I agree that it won’t matter to colleges. What’s more, the NHS activities themselves may be a waste of time.
CCDD14, you may be right. It’s likely that the student council types who do a lot of bake sales and other once-and-done volunteering stints would be favored by this system.
frazzled1, leadership was always needed, but there was less burden on the student to prove it. Teachers would nominate kids whom they considered mentors and peer leaders, either through their behavior or actual positions held, and the kids would list any positions. Now you need an official certification not only of your leadership position, but of all your actual duties and accomplishments as leader.
T26E4 and others: For my other kids, the absence of NHS would not have been problematic because they had many other achievements. This D, a junior, is not exceptional and is in a very competitive high school. She simply won’t have many honors to list. NHS may mean little to nothing, but it would be one of the few recognitions for which she is potentially eligible.
Honestly, she’d get more mileage out of starting an EC that dovetails with her other interests (and it would have the additional advantage of showing leadership and action)…if she needs to do that. If she’s got something going for which she’s done training and shown a sustained interest and effort, though, she really probably doesn’t.
We were at a counselor’s breakfast with several admissions recruiters and someone brought up band kids, who frequently have no time to do much else because…well, band. And the admissions people specifically said that if you have one all consuming thing, like a job to help support your family, or marching band, they get it, and don’t expect to see SADD and NHS and all the other little fiddly things.
I’d agree that requirements have morphed out of control. Personally while potentially noble the community service requirements equate to unpaid labor. I’m not sure that community service shows anything in your character that is better than getting a job , starting a lawn mowing business or pursuing an internship or job shadowing. Maybe more jobs and less unpaid service would lead to less college loan debt.
NHS is a bit of a joke at our urban metro area magnet high school. No one bothers - it’s the refuge of kids who have nothing else going for them EC-wise and desperately need something on their applications to fill the void. D didn’t bother to join nor did any of her friends - they were too busy with their other ECs and rigorous coursework. Lots of acceptances from super-selective schools in spite of this ‘lack.’
Maybe NHS means something at schools where ECs are hard to find? Or the school wants some way to ‘recognize’ it’s leaders? Sounds like the criteria for acceptance at your school reflect the preferences of a few parents whose kids fit the profile. I’d ignore it completely.
Just an aside - what today’s teens have to do, to stand out, is amazing.
I was in NHS in high school and don’t remember one thing about it.
In fact I took a down right leisurely stroll through high school it feels like. The big debate was whether to run track or work at Wendy’s. 
D has been researching some colleges and their teams to determine academic and athletic fit. We noticed NHS listed in the online roster bios of athletes at some decent schools. I suppose cynical folks couid say that’s because athletes don’t have better academic accomplishments…
GFG, there is a very funny Yiddish joke which goes something like this:
Two woman are discussing the restaurant they ate in last night. One says, “Oy, the food was terrible” and the other says, “You are so right. And the portions- why so small?”
It loses in the translation so you’ll have to trust me that it’s hilarious.
Why do I tell you this? It’s a metaphor for the phenomenon you are discussing. NHS is pointless- truly pointless- on a college application, as are most of the things that most kids put down. Book awards, the garden club, student of the month… all pointless. So having more or less of the pointless things on the applications (in your case- fewer pointless things) doesn’t change the basic dynamic of them being meaningless. (i.e. terrible food but the portions are too small).
Kids feel a need to put down an award or two or three just because it’s on the application. Having a string of meaningless awards isn’t better than having none.
Your kid is a Presidential scholar nominee? That’s meaningful- put it down. Semi-finalist for the Chopin competition and going to play at Carnegie Hall? Put it down. That’s what the space on the application is for- to illuminate something that the Adcom’s need to know which won’t appear elsewhere.
The presence or absence of a few school-related, meaningless awards? Don’t sweat about for even five minutes. Your D is an athlete, a Classics fan, an all around great kid…trust me that being part of NHS at her school isn’t even a rounding error when it comes to making her application distinctive. She should work with what she has going for her and not waste a second on the other stuff.
To Blossom’s point, my daughter left NHS off of her application. That is how firmly we both believed it is meaningless. Your daughter has 500+ hours with a single organization. That seems much more substantial in itself than filling a line with NHS. And, my daughter did not have a zillion items to fill out the EC section. She had a few big things (athletics, community service and a small job) and left it at that. Your daughter will be fine.
