@homerdog - I like that idea! I’m definitely going to do something similar if the situation comes up.
What a roller coaster over here! LOL D got her license a few weeks ago, so last week i got a new car and gave her my old car. 18 days after getting her license and 2 days after getting my car, she proceeded to get in an accident! Thankfully nobody hurt, except the car! I’m having a bit of panic attack thinking about what my car insurance is going to do, but she’s not hurt, so that’s the big thing! Working on her confidence and getting her back into driving!
On the bright side, she got invited to apply for National Honor Society. We weren’t sure with 2nd marking period grades if she’d make the cut (3.85 weighted), so that was a nice surprise.
You would think “National” would truly be a “national” standard. Our requirement is 3.9 + 50 hours of service. In any event, congrats NJWrestlingmom!
I continue to be surprised that schools/states do things differently. There was another thread about kids having to take the SAT as a graduation requirement which I find mind boggling.
@3kids2dogs I feel you about Clemson. When my older daughter went she got the top merit money of 15K so it knocked it down to about 34K. But hey nickle and dime us with fees. $1000 a year for honors college, fees for business school, lab fees etc. The tuition of course continues to rise for OOS students and then this year they dropped the largest merit award to 12K after having raised to 20K last year. My D21 going to visit her sister tomorrow for the weekend, I am hoping she doesn’t really love it.
@homerdog my older one is serious considering law school and younger one wants some sort of health science be it med school, Nurse Practitioner or Nurse Anesthetist. So we are looking at a lot of money for graduate school as well.
It is disappointing to have so many great schools Vandy, Villanova, Tufts etc. the D21 could potentially have a chance to get be out of the price range.
@burghdad I wonder about those fees. Is that a public school thing? Or a bigger school thing? When are parents not hit up for “extras” like that? Bowdoin is just tuition and nothing extra added. But haha tuition is $56k so let’s hope that covers it.
@eb23282 we have required school day SAT in 2 months. D21 got an excellent ACT score and I really wish we could skip the SAT, but it’s required.
@burghdad I totally agree. I went to Tufts for undergrad (with a lot of need based aid) and now can’t even consider it. I certainly don’t begrudge the need based aid from anyone and wholeheartedly support it. Just wish the total sticker price wasn’t so high!
@eb23282 we have service requirement too. I guess the GPA thing varies wildly by school so it can’t really be “national”. Are you in NJ? I wouldn’t be surprised if NJ goes to making the PSAT or SAT a graduation requirement. I would honestly prefer that to debacle of PARCC testing. I mean seriously - D met the grad math requirement in 8th grade. Give me a break!
@NJWrestlingmom - I know your pain. My daughter got into an accident right after getting her learners permit. I was in the car - she just panicked I think and ran into a tree. Thank goodness it was a one car accident. We paid $$$ out of pocket to have it fixed because after a conversation with our insurance agent, we would have ended up paying the same amount of money over time in rate hikes if we claimed it on our insurance 
My daughter received her invite to apply to NHS, but she doesn’t think she’ll get accepted because she has very minimal service. I feel bad for her because she has a part time job (10-15 hours a week) plus three major activities plus a rigorous schedule and honestly, while she did a lot of service in junior high, she just doesn’t have time to commit to it at this point. On the application, they ask for leadership, yet they specifically say they don’t want to hear anything about paid work - so frustrating because D has been promoted twice at her job and is currently one of two key holders at the store. I think her title is shift lead, but she’s essentially an assistant manager. But, she can’t talk about that to the NHS committee because she’s paid to do it. Seems like NHS favors kids without jobs, but as a group, it can set any rules it wants.
She wasn’t going to apply, but I told her to let them turn her down. If she doesn’t apply, she’s not giving them the opportunity to accept her; she’s making that decision. The worst that can happen is they don’t accept her. The best is that she’s accepted. If she’s not “NHS material” so be it.
NHS can be a great way for the kids to do community service but I’ve been told a number of times, at least at our high school, that it’s not seen as important to AOs. At our school, something like 30% of the class is invited since the cut off is in weighted GPA and not that high. Both S19 and D21 were invited but didn’t apply. It’s such a big pain. The app requires 20 hours of community service to be done between invite (kids get it in early Jan) and the date the app is due in early March. No one kind of community service can be more than four hours so basically parents are running around trying to find five different things their kids can do for four hours in those eight weeks.
NHS is different at every school so it’s hard for AOs to compare NHS chapters. To me, NHS shows academic merit, community service, and nice recs from the teachers. (I doubt teachers spend much time on those and they’re just ok but good enough to get into a school-sponsored club like NHS.) As long as your student has the grades and some community service, they are already ‘doing’ the NHS stuff. Not being part of NHS didn’t hurt S19 at all. He clearly had the grades and the service. D21 will be the same. Now, if a student is low on ECs or if they need a way to do community service, NHS can play that role. Or if they think they could be on the leadership team of NHS, that would be a good experience too.
