I’m a middle-aged guy taking accounting classes at my local community college.
At the age of 50, I’ve figured this college thing out, and I have a 4.0, so for the first time in my life, I’m being offered an invitation to join an honor society.
It’s a one time fee of $100.
Is that normal?
And, if it is normal, is it worth it? The advantages, of course, for an undergrad without work experience are obvious - it helps the resume a lot. If you got a resume from a mid-career person who’s just gotten their CPA and had a 4.0 average at school, would the addition of ‘honor society’ look good to you? Or a little silly?
I’ve never heard of an Honor Society that requires a fee. It definitely sounds like a scam to me. Typically a school will have some kind of Honor Society for students who have a certain grade level, but no payment will be required (you might even get something from them – years ago I got to choose a book as a commemorative).
I don’t think being in an Honor Society has much impact for employers. I’ve never put it on my resume, although I have occasionally seen it on other people’s resumes, but it’s certainly not a prime factor in employment decisions.
bup are you talking about ΒΑΨ (Beta Alpha Psi)? It is the primary honor fraternity for accounting majors.
Yes, paying dues is an expected situation for collegiate honor fraternities and societies. They are non-profit and they rely primarily on dues to fund their activities.
As far as what can they do for you as an accounting major, is that these organizations work with many of the corporate recruiters coming on campus to do meet/greets etc. to get their members in front of these recruiters. As far as resume material, it’s a push. You need a certain GPA to be considered for the organization, but any future employers probably have your transcript an know what your GPA is already.
Yeah, I’d be at least a little skeptical of an honor society which charged you simply to become a member. Out of curiosity, what’s the name of the society in question?
And, I agree, I don’t think it would carry much (if any) weight on a resume, with the possible exception of if you were going into academia, or it was some sort of an honor society for a particular technical field, like the one which Omar Little referenced.
Phi Beta Kappa certainly costs money to join and to keep up membership in. I didn’t want to pay the money, so my parents came up with it, but I stopped paying a couple years later. I believe Sigma Xi does too. Although I wasn’t invited. Both societies publish journals as privileges of membership, so the money is not just for their administrations.
Which honor society?
Is it a famous organization? (like, say, Phi Beta Kappa?)
Is it an organization well known and respected by your professional colleagues in the accounting world?
If not, then listing it on a 50-year old’s resume probably won’t impress the interviewer.
But maybe it would be a factor early in the process of job-hunting, when a computer scans for keywords.
And if you want to claim the honor, do you have to actually join?
You could state on your resume: “Invited to join the Honor Society”. Or even more grandiosely–"due to outstanding academic performance, and with a personal recommendation from Professor Smith, I was invited to join the Honor Society. "
It’s all true, and you don’t have to shell out the $100
Yes, many University Honor Society’s have a fee associated with them. Having a fee absolutely does not mean it is a scam.
The advantages might not be many for someone at your point, but you never know who might be looking at your resume. Someone from that Honor society might see it listed on your resume or job application and it might help distinguish you form other candidates.
NOte- these honor’ societies are different than the scammy Who’s Who, which require you to pay to be listed in their book. The legit societies will generally be affiliated with or endorsed by your university and have a university staff or faculty member as an advisor.
That’s a very nice honor society. At the CC at which I was a professor we had an active and engaged chapter. I worked with many students in that society who were also taking honors courses. They often will have events with Phi Beta Kappa chapters in the area, since their is some relationship between the two societies. Obviously, I don’t know anything about your chapter, but ours was pretty active.
Ask your accounting professor if they’ve heard of this society and whether it means anything on a resume, or better yet, ask him to get in touch with someone local who does accountant hiring to ask them what they’d think of it on a resume. The advantage of the second way is that it gives you a chance to talk to someone who might give you a job later…
I’m in Phi Theta Kappa, it’s like Phi Beta Kappa - only it’s for 2 year colleges. The only thing I’ve noticed since I joined is that I keep getting all these brochures from Ivy League schools - except not the iviest part of these schools - I guess they all have some sort of college that deals with adult students; e.g. Penn CGS, Cornell school of some sort of labor management studies, Columbia something etc. If you’re strapped for cash I don’t know if spending $100 is really worth it.
