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Harvard’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa Society, the oldest academic honor society in the nation, selected 48 seniors from the Class of 2026, the chapter announced on Wednesday.
This year’s “Senior 48” join the “Junior 24” elected last spring.
Unlike in years past, where students personally applied to become a member of PBK, members this year and last were selected either according to their GPAs, or after a nomination from their concentration’s director of undergraduate studies or resident dean.
Queen M. Balina ’26, a special concentrator in Currier House, said she was “definitely just surprised” when she received news that she was elected to Harvard’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
“I was actually just like, sort of sitting in the T waiting for the Red Line, just delayed yet again, when I happened to get an email and I saw a notification on my phone,” Balina added.
Balina said that she was excited “to be able to join such a prestigious and well recognized and revered group.”
William H.T. Leung ’26, a Neuroscience and Government concentrator also in Currier House, called the experience “a validation of the academic exploration I’ve really afforded myself over the past three years at Harvard.”
The email notifying the students of their acceptance left some students confused whether they were being scammed by an unknown organization, especially given the required induction fee.
“They make you pay a $115 induction fee,” said Emily L. Ding ’26, a student in Currier House, who said a friend of hers also selected for PBK was one of those initially suspicious at the notification.
“She didn’t even read the email. She just saw the fee and she was like ‘yeah, that’s a scam,’” Ding said.
While considerations of the selection process remain elusive even to the students selected, all emphasized that they believe their diverse academic interests made them stand out.
Multiple students selected to join PBK noted that they explored a variety of concentrations and valued experimenting with classes throughout their academic career.
“Maybe the selection committee committee might have liked that I did both science and humanities,” said Ding who was planning on concentrating in Classics before switching to Human Evolutionary Biology.
“I think that variety of classes was something that they might have liked, because I know they look for a kind of breadth of courses in terms of discipline,” she added.
Kashish Bastola ’26, a a History and South Asian Studies concentrator from Eliot House noted that even after the tradition of shopping week — when students are free to audit courses they are interested in before the add/drop deadline — ended, he continued exploring classes that interested him.
“It’s just funny to see how much I did— how much experimentation and exploration I did do as a college student, and how that did pay off in a really unexpected way,” Bastola said.
Some students suggested that their public service may have helped them stand out.
“Even just going off of my transcript, like you can see the glimpses of the public facing and interdisciplinary work that I've done,” Bastola said.
Still, Bastola and others described a humble perspective on the achievement.
“I have friends who have had to go to the ends of the earth to fight for the coursework that they need here, and people who really represent those values that PBK really champions,” he said. “Not seeing their names on the list, I think, reinforced to me that obviously PBK is not the end-all be-all of legitimizing people's research interests.”
Correction: November 25, 2025
A previous version of this piece incorrectly stated that Harvard’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter has selected the Junior 24 for the Class of 2027. In fact, the PBK chapter has so far only selected the Junior 24 through the Class of 2026.
