Does NHS matter when applying to top universities like Ivy League, Stanford, UChicago, MIT, etc?
Not really. The qualifications that get you in to NHS are merely baselines for the tippy top schools.
It is still worth it, though. It may help you qualify for 3rd party scholarships, and wearing the special tassel at graduation will look great in photos and will make your parents proud.
It probably varies. Some schools have junior NHS or have early inductions into NHS. It’s possible that it helps their apps more, particularly if the students have leadership roles in them. At my kids’ school, the earliest inductions are at the very end of 11th grade. When kids are applying to colleges (especially EA/ED), they haven’t had time to actually do anything in NHS. Even the officers. I can’t imagine that being in NHS really matters for their apps.
A few years ago, a student at my kids’ HS was rejected twice by our school’s NHS probably because of lack of leadership. He decorated his graduation cap with “Rejected NHS Admitted MIT”. 
My school’s NHS does not give us tassels for graduation.??
Nope. Wouldn’t even mention it on applications. Also wouldn’t bother mentioning any flavors of AP scholar. would mention NMSF or NMF
Do you all think it is better to have NHS or have numerous activities that show my interest for Environmental Engineering?
Probably the enviro engineering ECs. However, is there a reason you can’t have them both? What are the NHS requirements at your high school? Usually it’s just a certain GPA, some hours of service, and evidence of leadership. You can do your hours of service in a enviro engineering related task.
If you don’t think you could be in NHS, focus your energy in getting the best GPA you can while working on EC that shows your interest in Env Engineering. You do not need “numerous” avtivities. Quantity is not quality. Do a few relevant EC very well is far better doing numerous of them for the sake of having a long list of activities on your application.
My D was not selected to NHS because a lack of a leadership role (she had the grade and community activities). By the time she applied to college, She had 3 volunteer and community activities listed on her application. She had done those consistently all four years in HS. She got accepted to a very selective college.
Has she followed her passion to get her into her school? What school does she go? @rphcfb
Some students (or parents) may be turned off by the word “passion” as they may not be quite passionate about any major in particular. My daughter knew what she wanted to study, was able to do EC that in line with it and able to express it very well in her essay. She was accepted to Cornell, College of Arts and Science, a humanities major.
You aim extremely high. You should read other threads where students had excellent all around stats and still were not accepted in MIT, Standard, etc. Nothing wrong with aiming very high but it’s very important to be realistic and prepare for other college options.
What do u mean @rphcfb? Are u saying that u should not only focus on top schools but also focus on other schools?
By the way, my son was also rejected the first time he applied to NHS, and then refused to apply the second time they asked. He was denied due to leadership, which by senior year he had several positions. All was fine, he is now a freshman at WashU, so obviously not having NHS did not hard him at all.
To be inducted into NHS, in general you need the four pillars: Scholarship, Service, Leadership and Character.
Guess what colleges are looking for? Scholarship, Service, Leadership and Character.
So NHS is a way of the school honoring the students who excel in those four pillars. That is a very good thing! We honor football players and band members and such…let’s also honor academics!
Also, parents love to see their children publicly honored.
But the “title” of NHS is not something you need for admittance to college.
@domt73
Yes, that’s what I meant. Have you read threads after threads of students with excellent academic achievements not getting accepted to top colleges? Here’s a recent one.
Expanding your list of schools to include safety schools is wise. More importantly, make sure schools on your list are affordable. Getting accepted to a school that your family could not afford is a big disappointment all around.
Here are some clubs that I have (currently) that I truly like and would put on my college apps. I do play sports, but, I want to fill my application with ECs that I want to pursue in College.
Math Club
Engineering Club
Key Club
Environmental Protection Club
Interact Club
Math and Science Tutor
Nursery Part Time Worker (Summer)
Park Volunteer (Summer)
How do you guys think of these extracurricular so far. Prob going to do more and try to get leadership positions also.
Potential Major: Environmental Engineering
Those are fantastic ECs! They should be what interests you, and what can help the community.
Check out “How to be a High School Superstar” by Cal Newport.
“The basic message of the book is this: Don’t wear yourself out taking as many classes as you can and being involved in every club and sport. Instead, leave yourself enough free time to explore your interests. Cultivate one interest and make it into something special that will make you stand out among the other applicants and get you into the toughest schools, even if your grades and scores aren’t stellar. Newport calls this the “relaxed superstar approach,” and he shows you how to really do this, breaking the process down into three principles, explained and illustrated with real life examples of students who got into top schools: (1) underscheduling—making sure you have copious amounts of free time to pursue interesting things, (2) focusing on one or two pursuits instead of trying to be a “jack of all trades,” and (3) innovation—developing an interesting and important activity or project in your area of interest. This fruit yielded by this strategy, an interesting life and real, meaningful achievements, is sure to help not only with college admissions, but getting a job, starting a business, or whatever your goals.”
http://www.examiner.com/review/be-a-relaxed-high-school-superstar
@bopper Thank you so much for your feedback. Do u think these extracurriculars will look good to the Ivy League, Stanford, MIT, etc. because they show my passion and service to the community throughout two service clubs (Key Club and Interact Club)?