment, and I think you should tout it. </p>
<p>As for the key – if you have a charm bracelet, that’s where it belongs.</p>
<p>It’s always on the resume. And the key is on a charm bracelet - with my mom’s and grandfather’s. I don’t think I’ve ever worn it but it’s fun to see the three together.</p>
<p>^^^ Harriet, that’s exactly what I would do.</p>
<p>On both my resume and my charm bracelet :)</p>
<p>It’s on my resume. I have a key, but have never worn it (perhaps I need a charm bracelet?). My father framed my certificate and my sister’s certificate together and hung them in his office. For some reason, that particular laurel was extremely important to him, and he treasures it.</p>
<p>I don’t know anyone who wears a charm bracelet, including me. I think I am the only PBK in our extended family–so far. Don’t know where the key is, if it’s still around anywhere to be found but probably is in my jewelry/junk drawer.</p>
<p>Doesn’t seem to do any harm as a line on the resume & it’s been there on mine since I got the letter inviting me. I wonder if S will be invited to the engineering version of it. Will have to see.</p>
<p>It’s on the resume, but I haven’t ever needed one, since I stayed in my first job for 15 years and then got my second, current job through word of mouth working for someone whom I worked for in my first job :-).</p>
<p>I’m PBK too and am proud of it. DD was inducted her junior year of college as well and we were very proud of her. At my school it was a small group. I still have my key and wear it occasionally. I am a consultant to non-profits, including schools, and academic types often notice it and remark on it favorably. Still have it on my professional resume too.</p>
<p>I was invited to join PBK but never bothered to pay the initiation fee. Seemed kind of pointless to me, and the OP’s post suggests I was right. Never claimed it on my resume, on the theory that if I didn’t pay to join I wasn’t a member. My mother never forgave me, though. She wanted the bragging rights, I guess.</p>
<p>Himom, I no longer wear my charm bracelet, but for women my vintage who grew up in my neck of the country, charm bracelets were a big deal. Each birthday and other milestone was marked by an addition to the charm bracelet - most often a gift from my grandmothers. It’s like a map of my childhood - a piano, a tennis racquet, ice skates, a religious symbol marking my first communion. I think the PBK key was the last addition. Maybe I should start a thread - did YOU have a charm bracelet?!</p>
<p>@bclintock - I was inducted into PBK while in college without paying any kind of fee (that I can recall; and I think I would :rolleyes:). I had no idea at the time that I needed to pay any kind of fee to “be a member.” It was an honorary award I had earned; I was inducted. I put it on my resume and there it stays.</p>
<p>I didn’t feel the need for the key and didn’t buy one. </p>
<p>In my opinion, I am PBK. You are too.</p>
<p>I don’t see what’s objectionable about paying a fee – societies have organizational costs, it costs them $x to print a newsletter and host a luncheon and give you a key; PBK’s not a charity!</p>
<p>I didn’t qualify for PBK (no foreign language in college; my brother wasn’t inducted for the same reason), but my mother did and it meant a lot to her for some reason. My mother died when I was 17 and so my son never knew her, but he knew PBK membership meant a lot to her and in her memory, he was happy to get inducted into PBK. I wanted to give him my mother’s key, as I knew he wanted it (the only sentimental thing I’ve ever seen him want other than my parent’s house, which will be sold to someone else next week much to his disappointment as he had hoped to be able to buy it from them by the time they wanted to sell it), but couldn’t find it when he was living with us. When my parents were clearing out their house two years ago and asked me to go through stuff in the basement, I found her key and our son was delighted to get it. In the meanwhile, I had bought him his own key as I had given up hope of ever finding hers. He doesn’t wear them, but asked that my mother’s be kept in the safe deposit box for him as he wanted to be sure it didn’t get lost again.</p>
<p>Our son has put PBK on his resume though I don’t think it has played directly into his getting a job (almost all of his jobs have been from word of mouth or people meeting him and offering him a job; at age 8, he had three job offers from men who simply met him at social gatherings and felt he’d be great to have working in their start-up/lab/tech company, and at age 17, he had a venture capitalist plunk down 5 million dollars to start a company where our son is the only EE and co-founder and our son met this man from a former professor). However, it might have been one more thing that helped him to get into an MIT graduate program at age 14. Here is the resume of the man who was the acting head of the lab when our son applied and was admitted:
<a href=“http://web.media.mit.edu/~mres/mres-cv.pdf[/url]”>http://web.media.mit.edu/~mres/mres-cv.pdf</a></p>
<p>“B.A. in Physics, 1978 (Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude)”</p>
<p>That he is still noting PBK as a tenured professor at MIT (who also has some level of fame for his involvement with Lego Mindstorms) is a signal to me that he respects the organization and perhaps those who are also members.</p>
<p>Our son has never joined Mensa (nobody is our family has even though I think we all have qualifying standardized test scores and/or IQ scores to qualify) and I would think listing Mensa on a resume could turn a fair number of people off, but have not heard of listing PBK on a resume as a turn off where I have heard of lots of people feeling it is a good thing to list (and my guess is that for most, it is neither a turn off nor a particular plus).</p>