What are the academic standards for election to Phi Beta Kappa?

Because of the age of our chapter, we are permitted to elect up to the top 15% of the senior class; historically, we have elected anywhere from 7% to 14%. Seniors may be transfer students but must have at least 45 credits and be in at least their 4th semester at Whitman. We consider as seniors those students who will be graduating in the spring of their election year or completing requirements for graduation over the summer, including 3/2 students in their last semester at engineering school, as well as those who graduated the preceding December. Phi Beta Kappa expects its members to have demonstrated a breadth of intellectual interests. This includes the study of mathematics (met by completing the quantitative analysis distribution requirement) and (for native English-speaking students) the study of foreign language equivalent to successful completion of the second year of study at Whitman (i.e., through 206). (Note: our chapter (again by virtue of our age) has some discretion in the extent to which we apply the PBK expectation that all those elected have studied foreign language; as a chapter, we have decided to apply this requirement for election more rigorously than we have in the past. Graduates in 2005 will not be affected by this decision; those elected in 2006 will be expected to have completed at least one year of language study; by 2007, all those elected will have completed study equivalent to two years of Whitman coursework.) We recognize that classes vary and grades fluctuate; there is no grade point average that will guarantee you election to Phi Beta Kappa. As a point of information only, you may note that in recent years those elected to Phi Beta Kappa have had cumulative G.P.A.s no lower than 3.75.

Election to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior is a distinction conferred on very few students, usually 2 or 3 each spring (and in some years none). The by-laws require that anyone elected as a junior have completed 5 semesters at Whitman and have earned at least 75 credits. In other words, transfer students and those who chose to study abroad (e.g., Fall semester junior year) are not eligible to be considered as juniors but only as seniors. (We certainly don't want this to discourage anyone from study abroad! In the history of our chapter, no student who would have been elected as a junior, had they been on campus, has ever failed to be elected as a senior.) Those elected as juniors will have demonstrated a breadth of intellectual interest that includes the study of mathematics and foreign language; usually, those elected as juniors have taken courses beyond the introductory level outside the major.

Who does the electing? Those Whitman faculty members who are themselves members of Phi Beta Kappa are invited to participate in the election meeting held each year (usually in late February or early March).

For more information, contact Andrea Dobson.
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