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:
- 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.
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 Scholarship - top 20%, not earlier than 5th semester .
- General Leadership - top 35%, not earlier than 5th semester .
- Specialized Scholarship - top 35%, not earlier than 4th semester.
- Freshman honor societies - top 20%, after completion of one complete curricular period 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.
- 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: