<p>My daughter is a rising senior with some pretty ambitious college goals. She just got an invitation to join the NHS. She does not want to follow through. At first she said she didn't think she had enough leadeship experience to get in. We said apply anyway, let them make that decision. Then she said, "But I don't want to be in the NHS. All they do is fundraising!" Touche. I know NHS activites vary by school. We live in a part of the world where people are a little too enamoured of fundraising for its own sake, and almost think about the organization in a secondary way. That's why I'm not more involved in the PTO. She does have a killer schedule this year, no senioritis for her. But will not being in NHS come back to haunt her?</p>
<p>"But will not being in NHS come back to haunt her? " Not in the slightest. Some schools have some NHS scholarships but as far as an evaluation item for top schools? Nothing at all. Your daughter’s instinct is good here.</p>
<p>BTW: when I was a jr/sr, I was frankly too busy to NHS, or missed the org mtgs or something. Never even cared. Didn’t affect my apps – matriculated at an HYP college.</p>
<p>In my school, where nearly 90% of the top 25% of the class is in NHS, one guy who was in the top quarter and not in NHS got accepted to Cornell with no problem. So, no, I wouldn’t say that NHS comes back to haunt.</p>