How do you know if a business student is one of the “best of the best?”He/she is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the national honor fraternity for business, according to Dr. Keith Jenkins, faculty advisor, secretary and treasurer for the organization.Forty-four new members were inducted into the prestigious organization last night at the banquet and induction ceremony, held at the Elkins Lake Club House, Jenkins said.”We induct each year somewhere between 30 to 50 members, depending upon those that meet the qualifications,” he said.These qualifications include being in the upper 7 percent of the junior class, upper 10 percent of the senior class or upper 20 percent of the master’s program. In addition, students must have a minimum overall GPA of 3.5, must have completed 30 hours at SHSU, with at least half of their work done in the college of business, be a business major and must be nominated by a committee of five professors, Jenkins said.”It is really an honor organization. It is the equivalent of a Phi Beta Kappa,” he said. “In other words, when (the students) get out of here, it is the faculty and the deans placing an honor upon these students that says ‘These are the best of the best in business,’ and that’s what they really are.”Beta Gamma Sigma, one of the oldest and most prestigious honor fraternities that can be bestowed on a business student, is “only available in about 20 percent of the colleges of business across the United States,” Jenkins said.”Before you can have a Beta Gamma Sigma chapter, you must first have been an (American Academy of Collegiate School of Business International) accredited school, which is only approximately 20 percent of the business schools (in the U.S.),” he said. “So even among those, then there are fewer (universities) that have Beta Gamma Sigma chapters, so to receive this honor is extremely high in the universe of universities, so to speak.”Students find out they are eligible for the organization through a process called “tapping,” Jenkins said.”(In the tapping process), the students do not know that they are going to be invited into the organization. What happens is, the faculty in their full regaliawearing their robes and everythinggo in and call the students out in front of their classmates and tell the students in the classrooms as to the honor this student’s receiving,” he said. “”Most of the time, in those classes, they receive a stirring round of applause, because these students now know that they are one of the best of the best.”According to Jenkins, most of the students are completely surprised to find out they have been tapped, and some students who are waiting to be tapped sit and wait, because they get tapped in other classes.”I’ve heard (some of the students who got tapped in other classes) say ‘I was so surprised they came in and tapped so-and-so, but they didn’t tap me. I thought I was as good as my fellow students,'” Jenkins said.The networking and being presented with other opportunities associated with being a Beta Gamma Sigma member are two of the advantages of becoming a member, Jenkins said.”Its sort of like being stamped with a credential that says you’re one of the best students,” he said. “When (students) go out, the business world looks at them and says ‘This is the one I want. I want to hire this person.'”