Sorry for starting a new thread, but I could not locate the one that already exists about National Honor Society requirements.
Our high school keeps expanding the prerequisites for NHS, and this will mean the exclusion of some pretty deserving kids who in past years would have been shoo-ins. It used to be a student just needed x number of volunteer hours. Then the number of hours was raised and raised again, and after that there it was specified that the hours must include volunteering for both school and community. Then proof of leadership was added. If I recall from the other thread, many parents reported a similar trend of increasing requirements at their schools, so I guess that’s the way it is now.
However, these lines from D’s application really bothered me, and I wanted to know what you all thought about it:
“We will be considering both the quantity and quality of your community service. If you have 300 hours of service, all of which was performed at a single location, then the QUALITY [caps are mine for emphasis] of your experience is lacking. We are seeking a variety of experiences.” It goes on to say that you must have performed the community service at a minimum of 3 locations.
So a kid who does 10 hours here, 15 hours there and 25 hours somewhere else will be selected, while the student with a sustained and passionate commitment to only 2 causes or charities will be ineligible, even if he has served as much as 300 hours at each.
That seems to be the opposite of what is commonly said that colleges looking at ECs look for, which is commitment and depth of achievement in ECs, rather than low level involvement in many ECs.
I should add that unpaid work which could be considered an apprenticeship or internship program does not count either, presumably because the student received some benefit. The problem with that, though, is that skilled volunteering for which the student needs some initial training is excluded, which I don’t think is fair. For example, D volunteered at a museum this summer. Most of the hours were menial labor, but since she had to be trained first in how to handle the artifacts and perform other tasks, it is considered an internship. Other exclusions are hours spent transporting donated items to collection centers, and political campaigning.
I was under the impression that NHS membership per se meant little on college applications, partly because of the wildly varying requirements among schools (at my kids’ high school it was relatively easy to qualify and no one thought of it as that much of an achievement). I believe volunteer hours, EC’s and leadership will be evaluated by colleges on their own terms, and if qualifying for NHS is an obstacle to a student’s pursuing what he or she is most committed to, then it’s reasonable to forego the process altogether.
If I were a parent I might contact someone at the HS (perhaps the NHS adviser and/or principal) with my objection. My D was super-involved and became a real leader in one very active community service organization (including being president of the HS club for 2 years, volunteering at the organization’s headquarters for the director etc.) and that in-depth experience was so incredibly meaningful and valuable to her – much more so than if she had volunteered some hours here and there.
I’m not defending/supporting the evaluation criteria, but is it possible that you are jumping the gun? The statement indicates the quantity will be “considered” which doesn’t necessarily mean that only 2 causes will render the candidate “ineligible.”
Yes it does, SnLMom. The application states the student must have a minimum of 3 different community service involvements. So my D has two that count–a school-based volunteer activity (50+ hours) and a community-based one to which she dedicated over 500 hours. Her other volunteer involvements are ineligible due to the training she received first.
MommaJ, I don’t think NHS means much for top colleges, but D is not so stellar that she will be applying to those. My understanding has always been that although membership doesn’t mean all that much, for a good student the lack of membership could be viewed as a question mark since integrity and disciplinary violations disqualify one.
How long until the app is due? Could she do a quick volunteer gig at a third place to meet the qualifications?
I don’t think absence of NHS matters that much for any school. Our NHS is tough to get into and plenty of the kids who are not in it are getting into the kinds of schools you say your daughter will be applying to. Applications only have room for so many activities, honors, etc. anyway.
No, there’s no time left and she’s been too busy to be able to add more to her plate, but that might have worked. It’s our fault for not looking carefully at the requirements. We paid attention to what categories were needed and the hours but missed that. Still, I really dislike their use of the word “quality” to mean quantity of sites.
I don’t think so. I don’t think most colleges give this much thought since the requirements vary so widely and there are so many reasons other than disciplinary violations that one may not be a member, including simple interest. Not being an NHS member is not going to make an admissions officer to jump to “She must have some integrity or disciplinary issue.”
At our school I think NHS existed primarily for certain teachers to play favorites with their pets, and for kids who didn’t have bigger and better things going for them. It made absolutely no difference in college admissions for anyone in my child’s graduation year that I knew.
Find out who really get accepted into NHS in your school. There may be an appearance of the crazy high standard to be admitted but in reality all the “popular” kids get accepted.
NHS is virtually meaningless for applications. For the sake of others, it is worth mentioning the issue of quality versus quantity to the school, but otherwise don’t devote too much time to this.
NHS doesn’t mean a thing In college applications. Nada.
NHS doesn’t mean a thing In college applications. Nada.
NHS doesn’t mean a thing In college applications. Nada.
Please believe this. I was like your daughter – my NHS had requirements – I was frankly too busy with my ECs to bother checking off a list in order to wear a cord at graduation and to have one more “honor” or activity on my application. I must have missed the recruiting flyers or something. Never missed it – they didn’t miss me. Didn’t hurt me at all – accepted to all schools applied including multiple Ivies.
What your post demonstrates is that NHS simply is an honor/club that covers a certain type of student. Your great kid doesn’t fit that role. Embrace it and move on. Its absence or presence doesn’t mean a thing In college applications. Nada.
This can also be an opportunity to talk about being true to yourself and doing what your internal motivators guide you to do, versus following external motivators like grades and honors. It’s unhealthy to choose activities in order to get into NHS anyway. Your daughter is doing things out of a genuine desire to be involved. You can discuss this explicitly. NHS won’t be the only external motivator with flaws and this lesson will be good for her future.
But wasn’t leadership always one of the four required qualities for NHS membership (scholarship, leadership, character, and service)? According to the NHS website, that’s been since 1921: http://www.nhs.us/about-us.aspx
I don’t doubt that local chapters have gotten out of control. Since colleges don’t consider NHS membership proof of the four (supposed) pillars of the organization, kids really don’t have to put themselves through the application process to strengthen their college chances. @TheGFG, if your d is concerned that she might be rejected for NHS membership because of her chapter’s poor understanding of the concept of service, I suggest that she not apply. Her ECs, as you describe them, will speak for themselves.
The only halfway decent reason to apply for NHS membership, imo, is that it can test for potential difficulties when the student is applying to colleges the following year. If the student has trouble finding teachers who are willing to write the NHS recommendation, that’s a red flag. If the student’s off-campus ECs are unknown to the guidance counselor, that’s another potential problem because the counselor’s recommendation won’t fully reflect the student as she is. I don’t recall whether your d is a junior or a senior this year.