<p>My D was denied entrance to NHS last year when she was a junior, although she was more than qualified. Now that she is a senior, her last chance to get in is this month. She is so disgusted with the whole political game that she refuses to apply. I'm sad that a NM Commended 4.4 GPA IB kid isn't good enough for these people! D says that it would look worse to an adcom to only be in it one year than not at all. Is that true?</p>
<p>I honestly don't think it matters. I don't think ad coms look to a list of honors or organizations with the idea of "what's missing".</p>
<p>Maybe she knows something about why she was denied last year that you don't know. We had our Valedictorian denied entry both years because of a prank he pulled in his Freshman year. It is about more than GPA. The honor pertains to character as well, not just academics. If a faculty member has concerns about the character of a student (and I am not saying your daughter is a rotten kid) then they will not sign off on the kid. My husband is the faculty advisor to NHS at his school and this happens all the time. They also will not disclose the concern to any but the student, or the faculty member that brought it to light.</p>
<p>I would let it rest. </p>
<p>The prank that got the kid blackballed: He had his yearbook picture taken, then changed clothes, gave a fictitious name (like Hugh Jass), and did this repeatedly, so that his picture was in the yearbook a few times that year.. Harmless, cute, but it cost him NHS. He is my son's best friend and is currently serving a mission overseas. Very wonderful kid.</p>
<p>Please, please don't think that I am dumping on your daughter. With such wonderful academics and NM Commendation, I'm sure there are many, many more opportunities for her that are more satisfying and ultimately more rewarding than a few months in NHS.</p>
<p>momof1: nope it isn't character and I don't think you were implying that my D had a problem in that area. Apparently she wasn't selected because she didn't have enough leadership last year. Jeez! How many clubs to you need to be an officer in to get into NHS? I personally know classmates who were accepted who had the same or less than her. I'm the one who has been angry about it. She says that Spanish Honor Society (very active in SHS) is good enough for her and she doesn't want to waste her time on NHS. Sigh.</p>
<p>According to a friend of mine, her daughter got in at the end of jr year, (so there's only one year of membership) and she says that's the earliest aniyone gets in at their school. I was surprised to hear this, but if it's true at some high schools and the ad coms don't know about your school's particular chapter, they might not draw any negative conclusions about your daughter if she were to list it only for senior year.</p>
<p>NHS does not matter for most selective schools. It is not enough of an honor. S did not even bother to apply because he received his application form AFTER he got into Harvard (graduating early).</p>
<p>EDIT: Over at the kids' boards, many are advising not even listing NHS.</p>
<p>After reading quite a bit of discussion about NHS on these boards, I've come to realize NHS is not as big a deal as some chapters would have you think. Nationally, membership criteria are not consistent, which makes you wonder why some schools are so very picky about who does/does not get selected.</p>
<p>My D never bothered to apply when she was eligible in HS for NHS. She was a NMF and also music performance.She felt the criteria for membership was too confining,your comunity service had to be from their "approved list" and their leadership requirement standards didn't fit with her needs (her music activity leadership was community based,not school based).Didn't seem to hurt her admittances at all, she was never asked why the NHS was missing from her resume listings.</p>
<p>Our NHS is weird about leadership too. Participating as a student council homeroom rep for 3 years and heading a school-wide fundraiser isn't enough. Nor is being captain of the basketball team. Also, they do it in spring of junior year and senior year. It doesn't even help the seniors for admissions, and the juniors are only in for 1 year.</p>
<p>Many of our students don't even apply. If the grades are good I don't think it matters much.</p>
<p>NHS at our school is a joke. EVERYONE gets in because all you need is at least a 4.0 WEIGHTED average to get in. When a school like mine weighs AP's as 5.0, you see the problem that arises. We must have around 100 members...it isn't a big deal at all.</p>
<p>At kids' alma mater, NHS is not announced until fall of senior year. Anyone with a grade point average of 3.08 (or so--it changes from year to year) and up makes NHS.</p>
<p>Also not till fall of senior yr at my kids' school. You needed a certain GPA, and membership in any two activities.</p>
<p>We couldn't even list it on early applications, but it didn't seem to matter.</p>
