The collegiate honor society that your child chooses will greatly depend on the subject areas on which he intends to focus his studies. For example, some honor societies, such as Alpha Beta Gamma, are geared toward business students. Involvement in the honor society will be a resume-builder and background experience for his career. It will also provide a solid network of colleagues for him to keep in contact with through and after his college experience, since collegiate honor society members are members for life.
Collegiate honor societies have a predetermined grade point average that students must meet in order to qualify for acceptance. Your child will need to choose an honor society that has requirements she's able to meet. Also, some honor societies require that their members have a certain amount of college credits already attained. Freshmen and sophomores are sometimes not allowed in honor societies, such as is the case with the Alpha Chi Honor Society, which accepts only juniors or seniors. Graduate students who are working through a master's degree program can also be accepted into certain collegiate honor societies.
Make sure that your child is interested in and can be committed to the different activities that the honor society offers. For example, Alpha Beta Gamma holds lectures, seminars and field trips for its members.
Most honor societies make it clear that they will not tolerate any bigotry toward fellow students or groups. Neither the society nor the college as a whole will allow members to display prejudice toward their peers.
Aside from simply being a strong student academically, honor societies will also often look at the student as a whole, taking into consideration their reputation and overall character.
Also, an annual fee is often required to remain in the society.