Do not spend another minute stressing about this. Really.
@blossom Hilarious joke. Thanks for the laugh.
Gfg: did your daughter get credit from the museum work from her school? If not put it as a volunteer thing and let the school decide. It is hard to believe that training in and of itself would eliminate an activity from consideration. I agree it is not an important for the application, but could also understand why your daughter would want to be part of it.
It is fairly easy to understand the meaning of NHS to college applications. Are students evaluated using criteria that colleges would otherwise have no access to or does being in NHS provide access to opportunities to achieve that would otherwise not happen? For example, belonging to Model UN is known to provide access to opportunities to achieve in ways that would be otherwise inaccessible. Colleges know that MUN students have had certain experiences. That is not true for NHS. Similarly, students who take AIME have done very well in other math competitions thereby earning the right to take AIME. But entry to NHS is usually based on the same variables that colleges will evaluate themselves-grades, etc. So, just like “honor roll” being a member of NHS is usually redundant with other material that the colleges review themselves. So aside from the feel good part, it is fairly useless in terms of signaling achievement. It is also too heterogeneous across school systems to assume that it is a valuable way to spend time or energy.
While I agree that NHS doesn’t mean (much of) anything for college admissions, I also get why kids like to wear cords 
If I were your D, I’d put all her hours, including the ones that she had to train for (and perhaps explain why training was required) and let the chips fall where they may.
FWIW my kids’ school also had the “3 or more” different volunteer things, and a leadership component.
In our experience, NHS is absolutely worthless. I wouldn’t waste a line including it on the common app. Instead, include the activities (volunteer and other ECs) that you would have put on the NHS application.
I have read all these posts. I guess my D’s school is in the minority. NHS in our small, rural high school has stringent yet reasonable requirements for admittance, and perhaps more importantly, it is an active school organization. They have weekly meetings and do tons of community service as a group. From our point of view, my D was proud to be accepted for membership and proud to put it on her college applications. I realize it is different everywhere, but hope her colleges see the value of it in our community. She has other community service and sports ECs as well, but NHS was definitely an important one to include on her list…and our GC advised that we include it as well.
Our NHS is on the trajectory you describe , OP. Trying to make it more meaningful, the admins are barring some great kids. Our kids write an essay, for example, and one kid got knocked out for writing too much, being too ardent in her desire to join! Then the service required to stay in is very technical and every year a few top kids fall behind one month and either get kicked out or have to beg to be kept in. (Kids have to serve on campus in a very specific program, which has limited space. Students in sports or music will have a conflict, not get a spot, and wind up on probation. Some students decide it isn’t worth jumping through the hoops to be in good standing.
Neither of my kids bothered with NHS. They both had some volunteer hours, mostly in the summer and felt the organization as it operates in our school was pretty silly. They both got into some very selective colleges. (Top 10 in USNWR ranking.)
@apple23 I did not mean to minimize NHS. Your daughter should feel honored to be a member. It does work differently in different schools. It sounds very meaningful in your high school, as it was originally intended.
If the OP’s daughter does not get in because she split her community service time between 2 organizations instead of 3, I don’t think it is worth stressing about it. Her daughter’s community service work is admirable.
NHS is more than a line on a college application, in many small towns, rural areas, and small suburbs across the country, membership is a coveted honor. We live in an area where membership in NHS is valued by the students, the school, and the community. The induction ceremony is tweeted live. The criteria are quite stringent and explicit, although not as stringent as described by the OP. We cannot discount the importance of being “tapped” for NHS to students. The pride many feel at wearing the chord at graduation and the pride many adults feel at being the mother/father/grandparent of NHS member. For “lesser known students” NHS may make them more competitive for local scholarships. For still others, it may serve as a confidence booster. While NHS does not matter to the “elites” there are some colleges who consider it in their holistic approach.
OP, I understand your frustration. Has she talked to the NHS advisor to get clarification? At some schools questions are encouraged. The number of hours she has amassed in the two activities is so impressive, that I wonder if the committee might take that into account. The worse the advisor can say is NO.
@TheGFG - Although its silly, since she already seems to have all the other requirements, isn’t there a SOMETHING she’s volunteered for in the last 4 years that you can use for this 3rd volunteer item? Helping out at Church? Tutoring? School dance cleanup Freshman year? Does it all have to be in the last year?