Undergraduates are considered for election once they have earned 90 graded hours (on IU’s academic advisement reports, graded hours are the equivalent of GPA hours) toward their bachelor’s degree. Only students who have earned at least 60 of the required 90 graded hours in courses on the IU Bloomington campus and who have maintained a 3.700 cumulative grade point average are eligible.
Once students meet the initial criteria, they are then evaluated on the basis of their traditional GPA and a weighted ΦBK Index. (The Gamma chapter calculates the ΦBK index; it is not an official university ranking.) The ΦBK index uses a modified GPA that compares an individual student's performance to that of other students in a given class. The GPA and the ΦPBK index are weighted equally, and students are ranked accordingly and nominated for election.
In general, students have three chances to be considered: during the second semester of their junior year, during their senior year, and once again after they graduate.
In the past decade, approximately 250 to 275 IU students have been invited to join Phi Beta Kappa each year.
The College of Arts