<p>At my school NHS is super competitive. Having a high GPA will merely get you an application. You have to have a huge roster of extracurriculars, write a killer essay, get 3 reccomendations (1 teacher, 1 extracurricular advisor, 1 of your choice other than anyone related to you), and have some sort of leadership role in something (class president, president of club, captain of team, etc)...</p>
<p>I'm in the Spanish National Honor Society, and the newly started at my school English National Honor Society. </p>
<p>So my concern is, will not being in National Honor Society wreck my college applications???</p>
<p>Some context: at my school, NHS is pretty easy to get into, as long as you have above a certain GPA and a certain number of service learning hours. You have to apply, but as long as you write a decent essay (and the NHS members grading it don’t hate you), you get in.</p>
<p>With that being said, I didn’t apply for NHS, and judging by the results of my college applications, it didn’t hurt at all. I got into Duke, Cornell, and Chicago, and while I got rejected from Harvard and Princeton, I doubt that a lack of NHS membership was the deciding factor in those decisions. At the end of the day, it seems like NHS is just another EC. Just make sure you’re involved in ECs that you care about, get some leadership positions if possible, and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>I doubt the lack of “National Honor Society” on your CV will have an adverse impact on your admissions chances unless the colleges you are applying to are aware of how competitive membership is. There are no national standards for membership in the National Honor Society that I am aware of. In some schools membership is purely a popularity contest for kids who have at least a “B” avergage. At other schools the academic criteria might be higher. My daughter’s high school handles things pretty much the same way the OP’s school does: service to the school community, demonstrated leadership, top grades and three recommendations from faculty are requirements.</p>
<p>The one thing I would recommend, should you become a NHS member, is to have your guidance counselor make a point of stating in his/her recommendation letter to colleges how difficult it is to gain entry into the NHS at your school. It sounds like it is actually an achievement, while at many high schools it is a right of passage for students in the top 25% of the class.</p>
<p>NHS is not automatic in our high school and graduating with the NHS is even more difficult. It requires service and tutoring hours. Therefore, it is a good mechanism to help you with a strong EC record. Leadership in the NHS is probably more valuable at our school than than student council because the NHS does so much service and peer tutoring. It’s not the membership which is valuable, but the stuff you do with the NHS.</p>
<p>It’s not about whether or not you’re in it but what you do. Even if your club is difficult to get into, colleges won’t give it much attention unless you actually do things and start projects. Simply getting in is not a significant thing, regardless of how tough it is to join.</p>
<p>NHS is only important if you’re looking for NHS-based scholarships from the relatively few colleges (usually second tier and below) that offer them.</p>
<p>When it comes to top colleges, virtually everyone who applies could qualify for NHS – if their school had NHS and if their school’s politics allowed them to be in it. Those collleges don’t care whether you’re in NHS. You’d only stand out for NHS if you helped your chapter accomplish something extraordinary or if you were a national NHS officer.</p>
<p>Honestly, it is not at all prestigious to colleges. Most colleges won’t even know how competitive your program at your school is, since almost all high achieving students have it. The goal of NHS is to contribute back to the community, so just having significant volunteering experience should suffice. At my school, everyone above an XX average can automatically be enrolled, without applications or anything.</p>
<p>Ya, most people have already covered it, but because each school’s NHS has different criteria and different policies, colleges don’t put a whole lot of emphasis on it. So no, it definitely won’t “wreck” your college application.</p>
<p>In most cases, NHS is not at all prestigious. In your case, it sounds like the biggest advantage of applying would be a rigorous application process that could give you an idea of what the college admissions process would be like. Maybe you’ll right an incredible essay that will come in handy. </p>
<p>But, honestly, I regret applying to my school’s NHS. It was a waste of a week scrambling around to find signatures for my ECs, and the volunteer hours and once-a-month meetings next year are going to be a waste of time.</p>
<p>My S was pretty upset when he was turned down in his Jr. year. High GPA, great rec’s (teachers said they were surprised at the selections), academic EC’s, yada, yada, yada. To boot, he’d put effort into his application, while some who were accepted filled it out at lunch the day it was due. Upon selection students were bragging about how they had lied on their applications. My S was so turned off that A) students had outright lied, and B) the selection committee didn’t do their job in verifying the information.
He chose not to apply his Sr. year. It wasn’t something he wanted to be associated with, or spend time supporting. He’s involved in the Science National Honor Society, and two robotics teams that are pretty involved (20+hrs/week). We have heard over and over…“We don’t want to know the number of things you have done, we want to know the impact you have made in what you were involved with.”.
Adcoms want a quality meal, not a buffet
If NHS is on your ‘menu’ make sure it is worth it’s room on the plate.</p>
<p>There are 120 kids in my grade in NHS, and there are 332 students in my grade. So, just to show you, how ridiculous things have gotten over here in NHS…</p>
<p>I know many, many people who have gone off to UCLA, USB, Brown University, …etc. without being in NHS. Being in NHS is great, but colleges look at GPA/SAT first. NHS is like an extracirricular activity. Don’t worry about this much. If you can get in, then okay whooray! but if not, please don’t worry about it : )</p>
<p>NHS at my school is a joke. My junior year, I applied and was rejected (rigorous academics, being in the top 5% of my class, tons of community service, 3.8 GPA, etc.) while my boyfriend at the time was accepted having gotten A’s and B’s in regular classes (but he played three varsity sports). I re-applied senior year just to see if they’d reject me again. They didn’t, but the past year has been a complete waste of time. Said boyfriend is now president and he does nothing. Meetings are five minutes long, or an hour long with nothing accomplished. We’ve done about two service projects all year. </p>
<p>When I was rejected the first time around, my guidance counselor said that NHS doesn’t matter at all. It’s only worth having if you take full advantage of it and get a leadership position, organize major events, etc…basically, it’s a forum for other accomplishments. </p>
<p>It may be worth applying just to see how it goes and get practice with the application process, but don’t be too concerned if you’re not admitted. There are plenty of other worthy EC’s, and ones that will be much more interesting to colleges.</p>
<p>What if you don’t have many service hours (except for Tri M music honor society), but you will be a recruited athlete? Will the NHS membership fill in that extracurricular gap or will it not really matter?</p>
<p>at my school, NHS means nothing. we have over a 100 people in it, and let me tell you, I’m surprised that some people are in it. i think what is more important is getting an officer position- bc u usually have to work for that</p>
<p>From reading above, it seems to vary widely from school to school, so I wouldn’t think colleges would really consider it much.</p>
<p>When I was in high school you did not apply, you were selected. At my school they weighed various things. My best friend was not accepted because she chose to take the minimal amount of math (she had a very high GPA overall). My GPA was not that high, but I was accepted because I was a National Merit Semifinalist. Others I think were accepted because of their leadership roles.</p>
