Gather Grades And Extra Ciricular Activities For College!
If a high school student is planning on going to college, it's always good idea to gather as many award and accommodations as he or she can. This includes any honor societies. After all, the key reason one gets into Phi Beta Kappa is overall academic excellence. Still, one has to be careful about which societies one lists both when attending on campus schools and schools online.
There are a lot of groups one could call honor societies in name only. For instance, many fraternities and sororities are really only private social clubs in disguise. These are societies in name only. Also, there are spurious groups who claim to be honor societies, but are just out to get a check out of your family and then give a piece of paper that means absolutely nothing. Both groups have done a lot to tarnish the true society's image.
Organizations like Phi Beta Kappa have been around since the 19th Century and were created to recognize excellence in various fields. The only way they build their membership is to invite students who qualify for their stringent standards, which includes a grade point average of 3.2 or 3.3 or higher. A legitimate society also demands members have absolutely clean personal records. Each society usually also comes with its own qualifications, but they will tell you what they are.
What's truly important about this is they are merit-based and extremely exclusive. At the same time they are not discriminatory. They are supposed to represent the top 5% of their chosen field. They cannot deny entrance due to race, religion or gender. They are about personal excellence.
The various real societies have formed two master groups to differentiate themselves from the fakes. The first is the Association of College Honor Societies, which maintains a list of college-based societies. The other is the National Honor Society, which works with high school-based societies. If the organization that approaches you is recognized in one of their directories, they are the real deal.
There are more to the real deals than just recognition. The first is associated with many of the best colleges in the country and top corporations and professional societies. They use their contacts to fund scholarship programs. The amounts awarded are dependent on which society is handing the money out. Still, the National Honor Society's members put it on record that high school students can get anywhere from $100 to $12,000 towards college.
The other advantage is those connections. Honor societies have sponsors, ranging from Sun Trust to the top professional societies. They give a college student access to other scholarship programs these groups usually also provide. Also, after graduation, these connections can give a job seeker a political edge when it comes to landing a first job.
Most important of all, an honor society gives a sense of belonging to something bigger than one's self. When you move onto campus or accredited online schools, you'll have that experience. Still, it should be remembered that belonging to one is usually not enough to enroll in the top schools. Yet having one in one's resume looks incredibly good when lined up with a number of similar accolades. From that first class to traditional or online graduate schools, it's something that will always be a part of your history.
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