Stipulations
Concerning Eligibility for
Membership in Course
Eligibility for election to
membership in course shall be contingent upon fulfillment of the following
minimum requirements. Chapters are expected to determine the specific
application of standards stated in these Stipulations.
1. Eligible students shall
be candidates for a bachelor's degree in a
2. They shall be majoring in
an area of the liberal arts or sciences. If departments of economics, music,
political science, or other subjects normally offered in a
3. They shall include not
less than 90 semester hours (or the equivalent) of liberal work among the 120
hours ordinarily required for the degree, exclusive of required courses in
physical education and any military science.
4. Students electing a
combined curriculum in such fields as law, medicine, dentistry, or engineering
may be considered if they take at least 90 semester hours or the equivalent of
liberal work in a College of Arts and Sciences, complete at least half of the
requirements for a liberal major, and meet all of the other requirements
defined in these Stipulations.
5. Grades earned in applied
or professional work shall not be counted in computing the grade-point average
for purposes of eligibility. Applied and professional work shall be understood
to include those courses intended primarily to develop skills or vocational
techniques in such fields as business administration, education, engineering,
home economics, journalism, library science, military science, physical
education, communications, secretarial studies, speech, and applied art and
music.
6. Weight shall be given to
the breadth and proportion of the program of each candidate as shown by the
number and variety of courses taken outside the major.
7. Candidates shall have
demonstrated, by successful work in high school or college, or in the two
together, a knowledge of mathematics and of a foreign
language at least minimally appropriate for a liberal education. In no case
shall this mean less than the completion of the intermediate college level in a
foreign language, or its equivalent, and the equivalent of two years of college
preparatory secondary school mathematics. Either requirement may be met by a
proficiency test.
The Stipulations
Concerning Eligibility for Membership in Course were adopted by the Phi Beta
Kappa Council in 1952. Chapters founded since 1952 are required, and others are
requested, to observe the Stipulations, which, as printed above, incorporate
revisions made by the Twenty-Ninth Council in September 1970, and amendments
adopted by written vote of the chapters in July 1991.