<P> The Phi Beta Kappa Society (ΦΒΚ) is the oldest academic honor society in the United States . It is often described as the most prestigious honor society in the United States, due to its long history and academic selectivity . Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences and to induct the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at American colleges and universities . It was founded at the College of William and Mary on December 5, 1776 as the first collegiate Greek - letter fraternity and was among the earliest collegiate fraternal societies . </P> <P> Phi Beta Kappa (ΦΒΚ) stands for Φιλοσοφία Βίου Κυβερνήτης (Philosophia Biou Kybernētēs), which means "Love of wisdom is the guide of life" or "Philosophy is the governor of one's life ." </P> <P> According to Phi Beta Kappa, the organization has chapters in about 10% of American higher learning institutions, and about 10% of these schools' Arts and Sciences graduates are invited to join the society . Although most students are elected in their senior year, many colleges elect a very limited number of extremely select students in their junior year, generally less than 2% of the class . Each chapter sets its own academic standards, but all inductees must have studied the liberal arts and sciences (Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree candidates), demonstrated "good moral character", and, usually, earned grades placing them in the top tenth of their class . (However, at least one school, Princeton University, includes Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) students in Phi Beta Kappa .) There is a mandatory initiation fee (between US $50 and US $90, as of 2005), which is sometimes covered by the inductee's university . </P> <P> Membership in Phi Beta Kappa is limited to undergraduates with very high GPAs, typically at least 3.8 or 3.9 out of a 4.0 scale . In 2001, a quorum of PBK alumni voted to raise the GPA cutoff: though all chapters set their own standards for induction, they were now instructed to be much more selective in terms of GPA . The higher cutoff was justified in reference to the historical phenomenon of grade inflation since the 1950s and 1960s . </P>

What are the qualifications for phi beta kappa