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I received a letter of invitation to join the "Sigma Alpha Lambda National Leadership and Honors Organization". They have chapters at most of the major Universities nationwide, and it seems pretty legit.

The membership initiation fee is $59 and I usually have a strict policy of not joining any mail-offers that require payment. But with law school getting close, I am grasping at everything.

Does anyone know of the society? Had any experience with it? Is it worth the money? Should I just put on my resume/application that I was invited to join? Should I not even mention it?

Your actual grades matter a lot more than any honor society. I know both of the undergrads I attended (one small liberal arts college and one top 20 university) didn't have a chapter of Sigma Alpha Lambda. If you haven't heard of an honor society before they send you a letter, I wouldn't join (for a general collegiate honor society, I think Phi Beta Kappa is the only one that stands out; the one for your major may or may not be worthwhile).

EDIT: Phi Beta Kappa.

YCrevolution wrote:Your actual grades matter a lot more than any honor society. I know both of the undergrads I attended (one small liberal arts college and one top 20 university) didn't have a chapter of Sigma Alpha Lambda. If you haven't heard of an honor society before they send you a letter, I wouldn't join (for a general collegiate honor society, I think Phi Kappa Phi is the only one that stands out; the one for your major may or may not be worthwhile).

I think you mean Phi Beta Kappa, and yes it's the only one that means anything in the admissions process. Professors who became members in undergrad usually list it on their CV (i.e. http://philosophy.unc.edu/Wolf_CV%20-March07.pdf).

34african34 wrote:

YCrevolution wrote:Your actual grades matter a lot more than any honor society. I know both of the undergrads I attended (one small liberal arts college and one top 20 university) didn't have a chapter of Sigma Alpha Lambda. If you haven't heard of an honor society before they send you a letter, I wouldn't join (for a general collegiate honor society, I think Phi Kappa Phi is the only one that stands out; the one for your major may or may not be worthwhile).

I think you mean Phi Beta Kappa, and yes it's the only one that means anything in the admissions process. Professors who became members in undergrad usually list it on their CV (i.e. http://philosophy.unc.edu/Wolf_CV%20-March07.pdf).

Yes.

save your money unless they give out scholarships. I joined this one society, got the dean to pay for it, and then got a $1000 scholarship.

The only society I did pay for was PBK only cause that's the only one worth mentioning ever again.

legends159 wrote:save your money unless they give out scholarships. I joined this one society, got the dean to pay for it, and then got a $1000 scholarship.

The only society I did pay for was PBK only cause that's the only one worth mentioning ever again.

+1 re: joining if you can surely win scholarships

Thanks for the input. I know that they do offer scholarships, but don't know the chances of getting one. Its something to look into at the least.

I looked up Phi Beta Kappa and it talks a lot about the liberal arts and sciences. I am a Comm major, do I still have a chance at Phi Beta Kappa?

PBK is usually all about grades. The only people with problems are science majors who haven't taken enough liberal arts classes. You should be fine as long as you have top 10% grades.

legends159 wrote:PBK is usually all about grades. The only people with problems are science majors who haven't taken enough liberal arts classes. You should be fine as long as you have top 10% grades.

What about if your university doesn't do PBK? In mine, we had PKP and ODK as the only overall upperclassmen honor societies, and how much would discipline honor societies count?

UTaylor526 wrote:Thanks for the input. I know that they do offer scholarships, but don't know the chances of getting one. Its something to look into at the least.

I looked up Phi Beta Kappa and it talks a lot about the liberal arts and sciences. I am a Comm major, do I still have a chance at Phi Beta Kappa?

At my undergrad they just set a GPA cutoff around where the top 10% is. I think some schools have more involved process, but I'm pretty sure most just use your grades. There are a ton of theater majors who get in every year at my school because it only considers GPA.

SmurfyRey wrote:

legends159 wrote:PBK is usually all about grades. The only people with problems are science majors who haven't taken enough liberal arts classes. You should be fine as long as you have top 10% grades.

What about if your university doesn't do PBK? In mine, we had PKP and ODK as the only overall upperclassmen honor societies, and how much would discipline honor societies count?

Discipline-specific honor societies are probably more useful if you want to do grad school for your discipline or get a job directly related to your major (or if they offer scholarships as others have pointed out). It's certainly not going to hurt you for law school admissions, but I don't think they're really going to care.

In the end, your LSDAS GPA is what matters.

I'm in Sigma Alpha Lambda-- while I have no misconception that this will help me, really, with anything in life, especially with getting into law school, I will say that the activities it has are kind of fun. We went to this kids' museum and got to do art projects, we played bingo with old people, and picked up trash by a river (that part I didn't like haha).

What about Golden Key International?

Cal4future wrote:What about Golden Key International?

PBK is the only worthwhile one.