Hello! I’m a brand new member here, so please forgive me if I may be posting this incorrectly or anything. Here’s the situation: I’m going to an early college high school, and was just accepted in the NHS a few months ago. We are required to attend at least 90% of meetings (which I think are weekly) and attend any and all school functions. I have an idea that we have a lot of school functions from what I’ve experienced normally, but I’m not too sure on how busy it really is yet.
We also have to complete at least sixteen hours of community service for each semester (that are not allowed to be done from any school functions), and this is on top of going to college classes as well. I heard that NHS actually is starting to be common with students and colleges don’t give it as high importance as I thought. My questions are what do you think would be smart? Would it still look good on any resumes or applications that I at least was a member of the NHS? Is it really that beneficial? I want to concentrate more on my classes this year. Would quitting the NHS reflect poorly on me?
I don’t want to be part of something that doesn’t even benefit me so much in the long run but just adds more work and stress. A lot of students were also invited as well and are part of the group. It is only summer so I haven’t really done anything yet either though. Thanks, this is really giving me a hard time.
In general you shouldn’t get into clubs or extracurriculars just to look good. Do what interests you. If you don’t want to do it than don’t - maybe something else will come along that you are interested in, and you’ll have some free time to do it.
Lol it took me log to realize this but colleges really don’t care about NHS unless you’re President or something. It won’t make the difference between a rejection and acceptance.
I agree with the above posters. Don’t do anything just for the app - do what you want to do. Most EC’s don’t even matter unless you are some substantial role (in relation to top colleges, of course). Those 16 hours are better spent improving your SAT/ACT score or studying for your classes.
You guys think so? I’m seriously thinking about emailing the teacher in charge. Is it a long process to leave or will they give me trouble with it? I guess I’ll ask and try to figure things out and see from there. If anyone has any other advice about this, please tell me!
I actually just quit NHS going into my senior year, so hopefully I can point you in the right direction. For me, quitting was as easy as going up to the teacher and telling him/her that you will no longer be in the club because of (reason). That’s it. The only downside is that for me, while it wasn’t due to this, I quit right after I lost an election (by 1 vote!), so the teacher thought I was being selfish and now it would be hard to use her for any recommendations or anything. Luckily for you, it looks like you can duck out rather easily, though, with few consequences.
However, having said that, I would like to clarify that I definitely don’t regret the work I put into NHS. It was fun to help people out while being with friends, and it was a place to relax (I quit because I knew it wouldn’t be like that my senior year, which would ruin the fun). Despite it taking up some time, 16 hours a semester is less than 1 hour of service after school 1 day a week - something you can definitely handle with college classes on top of a rigorous course load while studying for the SAT/ACT tests. I know that because I did it last year. Your classes may be different from mine, but for me personally, the only times I became significantly stressed out are when I had poor time management/communication with my teachers and was forced to do things on nights where my college classes went until 10:00PM. Even with that, I still managed straight A’s and almost a full year of college credit. Basically, as long as you stay on top of everything, NHS won’t be stressful or a significant drain on time.
The only reasons you should quit NHS are, in my opinion:
You are really scheduled so tightly that even just 1-2 hours a week in the long run is way too much.
You know for sure it won’t be any fun.
You have opportunities for learning teamwork/leadership elsewhere, or you are sure that what you will learn about these from NHS won’t be particularly valuable going forward.
I didn’t meet the majority of these reasons above my junior year, so I stayed in. Now in senior year, I do, so I have decided to leave NHS. If you are the same, then by all means do not be afraid to do what is best for you. I would recommend that you don’t immediately rush to quit if you are not sure, though. After all, there is no shame in letting your faculty advisor know that you are only trying it out, and that you may leave if it does not match your expectations.
I hope this helped in some way. Good luck with your decision, whatever it may be.
One of the things I learned along the way is the freedom to chose where I go and why. I seldom refuse a big opportunity or social engagement. I am not rude, but I no longer struggle to come up with a socially-reasonable excuse for something I really don’t want to do. Decide on what makes sense to you.
Thanks so much for the advice. I’ve been thinking long and hard about this and I think I’m leaning towards staying in for the duration of the semester. If by then I feel it is too much then I will let my adviser know. I would like to be able to explore more independent activities (drivers license, jobs, etc.) but NHS may also be a good experience. Thank you!
To me, what you need to do to get into NHS is the main thing…high grades and volunteering. Those are the real value.
For parents, we love to see our kids get into NHS. You have done that.
Now to continue in NHS, the main benefit would be the tutoring you might do…I would try attending and see how it goes. If you drop out, it will make no difference really. You can still put that you were inducted into NHS.
