For hundreds of years honor societies have been seen as prestigious foundational institutions that seek out those who are in the top of their respective fields and offer various benefits to their members willing to pay an entrance fee. But do honor societies really come with enough perks for people to continue joining them?
The core purpose for an honor society is to promote academic prowess, provide members with financial aids, encourage leadership, offer help to communities and, “Provide a rich tradition of colligate history,” according to the Association of Collegiate Honor Societies; an organization that certifies honor societies.
Membership into these honor societies often can be attained through invitation or an application. Often honor societies will reach out to prospective members who are already meeting certain criteria, such as a high GPA, to offer them membership. If students choose to accept the offer, they will then often have to pay a fee that typically ranges from $50 to $100.
But what exactly does that fee buy you? The biggest foreseeable benefit in joining an honor society are networking opportunities. Because many honor society members are members for life, new inductees have access to older society members with similar career interests through means of networking. The access to connections that honor societies provide has become increasingly crucial for those seeking employment as, today, between 70 and 80 percent of job listings aren’t posted – but are instead filled through networking, NPR reported.
Another advantage provided by honor societies are member exclusive scholarships. While there are many different scholarship opportunities out there, within honor societies there are even more opportunities. Many societies have scholarships that can only be awarded to members, such as the six different scholarships awarded to members from across the country by the Honor Society, back in March.
The other touted benefit of honor societies is the claim that employers are more likely to hire you if you were in an honor society. However, this is not necessarily true. When hiring, employers are not necessarily going to be impressed just because of membership to an honor society but would instead be more likely to consider the applicant if they were involved in a leadership capacity with the society, according to former manager Alison Green of the blog Ask A Manager.
Overall, it’s clear that honor societies are only as beneficial as people are willing to make them. If you were to join an honor society and not make connections or become an active member, you would most likely be throwing your entrance fee away. However, if you were to utilize the interpersonal connections made within honor societies and were able to take on a role in a leadership capacity, the benefits could pay off exponentially down the road.
With many internet sites out there promoting scholarship and other job opportunities though, the argument could be made that now, because of the internet, people could make the same connections and find opportunities to exemplify leadership on their own, for free, without the need for an honor society.
Ultimately, the choice just comes down to an individual’s personal needs when choosing the best path for them, whether it be paying to join an honor society or utilizing the internet to find similar opportunities, potentially for free.
Photo by Jamia Johnson
