Each spring term, the Phi Beta Kappa Society invites to membership the outstanding students of the junior and senior classes. Election to the society is based on high academic achievement, a record of course work that is at least three-quarters liberal in nature, proficiency in a foreign language through the intermediate level, a minimum of two years equivalent of full-time course work at Rutgers University, and breadth of scholarship. Phi Beta Kappa, established in 1776, is the oldest and most widely recognized liberal arts honorary society in the United States.
