On Sunday, I had the honor of being inducted into Phi Beta Kappa along with more than 30 other McDaniel students. Phi Beta Kappa is one of the most prestigious honor societies in the world and it recognizes excellence in the liberal arts. McDaniel is one of only eight colleges in Maryland to have a Phi Beta Kappa chapter.
As you can imagine, Phi Beta Kappa is rather selective. However, the selection criteria is somewhat elusive and mysterious, but what I do know is this: the chapter looks at students who are in the top of their class. They look at these students’ transcripts to see if they have taken a “real” math course in college (not statistics, not logic, and not a remedial math course) and a foreign language (unfortunately, ASL doesn’t count). A more in-depth description of selection criteria can be found here.
Nevertheless, since I had taken calc II and intermediate German while at McDaniel, I knew that if I continued to work hard and take classes in a variety of disciplines, I would have a shot at being selected for Phi Beta Kappa. I was not disappointed. Back in February, I received a letter in my campus mailbox letting me know that I had gotten in!
Sunday’s induction ceremony was lovely. There weren’t a lot of weird rituals we had to go through (no candle lighting or anything like that) and the speakers were interesting. Our chapter inducts an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa each year. This year’s honorary inductee was a judge who had graduated from McDaniel in the ’70s. He gave a speech about how important his liberal arts education has been to him, and he even sang bits of Avenue Q’s “What Do You Do with a B.A. in English?”.
After the ceremony, inductees and their guests were treated to a catered dinner in our dining hall where we got to eat a delicious meal and dessert with McDaniel professors who are also Phi Beta Kappa members.
Being inducted into Phi Beta Kappa is a tremendous achievement, and I’m thrilled that it’s something I’ve been able to accomplish!
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