Member Login
Search

Honor Society Standards of Excellence

The following standards are guidelines for certifying quality of member societies. These provide a set of criteria for judging credibility and legitimacy of honor societies.

Standards:

ACHS Member Societies

Honor societies are organized to serve their members by ensuring:

  • Membership participation in setting authority for control of the affairs of the organization.

  • Governance by officers/board members elected by the membership.

  • Membership participation in approving and revising bylaws.

  • Full financial disclosure.

  • IRS 501(c) – nonprofit status.

Standards:

Campus Chapters

Chapters represent the honor society on campus through:

  • Formal chartering of each campus chapter by institution and college/department petition, approved by official action of the governing body of the national organization.

  • Membership invitation by an official chapter.

Standards:

Member Eligibility

Members are selected according to the following criteria:

  • General Upper Division Scholarship - top 20% and not earlier than completion of 50% of degree requirements.

  • General Upper Division Leadership - top 35% and not earlier than completion of 50% of degree requirements.

  • Specialized Scholarship - top 35%, not earlier than completion of 37.5% of degree requirements.

  • General Lower Division Scholarship - top 20%, after completion of one complete academic term with credit hours required for full-time status.

  • Two-year associate degree (General) - top 20% after completion of the number of credit hours to designate full-time status with at least 12 credit hours leading to the associate degree; (Specialized) - top 35%, with the above additional qualifications.

  • If class rank is unavailable, a minimum 3.5 cumulative GPA may be used in lieu of the top 20% requirement or a minimum 3.3 cumulative GPA may be used in lieu of the top 35% requirement.

  • Membership shall be conferred solely on the basis of character & specified eligibility.

  • These eligibility criteria are minimum ones; many societies have higher standards.

See Bylaws for complete detail.

For more information, contact the national office at [email protected].

 

Certified member societies of the Association of College Honor Societies can be found at this quick link.