For eligible upperclassmen, application season for academic honor societies is in full swing. Yet, while interest levels are high, the impact of membership remains unclear.
When it comes to graduate school applications, academic honor societies are, as one administrator put it, "icing on the cake."
And according to that administrator -- Marie Gottschalk, chairwoman of Penn's graduate program in Political Science -- individual honors are more significant in the application process.
"There are honor societies, and then there's getting honors in the department -- for instance, doing an individual honors essay," Gottschalk said.
Part of the reasoning behind preferring individual honors is that honor societies abound at both Penn and institutions around the country.
In recent decades, the dual stigma of grade inflation and an abundance of honors has plagued higher education institutions.
"It's getting increasingly complex to decipher people's files," Gottschalk said.
Unlike other undergraduate societies, academic honor societies often involve an application process and usually have strict grade point average requirements.
Some are department-based, while others are University-wide or even national in scope.
Phi Beta Kappa, for instance, has been at Penn for over 100 years and seeks members primarily based on high GPA in liberal arts classes.
There are even international honor societies with chapters at Penn, such as Phi Alpha Theta, a history honor society.
And while belonging to one of these elite groups speaks volumes about academic ability, administrators assert that, when it comes to evaluating graduate school applicants, distinction from the pack is key.
Timothy Albro, assistant to the chairwoman of the English graduate program, shared Gottschalk's evaluation of the weight placed on academic honor societies.
"Many, many people have them," Albro said. "I would say that they are weighed very little and that generally [admissions officers] look at the transcript, as far as honors goes."
But academic honor societies are not disregarded in graduate school admissions.
"It would be very helpful for people to show that they are a member of an honor society if it's active and not just a function of GPA," Gottschalk said.
Pi Sigma Alpha, for instance, is a national political science honor society, with the Beta Tau chapter housed at Penn.
"In order to be a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, you have to have taken four political science courses, have a 3.3 overall GPA and a 3.5 GPA in Political Science courses," organization President Eli Schlam wrote in an e-mail interview.
But it's not just about GPA.
The society is active in the political arena, publishing a biannual journal called Sound Politicks.
It also has a "dinner and discourse series, which brings together students and professors over dinner for an informal discussion about a political topic," Schlam wrote.
According to Gottschalk and Albro, this type of organization -- active in its field -- is a prime example of the type of honor society that leaves a mark in admissions officers' minds.
And it is also up to applicants to convey the usefulness of an honor society rather than handing over a laundry list of memberships.
"If you have something distinguishing that shows academic contribution beyond grades, that would be much better, especially if it was foregrounded," Albro said.