<p>I totally agree that HAVING NHS means little or nothing at a highly selective college. But I guess I would have been concerned whether NOT having it (for a student graduating at the normal time) would raise any red flag in the mind of a particular adcom. This may very well be my slightly paranoid bent, but applying takes almost time, so there's nothing to lose. As for the issue of whether or not to list it on the college application, -- this depends on the other types of recognition the student has gotten and the degree of selectivity of the schools. For example, if the student's other awards are similar, eg. Spanish Honor Society, it might beg the question about NHS. Also, at many somewhat less selective colleges, the accomplishment would have meaning (those student boards where they talk about omitting honor societies from resumes are typically ivies and the like). In sum, my philosophy is that if the effort is minor, why not cover all your bases just in case.</p>
<p>pebbles~</p>
<p>I would concur with the others who said that NHS is not a major concern at all. The selective colleges are well aware that membership in NHS is not exclusive enough to differentiate much. My son actually had an even more interesting dilemma last year. He had been invited to join NHS in his sophomore year, the earliest possible time at his school. He did go ahead and join. He remained a member for both his sophomore and junior years, but at the end of his junior year, he accidentally neglected to turn in one of his community service logs on time, so he was "booted out" of NHS by the sponsor! So, he basically had to say on his apps. that he was a member for two years and not for the third! <em>lol</em> I can say, though, that in the end it was totally irrelevant....he is currently a freshman at Duke. ~berurah</p>
<p>OMG Berurah, you are back! I am dying to hear how your son likes Duke and everything. I can't stay online at the moment and was gonna post about NHS and will later....let us know on another thread or something, some updates. Welcome back.
Susan</p>
<p>Off topic as well (sorry). Warm welcome back to Berurah. I hope your S wasn't one of the Dukies who wandered into New Orleans with forged press passes and got some of the evacuees out!</p>
<p>Susan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>
<p>It's GREAT to "see" you too! Has your sweet daughter made her expected full recovery yet??? How goes everything at NYU? My girls did quite a bit of MT this summer...it was wild and wacky, but lots of fun. I posted an update on my S here:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=95289&page=2%5B/url%5D">http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=95289&page=2</a>
I'd LOVE to see one about your D's experiences so far!</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>Thank you to the posters to CC! I am more of a lurker here, but I have learned a lot. I actually just had a conversation with my DD about not being inivted to join NHS. DD has asked several teachers, friends, her guidance counselor why she hasn't been invited and now in her sr. year says she really could care less. No one could/would give her an answer. I can not find published criteria for our HS selection except for the minimum requirements. After lurking through this thread I remembered a previous thread on this subject last spring I never had time to read. After reading through the old thread I have a better understanding of the situation. Hard to believe, but I really do wonder if a teacher blackballed her for some unknown, reason. Although she says she doesn't care I know it bothers her that so many of her classmates with less than stellar morals and good character traits (not to mention lower gpa and easier class loads) are members. As a music performance major the absence of NHS on her aplication isn't anything to be concerned about, but it is reassuring to read CC and see the big picture of NHS selection. I will share this information with her. I know she will not want me to interfere and I will follow her wishes (even though I would love to know if it was a matter of blackballing and why).</p>
<p>As others have mentioned, the way NHS works differs from school to school in terms of criteria and even the timing. </p>
<p>I agree with others that for very selective colleges, having NHS on your resume/application does not mean much of any significance because just about all applicants at that level have it. I don't think anyone is going to notice or question that a kid does NOT have it on their application, really I don't think. I certainly would put it down if the kid had it but hopefully the kid has some other sorts of recognition beyond this. For less selective colleges, I guess his "honor" means a little more when not everyone has it. </p>
<p>The OP poster was concerned if it would look bad to have it only as senior year and not two years. My answer to that is NO, it doesn't matter (please tell your D that) because for one thing, the adcoms are not going to even know if your school had it available for two years or one year in the first place and besides that, are not going to notice, plus she is in it so that says she is a member (they aren't counting years for that really). </p>
