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Eligibility

Eligibility Criteria

NEW CRITERIA ALERT!

Our next round of invitations will go out in the Fall 2025 semester and will use the updated eligibility criteria below. These new criteria will be used to evaluate all eligibility henceforth, regardless of when a student entered UNC.

 

All currently-enrolled undergraduate students are AUTOMATICALLY considered for membership each term. The chapter works with the University Registrar to run an eligibility check on each’s student’s record. There are two methods by which a student may qualify for membership:

METHOD 1 (for students ENTERING UNC AS FIRST YEARS or CAROLINA GLOBAL LAUNCH STUDENTS)

  1. Complete at least 75 hours in graded liberal arts & sciences coursework at UNC (which excludes LFIT/PHYA hours, pass/fail hours, transfer hours, by exam credit hours, professional school hours, and study abroad hours in courses graded SA)
  2. Attain a quality point average of at least 3.850 in graded liberal arts and sciences coursework

METHOD 2 (for STUDENTS ENTERING UNC AS TRANSFERS)

  1. Complete at least 45 hours in graded liberal arts & sciences coursework at UNC (which excludes LFIT/PHYA hours, pass/fail hours, transfer hours, by exam credit hours, professional school hours, and study abroad hours in courses graded SA)
  2. Attain a quality point average of at least 3.850 in graded liberal arts and sciences coursework

No grades made at an institution from which a student has transferred shall be included in determining a student’s eligibility.

Because Phi Beta Kappa honors excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, applied or pre-professional coursework shall not be considered in determining eligibility. This stipulation excludes professionally focused courses and courses devoted to the acquisition of practical skills.

The quality point average shall include all academic course work in the liberal arts and sciences taken and counted toward the candidate’s degree (physical activity grades and hours are not included). Grades received on courses taken after the candidate has received his or her degree shall not be counted.

Manual Eligibility Request

***PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE UNABLE TO CONDUCT MANUAL ELIGIBILITY REVIEWS SIMPLY BECAUSE A STUDENT BELIEVES THEY QUALIFY BUT HAVE NOT RECEIVED AN INVITATION.***

Students should request a manual review of their eligibility if (and only if) they meet one of the three criteria below:

  • credit hours that show as TREQ on their transcript
  • are a Robertson Scholars and have ROBT credits on their transcript from courses taken at Duke
  • graduated in a previous semester

Students who meet one of these conditions should click below to request a manual review of their eligibility. Such requests must be submitted by August 15 (fall) and January 15 (spring).