The Alpha of Connecticut fills its complement in three elections. The third election is at Commencement. At the first election, in accordance with over two centuries of local tradition, no more than ten or twelve students are elected. In the second election, about fifty or sixty students are elected.
Grades carry the weight of the course credits they bear.
Marks of W carry no course credit and therefore are not included in the calculations. Whether a student matriculates at Yale as a Freshman, as a transfer student from another college, or as a Summer Student, no student is eligible for election to Phi Beta Kappa until she or he has completed four terms of course work in Yale College and has earned at least eighteen course credits at Yale. Enrollment in the Yale Summer Programs does not count as a term of course work, but terms spent on approved Junior Term Abroad and Junior Year Abroad programs do count, as do terms spent at the Yale Mellon Centre in London. Special Students enrolled in the degree program are eligible for election, but only at the Commencement election. Only Yale grades are used in the calculations, including grades recorded on the student's Yale College transcript that were earned in the Yale Summer Programs, at the Yale Mellon Centre in London, and in the Special Students Program.