<p>At our school, I think it is really dumb but NHS is ONLY available to seniors (you get inducted in June of junior year). That means that the NHS really can't achieve all that much in just one year of membership. They each have to do a community service project once in the NHS (but boy, did those vary from some who did very little and some who did something weekly as my kid did but she also enjoyed it). But what's the point if it is just for senior year. You can't build upon anything. It really is just some honorary thing, and not a whole lot more. By the time you are applying to college, you really have just become a member. They even had a Jan. induction for a few more seniors and those seniors were in it for half of a year and got in after apps were done no less!</p>
<p>For my younger daughter, it was even more ridiculous. She was going to be an early graduate and the school knew and ok'd that part way through tenth grade. So, at the end of tenth grade, like the 11th graders, she was invited to apply for NHS because as I said, the induction was at the end of 11th grade prior to senior year but she was also going to be in her "senior" year the following fall as well to graduate with the class of '05. So, she did the application, essays, got the recs. The committee met and she got a letter that the committee did not want to let her in yet (this was END of tenth) because they were only letting in juniors for the coming senior year and so she would have to wait until she was a senior in the fall to apply again (huh?....and this on top of the head of the NHS asking her to apply but I guess there were some teachers on the committee who did not agree even though she was going to be a senior in the fall in terms of being in that graduating class.....she was even in a senior class advisory group the coming year). They usually let some in midway through senior year and have a winter induction (like I mentioned happened the prior year in my other D's senior class). So, she had to redo it all again and get the recs all again in the early winter and was selected to be a member half way through her senior year. I have no idea what that accomplished as it was a known fact that this was going to be her senior/last year. She really did not do anything with the NHS.....I don't even think she got on it before any of her apps went in. Made no sense to me. THEN they did NOT hold any mid year induction though she was notified of becoming a member. So, in June when the juniors were inducted for this coming year (their senior year), she had to go to the induction. But rather than have her also be formally "inducted", she had to join the seniors and peform the induction for the juniors. She was never formally inducted herself. Weird. </p>
<p>BERURAH....am so glad to hear from you. I did write a bit about the move in somewhere in the Parent Cafe a week ago. I moved both my kids in last week and all was good. But both did not actually start classes until yesterday. I should write an update soon about that but likely won't today. Also I am not sure how interested folks are here, as much as on the Mus. Theater Forum about this kind of program as it is very different. But anyway, kids are really having a great time and I will try to write about it soon, plus after they have at least had a week of actual classes. Sometime, I'd love to hear about your girls' theater escapades too. But anyway, yes, my younger D has miraculously recovered and is doing well and has returned to the stage and now is going on with her dreams at NYU. Other D is very happy to be back at Brown. More on all that some other time. Hope you hang around.
Susan</p>
<p>FWIW, and just to show how different this can be at different schools, here's the blurb from S' HS: </p>
<p>"Membership in the National Honor Society is available to exemplary juniors and seniors who have demonstrated the four key characteristics of scholarship, service, leadership, and character for 5 semesters as juniors or 7 semesters as seniors. Eligible students will be selected by a majority vote of a 5 member faculty council after they have read teacher commentary & the eligible students information packet. This selection will be made in February of each year with a formal induction ceremony to follow in March. NOTE: SO AT S' SCHOOL THE EARLIEST ONE COULD BE NHS IS LATE SPRING OF JUNIOR YEAR] Students must
develop and maintain a profile that will qualify them for membership beginning their freshman year. A cumulative average of 92 must be maintained for a minimum of 5 semesters. NOTE: THIS IS ACTUALLY A PRETTY HIGH THRESHOLD AT OUR SCHOOL, AS GRADES AREN'T WEIGHTED, SO A 92 EQUATES TO A 3.7 OR SO. However good grades alone are not sufficient for selection. Every student who
is academically eligible will also be judged on leadership, service, and character both in and out of school. Students who are selected for membership will be required to maintain the necessary cumulative average, complete 10 hours of service each semester, and continue
to demonstrate exemplary attributes with respect to character and leadership."</p>
<p>Even with the firm GPA requirement, I think the above is pretty "mooshy" with respect to what it takes to get in, but the guidelines for staying in are pretty clear.</p>