Harvard's chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa (PBK) Society, Alpha Iota, will induct 24 new members of the class of 2001 tomorrow.

The group was selected based on two letters of recommendation, as well as their performance in a wide range of courses. They were chosen from a pool of 48 juniors nominated on the basis of their grade-point-averages (GPAs).

Andrew J. Kin '01, a newly elected PBK member, said that he is excited about the honor.

"I just think it's an exciting opportunity to be recognized, and I'm really thankful that God got me through the past three years," Kin said.

Three committees comprised of Faculty and previously elected students were in charge of the selection process.

Chapter President and co-Chair of the Social Science Election Committee Everett I. Mendelsohn, professor of the History of Science, said the nominees' GPAs were often indistinguishable, forcing the committee to use the quality and diversity of the courses taken as a tiebreaker between candidates.

"We give greater weight to those who took the more rigorous courses or who went into greater depth versus those who skimmed through a series of introductory courses," Mendelsohn said.

"We also look for diversity, for the ability of students to not only take an intense group of economic courses but to do well in things outside their own field," he added, citing as an example a student who took an advanced literature course although he primarily concentrated in microeconomics.