My Student Made Honor Roll, and Now?

Dean’s List Pride Honor Roll

It is that time of year when students receive notifications that they have made a collegiate scholar society. The cream-colored linen envelope arrives with its gold embossed logo of said scholar society organization makes me smile just thinking about it. As a parent, you do a mental cartwheel as you see the invitation; as you should. Then take a breath and read the fine print carefully.

There are many Honor Societies and it is important to be aware of what stands behind each of the various invitations to join. Educate yourself as to what they provide in exchange for this membership. Honestly, there are many organizations on campus that your student can get involved with that will be far more beneficial to their resume and postgraduate application than membership in a society that profits from the fees they collect. Read their annual report to see how much of their revenue goes toward administrative fees, just as you would with a charity you are vetting.

I am not trying to diminish the euphoric moment you are feeling. The question is at what cost should you be pleased and will it make a difference when they graduate? The individual colleges at UGA have a Presidential Scholar and Dean’s List designation at the end of each semester. You do not pay money to be on these lists. When your student graduates, if their overall GPA is 3.6 or higher, they will be eligible for a color chord.

Earning your spot on the Dean’s List or being selected as a Presidential Scholar at the University of Georgia are both prestigious honors and will usually grant you accolades within your organizations on campus, your family, or yourself. While we are not ones to reward good academics, rather reward hard work, some parents choose to operate off of incentives and some students need them to do well. Some sororities, on the other hand, choose to reward all Dean’s List members with a gift card at the end of each semester to help congratulate girls on their hard work.

To be named Dean’s List at UGA, one must have achieved a GPA of 3.5 or higher for that semester, receiving no grade less than a B, and having no unsatisfactory or incomplete grades. Another requirement of the Dean’s List is you must be enrolled in 14 hours to be eligible; a full-time student is considered 12 hours. This GPA is recalculated each semester so you might be on Dean’s List first semester, but not second semester, and vice versa.

The highest academic honor per semester at UGA is being named a Presidential Scholar. This is given to students who have received a GPA of 4.0 for the semester and received no unsatisfactory or incomplete grades. Being named a Presidential Scholar is a big deal and is one that should be congratulated and celebrated for all the hard work that went into achieving such an honor.

Honors Organizations

UGA has 3 Honors Organizations that work toward achieving Academic merit, these are Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi, and Phi Kappa Phi. They each have their own set of standards for joining and requirements that must be upheld once granted membership. Being a part of one of these societies is another academic honor that allows fabulous leadership, knowledge, and thought-provoking growth for each member.

Regardless of your student’s academic achievements, you should be proud of them for putting in the work to get to UGA and putting in the work to stay at UGA.

There are several honor societies that are registered organizations at most college campuses including the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and Golden Key International Honour Society. Some charge a one-time fee of $95 and purport to provide scholarship money for students. If it is important to your student (and you) to accept membership because the benefits outweigh the costs, by all means, go ahead and join.

Here is a list of honor societies at UGA.

Not to take away from some of these national honor societies; your students will get out of them what they put into them but there are many prestigious honor societies at UGA that may be more beneficial.

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