One hundred and four members of the class of 2001 were inducted last week into the Massachusetts chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, an elite academic society.
Alpha Iota, as the Massachusetts chapter is called, selected new members based on their grade point averages and teacher recommendations.
Faculty committees from the social sciences, natural sciences and humanities selected the inductees from a group of nominated students.
Unlike many awards at Harvard, extracurricular activities are not taken into consideration for Phi Beta Kappa membership.
“The primary category is grade point average,” said Everett I. Mendelsohn ’57, a professor of history and science and president of Alpha Iota.
“Secondarily, we look for the nature of the courses they selected and to what extent they stretched their boundaries by taking harder classes,” he said.
William Edwards ’01, who also won a Hoopes Prize for his senior thesis, said he “shouted for joy” when he opened the letter informing him of his induction.
“It’s a great honor,” he said. “It’s not something you plan on. It just happened.”
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