Membership

Membership stipulations

The purpose of Phi Beta Kappa is to recognize and encourage scholarship, friendship, and cultural interests, and to support excellence and integrity in the pursuit of the arts and sciences. Chapter activities encourage liberal education, scholarship, and concern for the responsible uses of knowledge. Individuals elected to membership commit themselves to advancing the goals of Phi Beta Kappa.

Only those persons shall be elected to membership whose qualifications have been carefully investigated. The members in course shall be elected primarily on the basis of broad cultural interests, scholarly achievements, and good character. The number of undergraduates elected from any class, including any who may be elected in their junior year, shall ordinarily not exceed 10 percent and in no case shall exceed 15 percent of those expected to receive liberal bachelor's degrees in that class. Only those students whose work has been definitely liberal in character and purpose shall be eligible to election as members in course, this requirement being satisfied ordinarily by a proportion of three‑fourths of liberal studies. They shall also be completing at least two years of residence in the sheltering institution and must have obtained a minimum average grade specified in the chapter bylaws. A limited number of undergraduates of outstanding ability may be elected in their junior year.

General criteria for consideration for election to Phi Beta Kappa

1. Students must be a candidate for a bachelor's degree in Western Michigan University's College of Arts and Sciences. Students electing a combined curriculum in a professional field may be considered if, before transferring to the professional school they have completed all the requirements for the bachelor's degree in the College of Arts and Sciences, except that they only need to have completed one-half the requirements for the major.
2. Students must complete the requirements for the College of Arts and Sciences Liberal Education Curriculum. In particular, students must have satisfied the LEC Proficiencies 1 through 6, and must have taken a course in the Distribution Area 6 (Natural Sciences with Lab).
3. Students must complete a minimum of 91 credits out of the total of 122 credits required for graduation in the liberal arts and sciences. Credits earned in technical and professional courses may not be included in the 91 credits.
4. Transfer students should complete a minimum of 61 credits at WMU. Transfer students currently enrolled in WMU may be considered provided they have senior status and at least 45 credits have already been completed at WMU.
5. The GPA (cumulative GPA for courses at WMU adjusted to exclude physical education, military science, technical and professional courses) should meet the following minimums:

• Juniors need a minimum of 75 credits earned at WMU and a 3.8 GPA at WMU
• Seniors need a minimum of 95 credits earned at WMU and a 3.5 GPA at WMU
• Transfer students with a minimum of 45 credits earned at WMU need a 3.8 GPA at WMU
• Transfer students with a minimum of 60 credits earned at WMU need a 3.7 GPA at WMU
• Transfer students with a minimum of 75 credits earned at WMU need a 3.6 GPA at WMU
• Transfer students with a minimum of 91 credits earned at WMU need a 3.5 GPA at WMU

6. Students who have demonstrated additional scholarly accomplishments through the Lee Honors College, the Study Abroad Program, a directed research project, or other significant activity shall be given special consideration for election into Phi Beta Kappa. In exceptional cases, students with a GPA below 3.5, but not below 3.25, may be considered.

Additional considerations

• In a given year, approximately 10 percent of the graduating senior class of students in the College of Arts and Sciences may be elected into Phi Beta Kappa. Only 20 percent of the students elected into Phi Beta Kappa may be elected in their junior year.
• Students are elected to Phi Beta Kappa only in the spring semester. Eligible students who have graduated in the previous summer I session, summer II session, or fall semester may be considered for election along with the current class of graduating seniors.
• Graduate students who have completed at least two years of graduate study at WMU leading toward the Ph.D. in a field in the College of Arts and Sciences may be elected into Phi Beta Kappa provided:

1. Their graduate GPA is at least 3.8.
2. Their undergraduate work would have qualified them for consideration for election into Phi Beta Kappa.
3. Their undergraduate institution did not have a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at the time of their graduation. In a given year, not more than 5 percent of doctoral students in fields in the College of Arts and Sciences may be elected into Phi Beta Kappa.

_{(Revised Nov. 17, 2003)}