Requirements

HonorSociety.org Requirements

& Recognition Levels

Honorifics- grade point average (GPA) thresholds for academic recognition include:

Highest Honors above a 3.8 GPA
High Honors above a 3.5 GPA
Honors above a 3.2 GPA

There is significant debate around the thresholds for honor society honorifics today. NPR recently published an article entitled "A Medical School Tradition Comes Under Fire For Racism" on how honorifics can "perpetuate systems that are deeply flawed." Dr. David Muller, the dean of medical education at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City said, "We can't justify putting people who are historically at a disadvantage at an even greater disadvantage. It just doesn't seem fair to dangle in front of our students an honorific that we know people are not equally eligible for." This sentiment is further echoed within honors programs throughout America today. Matt Means, director of the Honors Program at University of Nevada, Reno speaks directly to the trend of inclusivity within honors in his interview. “I think there is a little bit of honors in everybody,” Means said. “Honors should be about innovation, risk taking, embracing challenge – it should be about accepting and looking for new and diverse student populations – it should be about impacting multiple communities because the majority of our lives and careers aren’t going to be sequestered to a narrow band of a population.” Inclusivity plays an important and integral role in higher education and in honors programs today. “The worst word to affiliate with an honors program is elitism,” Means said. “An honors program or college should be inclusive, flexible, and offer different pathways to success by engaging students in collaboration and cooperation with other academic interests and programs – honors should be about locking arms.”

Honor Society recognizes the traditional value of honorifics and has recognition tiers to honor high achievers, while also electing to maintain an open door and serve as a leader in inclusivity and opportunity within the academic realm. Honor Society membership is proudly open to students and professionals in all fields, who desire to pursue excellence and build a framework for success.

By allowing members to shine as leaders, whether through their academics, community service or leadership in their own local community, we recognize each member for how they make their own, unique difference, and provide tools and benefits to succeed even further. While GPA is certainly an important measure, we believe there is much more that defines an Honor Society member.

3.8-4.0

If you fall within a 3.8 to a 4.0, you have been ranked as a "Highest Honors Member." Aside from the recognition you receive for your academic success, scholarships are readily available to you.

3.5 - 3.79

If you fall within a 3.5 to a 3.79, you have been ranked as a "High Honors Member." Aside from the recognition you receive for your academic success, scholarships are readily available to you.

3.2 - 3.49

If you fall within a 3.2 to a 3.49, you have been ranked as an "Honors Member." Aside from the recognition you receive for your academic success, scholarships are readily available to you.

Strength & Honor

As an inclusive society, we want to give our members the tools needed to succeed. A true Honor Society is about the present and future. You can reach your goals, and our community is here to help.

Recognizing Academic Excellence

Leaders and visionaries are welcome to join. We want to award members for several of the values that Honor Society holds in high esteem: leadership, community service, academic excellence, and making a difference in the world. We aim to reward, utilize and grow these skill sets, as each member has a specific strength they bring to the table. HonorSociety.org is a leading honors organization dedicated to recognition of member success, and to empower members to achieve.

Curbing Negative Cycles

Self-fulfilling prophecy: A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the prophecy itself, due to positive feedback between belief and behavior.

We believe exclusionary policies are inherently negative self-fullfulling prophecies for those excluded, and would be fundamentally wrong. As a society, we are inclusive in all senses. We do not hold a person's past against them in the pursuit of higher knowledge and holding themselves to a higher standard. Although we aim to award our members for their academic achievement, and we've given the titles of Honors, High Honors and Highest Honors to those who fall within a specific grade point average window, our mission is to help others reach these academic levels by encouraging them, and also rewarding them for the work they do outside of the classroom.