At my school, you can’t even apply for NHS into senior year…
You are right, ucbalumnus, that a holistic selection would be far worse and would definitely result in NHS becoming a contest of popularity of the applicants among the teachers and staff. However, the alternative is not necessarily to have ridiculous pre-set criteria. They could just establish reasonable criteria that respects student autonomy and individuality. If a student has served both school and community with commitment, as evidenced by a required total number of hours, I see no reason to add more regulations as to the exact distribution of those hours. As it is at our school, they will not accept more than 40 hours at any one site, and they require a minimum number of sites. What is the purpose of that?
You can always opt out of any race you think has ridiculous rules. Better option if your HS is driving your kid nuts with a lot of bureaucratic nonsense.
Sure we can, but that’s beside the point. In the end, we have a high school system with some typical organizations, activities, and awards that become the predominant currency of college applications. Wouldn’t it be great if parents could institute some high school awards that our darling children would be perfectly positioned to earn, especially if we don’t like the existing ones? Alas, we can’t. Yes, NHS is nothing special, but don’t you get that that is exactly why I had hoped my average D could succeed in earning it? The more substantial accomplishments, like getting straight A’s, scoring high on the SAT’s and achieving a significant leadership position are all out of reach for her. None of those are the end all and be all either. Nothing is. But students still need to strive and try and hopefully accomplish at least a few markers of achievement. For the kids of most CCer’s, NHS membership would be effortless to achieve and therefore worthless. Not so for D. Sheesh.
In addition, NHS tends to mean a bit more to people older or less informed than we are, such as the leaders of some community groups who sponsor local scholarships, like the VFW and Lion’s Club. Again, the honor gives people some sort of assurance that the kid has a good character.
GFG, your daughter sounds like a fantastic, accomplished kid. Once she actually lists her accomplishments- athletic, volunteer, etc. colleges will see in detail how fantastic she is. Getting to add NHS to the pile neither adds nor detracts from her accomplishments.
If it were me (and I recognize it’s not) I’d be encouraging my d to write a kick-ass essay on why she wants to study Classics- which will surely make her come alive, and be a distinctive voice to any Adcom who reads the essay- much more so then one more HS award on the application. And not to waste one second on stuff that’s out of your control- and your HS sounds like a “not great fit” for the kind of person your D is… but nothing you can do about that now.
Don’t focus on all the ways that your D is not a top candidate for college (which has been a theme of yours for a while). Focus on what makes her such a fantastic addition to any college lucky enough to admit her. An athlete who wants to study Classics? She’s already in the “unusual” category. Focus on that. Her volunteerism will be judged on its own merits, not on whether it got a badge or certificate from her HS.
I’ve served on scholarship committees for local organizations. We don’t separate the piles into “Good kids who got NHS” vs. “bad kids who sell drugs to 9 year olds”. We read the applications. Volunteerism and involvement is good all by itself, whether or not it has been recognized by the HS. We don’t care if a kid is voted “most likely to succeed” or “teacher’s pet” or “won every award the HS gives out”. We care about what we care about- giving back, community service, in some cases financial need, in some cases intended area of study. Last year we loved the essay a girl wrote about missing school to take her grandmother to the doctor so she could translate for her. I have no idea what the girls GPA was (but she wasn’t a stellar student from a grades/scores perspective) but she was going to college, needed money, and the committee LOVED the person who emerged from the essay. Caring, generous, loving, good family member. I’m sure like your own D.
Had this kid ever won ANYTHING from her HS? I doubt it. Average student, average activities, nothing you pluck out of a pile. But there’s a way to tell your own story that makes your soul emerge. And that can trump all the certificates and accolades when it comes time for scholarship money.
As my kids get older, I gain clarity regarding the general silliness of most of the hoops they and their friends have (or have not) jumped through over their K-12 years. Hardly any of it made one whit of difference in the general trajectory of their lives.
NHS is one of those things that seemed vitally important to my oldest. Let me rephrase that. GETTING IN to NHS seemed vitally important. Actually BEING IN NHS only meant getting volunteer hours signed and handed in. By our third kid, we were experts at advising her to her keep track of hours volunteered and keeping track of things she participated in starting in 9th grade to make the NHS application easier. It was just a big slog of silliness… EXCEPT that the process of gathering info needed to apply to NHS was great practice for college applications the following year.
A couple of years ago our school district streamlined the NHS requirements for all 12 high schools, and literally half of my youngest’s graduating class wore NHS cords to graduation… Which really negated the whole thing as being meaningful in any way.
It may feel like NHS is important in high school and within your community, but in the wider world (including college applications) it is meaningless.