my brother’s has national honor society for juniors and a lot of kids are applying. kids aren’t even that qualified are applying. he picked up an application but he threw it out because his gpa isn’t high and the application itself caused more anxiety. my parents are pushing him for nhs but he doesn’t think he will get in. (the main reason for his anxiety) i don’t wanna see his stress level getting higher. does national honor society really matter? aside from the sash on graduation, what are the benefits. plus if he tells them he had a mental health issue, will they be a little more lenient or no? thank you so much! btw, he is qualified for every other category except for acadmics. thanks!
if you don’t do anything influential in nhs it won’t matter at all. It’ll be held just like a club you joined to look good which is bad haha. Benefits are that you could get a position or have influence and actual do things like service activities etc that may make it worthy of noting on apps.
@Gatortristan he has great ECs and many officer positions
It depends on the school, but NHS at my school was not a high stress commitment at all. It just meant a higher standard of community service (I think it was around something like 30 hours or something) which I was doing already anyways. The only difference was some of them had to be in school. Aside from that, there is the induction with cool speeches and the graduation cord.
It also depends on the person. For some people NHS can be a badge of honor or pride, but for others it isn’t a big deal at all. I didn’t include it on my college application because I felt that compared to the rest of my extracurriculars, NHS was not of extreme significance and did not contribute to the overall story of who I was.
It ultimately depends on your brother, but there is no harm at all in applying. One thing I have learned about applications is that is much more than about the numbers, there is plenty of room for personal stories and showing your character qualities. Academics is only one pillar of NHS, compassion and honor are just as important
@shawnspencer what if he mentions depression? will they be a little more lenient?
Nhs is worth about as much as it is in volunteering. So not much. Honestly, it’s just another club.
no i never joined nhs but i think it would have been a waste of time anyway cause out of 600 kids in my class, AT LEAST 300 are in it. so what sets you apart? nothing
Not really, in our school it’s just based on your GPA/Average so it only confirms what the school already knows from your transcript. It’s basically redundant.
NHS really doesn’t matter. In my school, NHS is basically a club with more service such as tutoring other students as well as children that are unable to receive an education in our area. And plus, NHS is more of a “I want to get the pretty sash for graduation” sort of thing.
@Gatortristan , I’m not entirely sure that’s true. That said, a leadership position where you have put in time and effort looks really good, but that doesn’t make everyone else look bad. There is a certain selectivity for each chapter of NHS. If you got in, it shows that you took advantage of what was given to you in high school. At the least, you care a little bit about college, right?
@solveforx Shawnspencer gave a very good answer. My take on it is that no individual “pillar” will get you that acceptance letter. However, when you combine elements of your college app (scores, EC’s, recs, grades…), the amount of time you put into each one and showing the effort you made in each area across the board is what counts.
To some, NHS may just a cord for graduation, but it’s a symbol that you tried in high school, at least a little.
lol no
darn i did not make nhs 