<p>How important is National Honors Society considered in Amherst’s admissions? I was almost certain that I was a sure lock for it with my high GPA and stellar EC’s, but apparently a load of bureaucratic nonsense got in the way of my induction and now I’m frozen out due to a school administration that takes itself far to seriously and is way more political than a high school administration should be. Am i screwed?</p>
<p>No. My son was accepted and he's not even all that clear on what the NHS is. (I'm not either, to be honest.) ;)</p>
<p>your not the only one...i think most high schools take NHS far too seriously!</p>
<p>I do not think actual membership is an issue. The college cares more about class rank, if available. They usually are able to gauge whether you are val, top 10%, or top 25% of the class whether the information comes from your guidance counselor's letter, school profile, relative GPAs of current and previous candidates from your h.s., or admittance to honor societies (national or specific to your h.s). Most admittees and attendees (close to 90% last year) are in the top decile of their h.s. class.</p>
<p>ya i mean i know that i'm in the top decile (numerically the school that i am at does not rank) but honestly what it came down to was me not filling out the sheet correctly. i was just wondering if this was something that was gonna make or break my app</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry. Many schools and school systems do not even offer it. If you really are concerned, you could have your guidance counselor briefly mention in his/her recommendation that you qualified but missed the deadline due to an administrative snafu. To be honest, it is a nice distinction but so many candidates have it, I don't think it will make your application stand out one way or the other.</p>
<p>I actually got kicked out of NHS. Our NHS was a bureaucratic travesty. I just did community service by myself.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, the Center of Community Engagement is excellent for institutional support in terms of service. Just a heads up, you can look at it on amherst.edu/cce</p>