Phi Beta Kappa Society

The Phi Beta Kappa Society (ΦΒΚ) is the oldest honor society for the liberal arts and sciences, with 283 active chapters in the United States. Widely considered to be the nation's most prestigious honor society, Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences and to induct the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at American colleges and universities. Founded at The College of William and Mary on December 5, 1776, as the first collegiate Greek-letter fraternity, it was among the earliest collegiate fraternal societies and remains the oldest existing American academic honor society. Phi Beta Kappa (ΦΒΚ) stands for Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης or in Latin letters Philosophia Biou Cybernētēs, which means "Love of learning is the guide of life."

Membership

According to Phi Beta Kappa, they have chapters in about 10% of American higher learning institutions, and about 10% of these schools' Arts and Sciences graduates are invited to join the society. Although most students are elected their senior year, many colleges elect a very limited number of extremely select students in their junior year, generally less than 2% of the class. Each chapter sets its own academic standards, but all inductees must have studied the liberal arts and sciences, demonstrated "good moral character," and, usually, earned grades placing them in top tenth of their class. There is a mandatory initiation fee (between $50 and $90, as of 2005), which is sometimes covered by the inductee's university.