Select few meet Phi Beta Kappa standards

Although most Yalies know that Phi Beta Kappa is a society that recognizes academic excellence, far fewer know exactly what is required to get in. In fact, many of the 12 juniors and 58 seniors who received word of their acceptance on Fri., Sept. 26, were happily and genuinely surprised by the news.

"I wasn't expecting it at all," Jason Freeman, BK '99, said. "I hadn't known what the specific criteria were, and still don't know. But it's a great honor."

Many new members shared Freeman's sentiments. "I had heard of Phi Beta Kappa, but I wasn't aware of any of the criteria," Saeher Muzaffer, TD '98, said. "I wasn't expecting to hear anything around this time of year at all."

Although Yalies might assume that Phi Beta Kappa membership is dependent on their grade point average, Phi Beta Kappa actually uses a different standard. Since 1989, Yale's Phi Beta Kappa chapter has based acceptance on the percentage of A or A- grades in a student's transcript. Credit/D/Fail classes count automatically as a non-A grade. This differs from honors such as cum laude, magna cum laude, and summa cum laude, which are based strictly on G.P.A., and thus do not take Credit/D/Fail classes into account.

To be admitted at the beginning of junior year, students cannot have a single grade lower than A-, according to Claire Schlegel, assistant to Associate Dean Joseph Gordon, who runs Yale's Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Furthermore, sometimes even straight A's and A-'s are not enough to guarantee acceptance at this point. Yale's Phi Beta Kappa chapter will accept no more than 12 juniors into the organization, and will adopt increasingly rigorous standards if the pool is too large.

"Last year, for the class of '98, getting into Phi Beta Kappa as a junior was extremely competitive," Schlegel said. Since there were more than 12 juniors without a single grade below A-, those with the highest percentages of A's were chosen from the pool.

The standards for acceptance to Phi Beta Kappa at the beginning of senior year are slightly less stringent. Schlegel commented that the specific criteria vary from year to year, and that a very small number of grades below A or A- is usually permissible.

"We don't like to release the exact cutoffs for seniors because it's misleading," Schlegel explained. "It's always different, and there's no way to gauge next year on the basis of this year. The requirements to get in as a junior are a lot more cut-and-dried."

At commencement, an additional group of seniors is inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, bringing the total membership to 10 percent of the senior class.

To many Yalies, the most surprising aspect of Phi Beta Kappa is that Credit/D/Fail classes count against a student as a non-A grade. "Most students have no idea about that," recent inductee Andrew Gurman, BK '98, commented. "I went to the Dean's office last year, and checked out all the criteria. But I think it's very strange that they don't let all students know about that. I was lucky that I hadn't taken any classes Credit/D/Fail," he said.

Lawrence Winnie, Dean of Berkeley College, stated that he saw no need to publicize the criteria for Phi Beta Kappa. "Students who want to know about it can ask me, and I'll provide them with an information sheet," he explained. He said that he would consider it "bad academic counseling" to warn students that taking a course Credit/D/Fail could hurt their chances. "Students are already so focused on credentials," Winnie commented. "The idea should be to stretch one's mind, and not to shy away from taking a difficult course."

Acceptance to Phi Beta Kappa is primarily an honorary distinction. The society was founded at the College of William and Mary in 1776. Yale, the third institution to start a Phi Beta Kappa chapter, has been electing members since 1780. Those who are inducted "have an initiation ceremony in December, and a dinner in March," Schlegel explained. Phi Beta Kappa members also decide which Yale professor will receive the DeVane medal, which is awarded in recognition of excellence in teaching. These elite students will receive the organization's newsletter and will be considered members of Phi Beta Kappa for the rest of their lives.

"It's a pretty important honor," said Rebecca Merz, TD '98, who was also just elected to Phi Beta Kappa. "It definitely looks nice on a resume."

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