@3kids2dogs I so wanted to pay out of pocket! Unfortunately, another car was involved and went right to my company. If we’re paying for their car, I figured we might as well put ours in too since the car is in otherwise great shape. Hoping it won’t be as bad as my nightmares!!! LOL
And we’re in the same boat - D has a paid job and can’t get any credit for that for NHS. I think it’s unfair but told her the same thing - apply and let them reject you if they want. She does do some stuff with an animal rescue. But she’s in a strange spot - we live in a rural area, she attends an out of district public high school that requires a long commute, and it make it difficult for her to join some activities that require evening attendance because both parents work and it’s a far drive.
I doubt NHS is considered more important than any other activity for colleges, but I think she was excited to have made the cut so she might as well apply. She won’t be devastated if she doesn’t make it.
@NJWrestlingmom yeah. Might as well have her apply! For us, the acceptance is pretty much guaranteed if you are invited and then do the community service hours exactly as they as they list them on the app. No one would apply who doesn’t just follow the rubric. I guess they expect those who work or have very time consuming ECs to still find 20 hours.
My D decided not to do NHS also this year. For us anybody can join as long as they meet the GPA, which I think is an 85. They require so much community service and it couldn’t be things you were doing for another club. D just didn’t have time. She may do it next year to get the cord and walk first in graduation. In research we found that it is no more prestigious than other activities, the recommendation was to be involved in something, and even better if in leadership for that other activity. D is Class of 2021 Secretary, among other activities in school.
S is part of NHS but the school is very flexible and there are a ton of opportunities to earn service hrs including during the school day because the school runs a food bank.
@NJWrestlingmom - glad your kid is alright.
NHS is an odd thing at my kids’ HS as well, especially since 30% of the HS is in it, which makes it…well, silly. That said, S21 did turn in his app for it.
@NJWrestlingmom, glad your D is ok physically.
D and I talked about it and she agreed to finally start driving this summer (reluctant driver) and get her license. It is getting just too hard toting her around and waiting for in the car while she does her activity We live out of district and it is too far just to drop her off and go back home. having to drive her around with my job has become too much. She will Inherit my car. I am VERY worried she too will have a wreck within the first couple of months. I am already dreading the major increase in my car insurance when I put her on it.
Our NHS is ridiculously easy to get into and the prior volunteer work is negligible. After getting admitted, the only NHS-specific volunteer work ( that I can tell) is to be eligible to tutor other students before school whenever students request a tutor but I don’t think this happens often.
But last week my D was called unexpectedly to the GC (and she was afraid she was somehow in trouble, though she’s the least likely kid in the world to be in trouble.) Turns out the GC wanted her to tutor SPANISH! I died laughing because that has been Ds least favorite class, though it,s pretty lame and too easy in her school, yet confusing because the teachers explain very little and assign little work but suddenly expect results now and then . I’ve been trying to tutor HER at home to make up for the lack of Spanish substance. But she resists this fiercely because she’s pulling A grades. Now she has to get up forty minutes early twice per week to help a Spanish 2 kid, lol. He has the worst teacher so he may be getting more instruction from my D than in class! She says at least he seems to be a nice kid and appreciates it. ?
I find the comparisons of schools very interesting! D’s school makes community service a graduation requirement - the hours aren’t excessive and the kids can choose pretty much anything. No NHS chapter so I’ve not had to deal with that.
Neither of my kids was in a hurry to drive which is so different from when I was a teen. They are both careful so any serious damage sustained to our cars in the past few years has come from other drivers. For the uninitiated, a lot of dings and dents can happen in school parking lots!
We met with the college counselor this week, yay! I have not yet been able to generate much momentum in the college process. Happily school authority figures make more of an impression than good old mom and the Fiske Guide is now seeing some love. 
We don’t have a community service requirement either, although my kids do a service event at our church every month and I’ve been encouraging S21 to add an additional service activity. A request was sent out recently for teens to help tutor elementary kids at a program for disadvantaged families. Now that he has his driver’s license he could actually get himself to it.
Our district just this week decided to close the schools on Tuesday for the primary election so I’m taking advantage of the free day to make S21 take another college tour. We’re going to check out UDel. Will be the first non-VA school we tour.
@JESmom I think you will really like UDel. I know I did. Looking forward to hearing your report.
Hello all…longtime lurker, first time poster. D21 has excellent grades but isn’t testing well, even with ACT prep. She has her sights set on elite colleges but doesn’t seem to be interested in doing the research on matches or safeties. Any tips on getting her to get invested in her own future? She’s a great student but I don’t think she realizes that even if she gets to a 34 ACT it’s just a lottery ticket! Weighted GPA 4.5, ACT 26, full IB Diploma.