I honestly don’t see a point in NHS at all. I’m a sophomore, attending a public high school where the valedictorian in my grade has a weighed GPA of 4.57. The top 10% cutoff is a 4.33 GPA.
My reasoning is simple: with so many people applying for NHS in my school (I’d say around 70% of my grade), most of my friends I know are applying just to look good on college apps. What’s the difference between volunteering in NHS and volunteering outside of it? I feel as if the whole point of NHS has been screwed over by students: it’s a club where students volunteer just so they can meet the requirements of being in NHS and put that on there college apps.
For instance, I thoroughly enjoy volunteering at my local animal shelter. However, I thoroughly despise the set amount of volunteer hours required by NHS–I can easily volunteer the required amount, so what’s the point of being in NHS? Is volunteering outside of school not enough? Does NHS change the impact of what you give to your community?
I’ve talked to a lot of my friends about quitting and their reactions always disgust me: “It looks good on your college apps, why are you quitting?” Personally, I think NHS defeats the purpose of volunteering for communities, and has no real “honor” nor weight in the college apps process, as adcoms see NHS on resumes quite often and are much more observant about WHAT the students have contributed.
So my question to you guys is this: Does NHS even remotely matter? If I can get volunteer work outside of a superficial organization where students only try to look good for colleges, will this impact my chances of getting into a good college?
I’ve heard on CC many times that adcoms don’t see much in NHS, which is a bummer for me, because NHS is important at my school (we do tutoring, run the lunch line, annual blood drive, etc.) If you don’t want to join, don’t feel pressured; focus on what you want to do and your passion will show through on your application. Good luck
Membership in the NHS, like with any club, is unlikely by itself to be a benefit. Now, what a person may do with that membership can be. Leadership is mildly helpful. But if you were active and accomplished something unique or special, that can be useful. But those types of accomplishments need to be communicated to admissions officers in an application.
I know plenty of students who, in their application, just group all their memberships into one EC in the common application knowing they won’t be that useful (e.g. NHS, English, Math, Science, Quill and Scroll, etc.).
To put this another way, feel free to join X club, Y group, or Z activity. If you like it, keep at it. If you don’t, that’s okay too. In the end, it’s what you do in them, rather than the name alone, that matters.
Agree with above. My D did NHS. I am 100% sure that no college cared about it. My son is not doing it, and I am also sure no college will care. The problem with NHS is that every school sets its own standards for admission. At some high schools, you have to jump through hoops, while at others you just need good grades. Colleges don’t know the standards at a school, and this is why it isn’t important.
You are right, it isn’t NHS that is the main thing that colleges like, but what NHS represents:
High GPA
Volunteering
Leadership
Character
HOWEVER, it might mean a lot to your parents…NHS is sort of a public acknowledgement of your awesomeness…instead of just praising the football team or drama team they are praising students who did well academically and helped the community.
There really should be a board or sticky thread on this site for NHS. My opinion is that it is without substantial value. The things that get you admitted to NHS are things you should be doing anyway. Until there are national standards, and a limit (say 10%) to the percentage of kids that can join, it’s just not worth jumping through the sometimes ridiculous hoops to be accepted.
Your time and energy are better spent writing essays for scholarships or NMF; volunteering in an organization you actually care about; being a leader in an organization you like; studying for the ACT/SAT; keeping up your grades; and doing well in your sports or other ECs; in short, just doing high school well.
