Membership

The GPA requirements are set by Omicron Delta Kappa National and require students to abide by the following criteria. Your class standing is based upon the number of credits that you possess. Omicron Delta Kappa requires a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.650 for Juniors (60-89 credits), 3.700 for Seniors (90+ credits), and 3.800 for Graduate Students to be considered for membership.

Yes, transfer students are eligible to apply for ODK membership so long as they have had a semester at UMD and have a UMD GPA to have their credits based upon. We encourage students to ensure they include their UMD activity/involvement information prior to others from the previous institution in the “Activity” section.

Yes! We encourage all applicants who are not accepted to reapply. In fact, most members do not get in after their first application since reviewers hope to seek continued growth in leadership before offering invitations to candidates. To make it easier for re-applicants, the application activities are saved from semester to semester but we hope to see changes and growth with each subsequent submission.

Yes. Every spring, there is an application for Top Ten Freshmen and Sophomore Leader of the Year awards. These applications open in February. The application as well as additional information can be found on the website under the “awards” section.

Individuals who are studying abroad are more than welcome to apply. It may mean different membership experiences this semester pending your return dates to campus, but study abroad would not be a factor for us not to select someone. In the class section, we suggest adding what you can, but being sure to indicate the location that you are study abroad at this time so we do not confuse if you are on campus or not.

ODK defines campus life into five different categories which we call “pillars.” The five are: scholarship; athletics; campus/community service, social/religious activities, and campus governance; journalism and the mass media; creative and performing arts. You can find example activities for each pillar below as well as a more in-depth discussion in the tutorial video on the website. All pillars are viewed as equal. Additionally, it is not expected that an applicant has activities in each pillar.

Make sure to think about activities that you have committed to and activities you have put time and passion into. Try to refrain from putting down activities that you only had a one-day or very short term commitment in. Here are some examples from the five different pillars:

In one entry, list both the organization name as well as your position within it. For the dates, you can put how long you’ve been in the organization as well as specifically specifying duration of roles within the activity description. Refer to the previous question for an example.

You can include them for consideration, but the most important activities you can put on your application will be your on-campus experience. We suggest that you list the top 20 activities which you consider significant activities and honors.

You do not need to hold leadership positions in each involvement, but these activities should contribute to your growth or leadership development/experience.

All activities and honors that occurred during your college time can be listed within the 20. We do ask that if the involvement was not at UMD, that you indicate that in your description of the activity.

There is no need to rank your activities. In order for the reviewers to have a complete picture of an applicant’s involvements, we suggest including as many activities as possible up to the 20 maximum. We ask applicants to select their top 5 activities that have been most impactful or valuable to your leadership experience as a student at UMD.

There is a 500-character (not word) limit for each question. Failure to ensure that your responses are within this limit may prevent them from being saved. Please note formatting from other applications (e.g. Word or Google Docs) can prevent your answers from saving properly. If you are copying and pasting text, please paste as plain text (Ctrl+Shift+V or right click and choose the plain text option). If you find you are having issues, please type directly into the form fields.

The answers to these questions are seen by the reviewers of your application and help to provide a glimpse into your leadership experiences and reason for applying to ODK. We also ask regarding any previous disciplinary history. Please note that this information is kept confidential with organization leadership.

You may edit and resubmit your application as much as needed prior to the deadline for submission. We do not allow edits to the application once our deadline has passed, so please be sure to have all edits complete and the application submitted prior to the deadline.

Tapping Week (our way of inviting new members to the organization) usually occurs about three weeks after the application officially closes. Additional details regarding dates of tapping week are provided upon completion of the application. If you are not selected for membership, we will email those applicants at the end of tapping week regarding their status. 

Yes, there is an induction scholarship available for those who require financial assistance. We have always been able to accommodate those in need and strive to remove any financial barriers to membership.

Current members are expected to participate in events such as general body meetings, selection of new members, lectures, and service initiatives every semester. These requirements are minimally time consuming since we recognize that those who have been selected for membership are campus leaders with many other responsibilities.

Being inducted into the ODK Sigma Circle is an acknowledgement that you exemplify what it means to be a Terp and a leader at UMD. The ODK Sigma Circle fountain serves as a method to recognize those who are members. The ODK Sigma Circle also provides you with opportunities to network with current members as well as incredible alumni to grow and improve your own leadership abilities. Though we do not ask for too much of your time, we participate in service to give back to our local community. 

In addition to benefits of ODK Membership at UMD, you also receive benefits through ODK National. Additional information regarding national benefits can be found on their website.

Our current members represent all facets of campus life through the five pillars. The following inductee bios and word cloud provide a glimpse into our current members, our past members have been involved in an even greater array of activities on campus. This list is not all encompassing and we are always looking to diversify our membership.