I already have extracurriculars that take up lots of time and see that a lot of juniors are signing up for honor societies. What’s the point of joining an honor society? Is it worth my time? Do AOs like to see them on applications?
The short answer is “no”. You should be doing extracurriculars that you are interested in and want to spend time doing not necessarily because it looks good to colleges. With that said, on the common app and other applications you will need to list extracurriculars and should have a good list of other activities that you did in HS. I know many college students going to Top 25 colleges that did not participate in national honor societies.
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No. Every school has a different set of rules for admission and maintaining membership in National Honor Society, usually a lot of hoops to jump through. And then you can add Math Honor Society, English Honor Society, Tech Honor Society, every science, every foreign language etc. The only somewhat good thing is that honor societies require volunteer hours. However, people forced into volunteering are usually not really making an impact. Your time is better spent finding a cause/issue you are passionate about and figuring out how your can help.
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My husband was in NHS and really wanted our daughter to join as well, but it’s not her kind of club. He kept pushing, so I did a little research and found that it really doesn’t mean much on an application. I think my best source for this was the podcast “Inside the Admissions Office,” but I can’t remember which episode. The one you should listen to is #24, Crafting Your Activities List.”
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@JAF09 Thank you for the podcast suggestion. I googled and found that one and a YaleAdmissions podcast and sent the links to my brothers who have kids in 9th grade.
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No, not really.
I think both of my kids were in NHS and the Science Honor Society. Other than having volunteer requirements (which meant just documenting what they were already doing) and participating in the Science Fair, there wasn’t much to it. They may have had a star or two next to their name in the graduation program.