Tau Beta Pi California Sigma Chapter

Scholastically eligible candidates are contacted by mail twice a year (fall and winter quarter) by the chapter. In addition to meeting the scholastic criteria, the California Sigma Chapter requires members to tutor for one quarter, 1 hr/wk. Membership fees are a one-time fee of $75 ($38 stays with the chapter and $37 goes to national headquarters). Upon initiation, new members will receive a certificate, a gold bent pendant, and will be invited to a banquet dinner.

See below for scholastic eligibility requirements.

To be eligible for membership as a undergraduate, you must be an engineering major who is either:

• a junior in the top 1/8th of your graduating class, OR
• a senior in the top 1/5th of your graduating class

 Elections to the California Sigma chapter occur twice a year: during the fall quarter (for initiation in the winter), and during the spring quarter (for initiation in the spring). Scholastically eligible students are further considered on the basis of personal integrity, breadth of interest both inside and outside engineering, adaptability, and unselfish activity.  Student electees who are financially unable to meet the initiation-fee obligation may make delayed payment arrangements with their chapters, may borrow from the Association's loan fund, or may accept election but postpone initiation for up to five years.

Engineering graduate students whose scholarship places them in the top fifth of their graduate clas or whose high-quality work is attested to by a faculty member may be elected to membership.

Engineering alumni of a chapter's institution or of another recognized institution whose scholastic record placed them in the top fifth of their class may be elected to membership. Such candidates are usually recommended to the chapter by a member who knows them. In all cases the requisite scholastic attainment makes candidates eligible for membership consideration. They are further considered on the basis of the Association's exemplary character requirement.

Persons who have achieved eminence in engineering may be elected to membership without regard to collegiate records. If they graduated from a recognized engineering college, they must have been engaged in engineering for at least 10 years; if not, they must have practiced engineering for at least 15 years. Such candidates are usually recommended by members who know them. The required degree of eminent achievement is left to the chapters' discretion; and candidates are further considered on the basis of exemplary character.