We are crushed that our highly intelligent daughter did not get into National Honor Siciety as a Jr. Should we pursue trying to get in as a Sr? Will this adversely affect college admissions? She is outspoken, and her views often go against the grain of our ultra conservative small town. Advice?
As long as the rest of her resume is good, NHS is not that big of a deal. Every school sets its own rules and some of them are ridiculous. There have been many threads on this subject.
No one should be crushed that kiddo didn’t get into NHS. It means practically zero in college admissions. Some schools offer a tiny NHS scholarship – but this is only slick marketing by lower tier schools wanting good kids to apply.
NHS is not the paragon of academic honors. I didn’t get into NHS my junior year, and still got into an ivy. It’s so common and mundane, look for other awards & honors that are more meaningful and personal to your student to stand out.
OP, I sympathize with you. My daughter applied twice her junior year and wasn’t accepted and we are currently waiting on the status of her 3rd attempt this senior year. She’s already been accepted to two universities so far, with a scholarship and invitation to apply to honors college for one them. So I am thinking that the other responders are correct…it doesn’t matter. I am disappointed because I do feel it’s political, but I’m ready to just let it go and move on to bigger and better things! 
She may as well join the ping pong club. NHS is nothing special on college apps.
What @Weezer64 mentioned (about the potential for NHS to be political) is the exact reason why colleges could care less. NHS qualifications veer widely from school to school. It’s the equivalent to saying you’re on the Honor Roll. Big whoop.
Like @preppedparent, I never joined yet was accepted at all my colleges applied, including multiple Ivies. I was simply too busy to add another club to my plate.
No, you should not worry at all about NHS. It is too bad that it has become politicized in some schools, and that in others, the definitions of “leadership” and “character” have been altered to suit the students someone or other wants to elect. One of my daughter’s friends was not selected for NHS her junior year. This was apparently because she had written that Bill Clinton was impeached in her application essay, and the teachers thought that Clinton had not been impeached (not knowing the exact definition of “impeached”). I was really pleased four years later to learn that the same student had been elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior in college. That is something that can be used on a resume when NHS just looks silly.
My high school had a generally good NHS chapter, with generally good reasons for selection or non-selection. I later learned that there were many schools where this could not be said.
i figure GPA stands for itself.
mine opted not to pursue NHS even though she’s repeatedly invited…here, some of the requirements are absurd (like all volly hours cannot be in one arena, regardless if its your passion or not–so therefore, make up some faux opportunity to meet that requirement).
i do find that its really sad that some districts limit participation, if you ask me, any kid who wants to go through the grueling process and is eligible should be allowed to join.
but its fine, really.
If she wants that extra tassel or ribbon at graduation, go for it. Seriously though, every school seems to have vastly different requirements and different expectations, and as others have posted, politics and pettiness seem to have a hand in some school’s decisions. But most importantly, colleges don’t seem to put a lot of weight on it. If it means a lot to her personally, then she should pursue it her senior year; no harm in trying. But know that it won’t mean that much to a college.
I was blackballed from NHS during my junior year thanks to a teacher who didn’t agree with me politically. It was so bad the guidance counselor had my favorite teacher tell me personally before I figured it out. By the time of my senior induction, I was already accepted to a great school and its honors program, and was class valedictorian. To this day I wish I’d skipped the ceremony, but I did it for my mom.
My daughter is currently waiting to hear, and the application process here was pretty involved.
So yeah, the short answer is don’t sweat it. It’s nice to have, but not necessary.
It is so hard to see the big picture when you are in the middle of NHS applications and junior year stress.
The best thing that came from completing NHS applications? It was a great way to gather info in one place so the kids had it ready (with another year of info to add) when they started their college applications the following year. Regardless of whether or not they get into NHS, keep copies of their applications and the resume they write.
As far as I can tell, being a member of NHS had absolutely no influence on my own kids’ college acceptances.
I wouldn’t worry about it. If she likes, she could certainly apply again as a senior. NHS at our school is by invitation and two of my three declined their invitations and I don’t think it made any difference as far as colleges went. While it is certainly a high school related “honor” the program is executed so differently from school to school that I don’t think it has a big impact in college admissions.
DS and his best friend in HS did not get voted into the Cum Laude Society. They were accepted at Yale and Dartmouth, respectively, early action/decision.
My senior almost had a meltdown when his NHS invite arrived last month. It came just as he was juggling a bunch of huge projects as well as college applications. I convinced him to at least fill out the application and he was accepted, but it’s too late to put on any of his college applications. I agree with others that it’s the stats that count.
If he doesn’t manage to get in the service requirements for the rest of the year, I’m not going to sweat it. The extra tassel at graduation isn’t worth his sanity.
To me, NHS is the culmination of the work put into a GPA, the volunteer hours worked, and the good character demonstrated. But to colleges, it is those things that matter more than the “honor”…but of course parents love NHS!
I am glad to see she is not alone in this boat! We live in a small, ultraconservative town that doesn’t share my daughter’s more progressive viewpoints. She had 1 particularly heated discussion with a teacher over Ayn Rand, and that teacher is one of the 2 NHS sponsors. I’ve been told all the teachers get to vote, and similar issues have come up with other teachers. She has always been well mannered and respectful, and teachers have never commented badly about her, but she does pursue anything she perceives as wrong or inaccurate. Some teachers resent being corrected.
At our high school, all students with a qualifying GPA can apply. They need to submit an application showing they are involved in activities and/or sports, and they need to participate in volunteer activities as part of the NHS (after applying. They are specific activities.)
My older son completely ignored the email inviting him to apply, so he was not in NHS. The whole process was not on my radar, but by the time the younger one was a junior, I was aware and encouraged him to follow up on it.
is it possible your daughter forgot to do something or didn’t see an email?
But yes, as others have said, it’s not that big a deal. Older son got into some good schools, and not being NHS was not a deal breaker.
Your daughter’s conflict with one of the sponsors jeopardizing her NHS admission b/c the teacher sees this as a persona fiefdom is exactly why NHS is viewed so thinly by colleges. Some schools’ NHS orgs are fantastic. Some are vehicles for conformity enforcement or payback it seems.
Yeech!
@megapuffsprite That is why our NHS has the students prepare an application without their name on it so bias like that don’t affect things.