Was anyone else's National Honor Society a joke?

<p>Now that I'm out of HS I feel ok saying this lol. </p>

<p>NHS at my high school was an absolute JOKE. The application process started late Junior year. We were told not to even worry about the essay and to just turn in a list of volunteer hours and work experiences. Admission was solely based on GPA and who paid the fee. Our FIRST meeting was March senior year were we planned to participate in a bake sale to raise money for breast cancer awareness. The coordinator didn't realize the bake sale was the morning after prom, so we ended up just asking people for donations and were told we only needed to raise $15 each. We got our shirts during the last week of school.</p>

<p>It was a total disappointment and waste of money (not time though because we only met once)!</p>

<p>We have to get like 40 hours of service to the school to even be considered, show leadership, and have the GPA for it. But even with all those, you can still get turned down. I’m not in it, but I can try next year as a senior and get some honor cords for graduation, but I don’t know if it’s even worth it at that point… Plus I don’t think a college would even care at that point.</p>

<p>Ours isn’t a complete joke, but it’s not that impressive, either. You need 40 hours each year and to maintain a 3.5 (weighted, too). I think we paid a small fee. We’re given information about volunteer opportunities, but it’s pretty much a “take initiative and take care of your own volunteer hours” thing. We don’t do any big group projects or anything special, really.</p>

<p>I think that the National Honors Society has really gone down in value as time goes on. The NHS at my school is alright, very selective though. My parents yelled at my brother for not joining the NHS. Also, at my school it isn’t very popular either. My parents are pushing me to join it, but it’ll probably interfere with FFA, which I’m probably more dedicated to, because I’m an officer. But If I get an invitation, I’ll probably accept, not for my parents, just to see what it’s like. Then again, I rather spend my time with country folk in the FFA than spend my time with stuck up peers who think they know every darn thing.</p>

<p>For mine you need 3.5 unweighted, 4.0 weighted. 5 teacher recommendations. 3 leadership and community service recommendations each.</p>

<p>Mine is. 10char</p>

<p>TOTAL JOKE! The biggest thing we do, is run the next year’s induction -___-</p>

<p>lol about time people realize that NHS is for a bunch of tryhards trying to get into ivy league schools…Its probably a good way to weed out the tryhards for colleges</p>

<p>Mine was a joke. You just applied (I think you wrote an essay and had to have a certain GPA) and then if you got in, literally nothing happened. It was just something you could put on a college application or resume. They might have had an extra cord or something when graduating, but I don’t really care.</p>

<p>Let’s rephrase the question to allow for more surprising answers:</p>

<p>Was anyone’s National Honor Society NOT a joke?</p>

<p>Mine’s not. We organize the homecoming carnival, the prom expo, and lots of other events. I think we do as much as (or more than) student council. About 1/3 of my class is in it, so it’s not really all “tryhards.” If you take honors/ap/ or have straight a’s you’re pretty much expected to be in it. It’s not selective, but we get stuff done.</p>

<p>Ours is a joke, lol. To get accepted all you need is a 3.5GPA and a good behavioral record. After that, you’re inducted, and you go to like two meetings the whole year.</p>

<p>Ours is kind of a joke. Our GPA is measured on a 100 point scale so you need to have an 88(A B+) at least to be inducted, and maintain that. You can start either your sophomore, junior, or senior year, and it is all based on the previous years GPA. If inducted as a sophomore, you have to pay the most, then juniors, then seniors. We organize stuff like the Senior Citizens Breakfast, Senior Citizen Prom, the Midnight Run, Relay For Life, and stuff like that. We have to do at least 20 hours of community service a year, and if you don’t, or if your GPA falls below the threshold, then you are on “academic probation” from NHS. Everyone at my school laughs about it, because no one except for the officers really does anything.</p>

<p>At my school, the entire time, the NHS committee talked about the senior trip (since the committee, like vp, prez, etc) are ALL SENIORS</p>

<p>I didn’t even join mine. I guess it’s not a total joke at my school since you’re required to do a bit of tutoring for underclassmen but all you need is a good GPA to get in.</p>

<p>Ours is a joke. The people who get in are chosen by random. They even admit it. I wanted to join because I am passionate about community service. The people who are in it are doing it for college, and everyone knows it</p>

<p>Is NHS for freshmen too?</p>

<p>^I’m not so sure. In my school it’s for Juniors and Seniors. I don’t know about other schools though.</p>

<p>^ Okay. Thanks.</p>

<p>^Mine was only for sophomores and above.</p>

<p>To answer the question, yes, mine was a total joke! You only need a GPA of 3.0 unweighted (which is unbelievably easy to earn for many), and 20 volunteer hours (which also doesn’t take much). We also had to write an essay, but the sponsor didn’t even read them, whether you wrote outstandingly or like a 6th grader. The $5 fee could have been found on the floor. During the induction ceremony, all I did was wait for my name to be called, go up onstage, light my candle, repeat a speech, blow the candle, and signed my name in a book. </p>

<p>Well, I like that you get an NHS sash when you graduate. :)</p>