Picking up your graduation cap & gown is such an exciting experience! It all starts to sink in that you’ll soon be walking across the stage and ending a chapter of your long academic career. Everyone blends together across the sea of graduates during the ceremony, but there are some distinguishing features to wear, thanks to honor societies.

Honor societies are a group of organizations recognizing excellence among students for high performance in academics. Typically, a student is invited by a specific honor society if they reach a strict level of academic criteria (for example, the top x% of a class or high GPA). There are honor societies that focus on overall academic performance, but the vast majority center on specific academic disciplines, particularly in the college/university setting. You’ll find honor societies ranging from high school to post-graduate, but college/university honor societies are the most popular.

The Association of College Honor Societies handles the coordination and communications between honor societies in the United States and has been since its inception in 1925. They describe themselves as “a visibly cohesive community of national and international honor societies, individually and collaboratively exhibiting excellence in scholarship, service, programs, and governance.” The organization sets the tone for judging credibility of honor societies, but not all legitimate honor societies choose to be a part of it. The ACHS provides a list of their certified honor societies on their website.

Throughout the year we’ll explore the top honor societies in the US (spoiler alert: there’s a lot!) and discuss their disciplines and missions. Senior Class Graduation Products offers a wide variety of solid color cords as well as cords with two and three colors intertwined representing the hundreds of honor societies nationwide.

Are you a part of an honor society? Which one? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!