<p>Bear in mind that NHS is a national organization and each local is somewhat bound by the national standards. I’m thinking about leadership, for example. If the local faculty council has nothing to work with, they can’t admit a student who has no leadership qualities/experience. If the student discusses in their essay ways they have demonstrated leadership in life, the council will at least have something to work with and can opt to offer membership to those potential leaders. We all know that many ‘leadership’ roles in a high school setting are really just popularity. Good local faculty councils with try to filter through some of the minutia and admit those who are deserving based on the national criteria that have been set forth by the national organization…NOT really a fan and agree that the majority of colleges could give a ‘rat’s pituty’ about NHS!</p>
<p>Beil1958: I thought that what you say would be the case, but this year our NHS chapter announced in the invitation letter that “There are no specific criteria for being selected to NHS, but it is unlikely that a student will be chosen who doesn’t have x and y…” How can this be? I felt this was just their way of saying they’re going to pick whoever they please but won’t tell you why so no one can complain. Also, our chapter changed the rules twice while S was at the school, and neither set of rules are what they’re using now that D is there. D knows several really good kids who are top students, but who were rejected this year for supposed lack of leadership. One poor girl’s father was an expat, so she had lived abroad in 8th and 9th grade. It’s kind of unrealistic to expect that in a big public high school she’d have much chance of getting elected to something soph. year when she wasn’t at the high school as a frosh and was out of sight out of mind socially. But applications were due early in junior year, so she was screwed.</p>
<p>S was inducted junior year, but could not meet the volunteer requirements in senior year so he did not get his name in the graduation program and couldn’t wear the chord. That year you couldn’t just volunteer x number of hours–you had to volunteer for the school a certain portion of those hours. Well, he had classes all day (no study halls), and was a 3-sport athlete. All the school clubs and service organizations meet after school during the time when teams practice, so he did his volunteering with church and community organizations. Those hours weren’t acceptable, though. How dumb was that?</p>
<p>Major pet peeve, NHS.</p>
<p>The valedictorians for next year now have an EC to their credit, they were tapped by NHS. They immediately ran for office and were voted president, vice president, treasurer and secretary. We have multiple valedictorians at our school. Now I guess they can get into a good college because they’ll have GPA and an EC with a leadership position.</p>
<p>rubysmom, I think there are great examples on what NHS is and what type of impacts it can have based on other people’s stories. But I’m going to directly answer your case.</p>
<p>I am basically acquainted with almost entire members of swimming team at my college, and it is definitely a lot of work. I remember talking to one guy in the team (his nikname is Fish because his last name sounds like Fish and obviously, he swims) and said, “Hey Fish, do you play any sport other than swimming?” He said no because there isn’t enough time.</p>
<p>And I do believe that.</p>
<p>But will I believe it if I didn’t know any swimmer as I did in high school? Probably not. </p>
<p>I think your son’s case is different in a sense that swimming is not as well-known as baseball or football. Let’s face it: not all high schools have enough funding to have swimming. Thus, to explain the leadership, I think that you should have his son explain about swimming and what it means to him and how his interaction with other fellow members are. If it’s anything like what I’ve seen at my college, swim meets are long and guys are really supportive of each other and love to play jokes on divers (“divers don’t do anything” quoted from essentially all swimmers). So, it’s different than other sports where there is a set captain to lead everyone. Swimming, at least from my POV, seems to be sports where everyone joins in and works to do well. Individual record counts, yes, but when I see them at the meets, I see them as one entity rather than twenty some guys in speedo.</p>
<p>Bike is interesting but from NHS’s emphasis on leadership, you should focus on what swimming means to your son and maybe extrapolate why he couldn’t do other things. It doesn’t have to be direct like “He didn’t have time.” No, you can always phrase it that he loves it and he wants to be a positive effect on the team. The leadership does not necessarily have to mean leading a group of people. Leadership can be shown through potential to be leader and initiate an action.</p>
<p>Again, I am not a swimmer. I’m writing this based on what I’ve seen on one semester. But definitely write an essay explaining the situation. Do not ever, ever, expect people to know your situation just because you do. That is the major flaw in many scholarship applications because students miss the key point of their lives that can be the point. Each case is different, and instead of adhering to conformity, you can benefit by showing what your individual case is and why you should be selected and not the guy beside you (sounds like a job, right?).</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>I and my wife took all the precautions that our daughter collect the honors that usually fall to a diligent student including the NHS. However, I subsequently learned that two things make a difference. One may provide some comfort but the other probably will not. The most effective course for the college bound is to make a place for yourself on the national stage. You could do this by starting a YouTube channel and putting up content that draws a significant following. You would be better off doing a creative photo-journal of volunteers in Guatemala than being one of the hundreds of volunteers there. The other thing you can do is find things you can do locally that create benefit for someone that wouldn’t have been created if you were not there. It is no good doing 9 to 5 volunteering that someone else would do if you were not there. You should look for a way to bring benefit to those who would have gone without it if you hadn’t acted. Good luck.</p>
<p>My 10th grade daughter applied for NHS. She has everything…tons of community service, straight A’s and high gpa, leadership positions, etc. But she did not get in.
The reason they gave her…having In School Suspension because of excessive tardies…which were not actually caused by her. She isn’t one to worry about what others think…she is very grounded. But this time she was bothered by this. I think it is because it seemed to place a “stain” on her character. She even knows it isn’t an indicator of future success, but it bothered her also, because she saw some of the other students chosen, who do not even do half of what she does academically and service-wise, and their characters leave something to be desired.
Of course they stressed that all decisions are final!
She will be fine anyway!</p>