Should I join the National Technical Honor Society?

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
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The most apparent benefit I can see is the prestige... another item to put on my resume. Apparently there's also potential scholarships and employment opportunities for members. Anyone a member and sorry they spent the $25 to join?
 

DrPizza

Administrator Elite Member Goat Whisperer
Mar 5, 2001
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www.slatebrookfarm.com
Most of them aren't societies of prestige, but rather companies trying to make money.
I get things all the time requesting names of my students who qualify "for acceptance into this prestigious society." Qualifications were typically top 1/3 of the class. I can't speak specifically for the National Technical Honor Society, but it's probably a company wanting money rather than really an organization of prestige.

ACM or IEEE would be much better, as tfinch stated.

For what it's worth, I recently saw someone's "credentials" - in addition to her college degrees, she had a long list of things such as "Who's who among American college professors" - I actually thought less of her after reading that list than I would have if I had simply seen BS in ... from ..., MS in ... from ..., PhD in ... from ... It looked like she was merely trying to pad her credentials. For what it's worth, I accepted to be added to some Who's who thing - I couldn't care less, but in case the students or principals who nominated me would find out if I accepted or not, I felt obliged to accept that nomination. Of course, they informed me that for an additional $49.99 I could have my professional photo added to their book, which I could purchase for $79.99. yeah, right. I certainly don't find it to be prestigious, but it felt nice to see that a few former students had nominated me.

edit: I just did a little digging. In my opinion: join, it's only $25, and it really won't look like you're just using it to pad your resume. It'll look more like you're among the better students graduating with some technical degree/certificate.
 

pradeep1

Golden Member
Jun 4, 2005
1,099
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A recognized group that has high standards would be good. Tau Beta Pi (engineering honor society) accepted a very small group of people by invitation only. Being a member was something worthwhile, plus you had to do a lot of shit to get in.

Golden Key National Honor Society, Who's Who groups, etc. are a waste of money.

Better to join the student chapter of the industry association related to your industry and become an active member there.