<p>So I just came up short from getting into NHS. I had all my volunteer hours, solid extracurriculars, perfect attendance all 3 years and no cheating infractions. The only thing holding my was my GPA. You needed a 4.5 to get in, I got a 4.4. Does not getting into NHS affect my chances of getting into a prestigous universities (like Rice University)? This is really bumming me out.</p>
<p>Its really no big deal because top colleges do not place high prestige on NHS. If anything, its considered just another club on your EC list</p>
<p>No, don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>Not getting into NHS won’t make much of a difference. Not having a high enough GPA to make NHS might.</p>
<p>NHS is akin to being on the honor roll – it’s a very minor line on your overall application, generally. But zephyr makes a better point – your GPA is extremely significant. NHS: none to almost no significance.</p>
<p>Honestly, what stops you from you putting it on your app anyways? They aren’t going to poll your school to see who really is in NHS</p>
<p>^Don’t do that, it’s academic dishonesty. Your moral sense of judgement is what’s stopping you from putting it on your app, or at least it should.</p>
<p>NHS is NOT a very important EC. There are thousands of kids in it and it really is mostly regarded as just another club. The gpa that kept you from getting in might be more cause for concern.</p>
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</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If you get caught, you can be rejected. If you get caught after you’re admitted, you can be expelled.</p></li>
<li><p>It’s immoral.</p></li>
<li><p>Lying on your application is not a good start to any undergraduate experience, but even more so at a school on an honor system (like Rice).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>As for the initial question, NHS does nothing. It doesn’t help much if it’s there unless you’ve held a leadership role and done something especially important with it (just holding an NHS leadership role is unlikely to be anymore valuable than just holding a leadership role in any other club). And if it’s not there, nobody will care. They probably won’t even notice.</p>
<p>For the record, I got into Rice despite being rejected from NHS for reasons the advisor refused to disclose (read: someone on the faculty committee wasn’t a fan). However, as others have pointed out, the fact it’s your GPA preventing you from getting in is potentially much more telling. Since you just missed the mark, though, I doubt it will be a huge issue unless the cutoff was low to begin with.</p>
<p>The highest GPA you can get is about a 4.8-4.9. So this is why the cutoff is 4.5</p>
<p>NHS is a joke! Specifically at my school. A smart as* boy decided to make a mockery of it when a lot of us were applying at the beginning of my junior year. We had to write an essay about our character and service and how we would fit the NHS ideals. The boy decided to write his essay as a subtle mockery of NHS and how it was just another thing to put on applications. He was inducted to NHS…I read the essay myself and wonder how nobody caught his insults! Really, I regret joining it because it was just another service hour requirement, and sometimes the sheer # of hours detracts from my love of service in the first place.</p>
<p>NHS isn’t really that much of an honor. At my school you only need a 3.5 to be inducted (the highest GPA ever at the school was about a 4.3 I think), and it’s really just so they can make you volunteer for events they don’t want to pay people to coordinate. Colleges don’t care.</p>
<p>I would try to bring your GPA up a little, as that is extremely important to college admissions. </p>
<p>If you just missed the cut-off, I wouldn’t worry about it. Plenty of people who are not in NHS go to excellent schools.</p>
<p>You guys need a 4.5 to get in?? On a 5.0 or 4.0 scale? O.o
Anyways, don’t worry about it. So many people involve themselves in NHS that it doesn’t make applicants stand out anymore.</p>