<p>Haha more than a third of my graduating class was eligible for NHS (many didn’t bother joining), and I don’t know a single person (other than the officers) who put it on a college application.</p>
<p>Yeah, it may have seemed like I’m against being in the NHS, but what truly bothers me is the selection process and lack of club productivity in some schools. A well run, truly productive NHS is an honor to belong to and contribute to. Though you don’t (or shouldn’t) have to be part of the NHS to perform community service, having (ideally) honorable students focus on community service helps motivate others.</p>
<p>At my school, a montgomery county md (supposedly a top county in the nation) school, the NHS is useless. I am secretary and we do absolutely nothing, we start to plan stuff and then all the plans fall apart because everyone is “too busy” and “too lazy” and the leader/ teacher guy is unorganized and careless. Im sure colleges know these things are stupid and couldnt care less if you are in it as long as you have solid extracurriculars</p>
<p>you get to wear a pretty chord at graduation.</p>
<p>At my high school it means nothing because so many kids get in. Plus with so many kids the hours of service it isn’t even feasible. Plus the leadership is a joke. The problem is that the people who were voted in were very “nerdy”, I don’t like saying it but is true. I am friends with mostly students whodunit care about school or don’t do well. If they were in it though I would have won and those other kids would not. I hot the next highest amount of votes so then with those other kids i would have most likely won. It doesn’t matter much though. Plus it’s such a typical thing and different for every school that colleges don’t pay much attention to it.</p>
<p>Absolutely not.</p>
<p>At my school, NHS is viewed as any other community-service club. Of course, there is a GPA requirement (3.5) to join, but that GPA is a joke. There are hundreds of kids who are eligible to join yet do not. I am one of them.</p>
<p>To the OP: it depends only if you’re passionate about it. NHS holds the same weight as any other EC. Otherwise it doesn’t hurt to have it.</p>
<p>I’m with those who say it’s not weighted in the admisisons review. The whole problem is that each school sets it’s own entry criteria. Some require teacher LoRs, some don’t. Some require service to get in, some don’t. One of my friend’s twins got in, the other- who had the higher gpa and more service- didn’t. And, it was reversed for the hs honor club- the higher gpa kid got in and the NHS kid didn’t. So, it can be flakey.
But, it you were awarded it and wish to put it on, go for it. I’m with the one who said, drop it down the list. And, while we’re at it, you know how silly the attendance awards look, right?</p>
<p>I think NHS is over-rated and I think adcoms have seen it so much, it has lost its luster. Because so many kids have it down, it won’t make anyone stand out. I think you are better off developing your talents, identifying leadership positions you carry and working on stellar essays that promote your unique voice. Don’t worry about not having NHS.</p>
<p>i dont think NHS is really a big deal (well, unless you’re the president, but then again, almost all of the top college applicants are in NHS, so being the president of NHS is almost like being the president of any other club). in my school, it’s slmost exactly like our key club, the only difference is that you need an 85 average. seriously, we do the same events and everything. </p>
<p>this worries me a little though. i’m in NHS and it looks like that won’t help me at all, making my EC’s look even weaker than they already are. trust me, my EC’s are well below average compared to everyone on CC :(</p>
<p>I have so much to fit into the 10 spaces that I likely will leave off NHS. It adds little to nothing to my application and I didn’t even enjoy it that much. It’s a lot of meaningless community “service”.</p>
<p>At my school, 40 juniors were initiated when the class size is about 130. Doesn’t seem too spectacular IMO.</p>
<p>In all honesty, it won’t look that great on your application. Anyone with a half decent GPA can get into that club. At my HS, all you needed was 3.3</p>
<p>As with most questions regarding admissions (and indeed most anything), it really depends. </p>
<p>It primarily depends on the school and the student. The most advantageous ones are usually the ones that the student enjoys, participates in, and excels at most, as these are the ones that are often addressed in personal statements and add valuable insight into the applicant. At my high school, NHS was pretty lame and the participants were relatively uninvolved, though some students (not I…) took it very seriously and invested a great deal of themselves into their work. Needless to say, I had literally nothing to say about NHS in my application, thus it was hardly an advantage; those who were more involved probably had more to say and likely benefitted from their membership more than I.</p>
<p>Bottom line with activities: There’s no silver bullet (well, perhaps barring Nobel Prizes and the like) or uniform answer. Generally, I would say that an advantageous activity is one about which the participant can meaningfully and intelligently discuss her contribution and what she learned about herself and the world in the process. These are the kinds of activities that provide terrific grist for personal statements and serve to nuance and strengthen other aspects of the application. Needless to say, certain activities tend to satisfy this description better than others, many of which require substantial, sustained commitments over a period of years rather than months, but it’s basically impossible to make a hard-and-fast rule.</p>
<p>Why do it if you only care about college admissions? That is probably the reason it has lost its credibility; too many people just doing it because…</p>
<p>My HS chapter was/is not very active. 3.8 gpa required to be “invited” to apply. Everyone pretty much got in who applied. In recent years there has been a trend to weed out applicants who are just looking for another thing to add to a college app. The students are picked by a group of 6 teachers (all from different departments) and they consider gpa, leadership, service, and integrity…hahaha they ask all the “cheaters” not to apply (they even e-mail a list of applicants to all staff looking for infractions.</p>
<p>Do it because your school has a good chapter or you are interested in making it better; not to look good on a college app.</p>
<p>Yeah, it’s really nothing special at my school. I may not even list it on my applications because it frankly carries very little weight (unless I were an officer, which I’m not), and I have many activities that take precedence over NHS both personally and in terms of “college-worthiness”.</p>
<p>That being said, if you go to a school with a very active NHS chapter, listing it as an activity probably counts for a lot more than it does at my school, so long as you list the types of things your NHS did.</p>
<p>Come to think of it, the only reason I applied was to get a graduation cord. :p</p>
<p>The process of getting into NHS at my high school is very extensive and it leads to the best students getting in. All of the students at my school belong in it and are dedicated athletes, students AND volunteers. It is considered a pretty big deal here. </p>
<p>It is very strange how a national program can differ so much depending on schools</p>
<p>No. 10char.</p>
<p>We need a 3.5 to be invited to apply. To get in, fill in an application and give a letter of recommendation. To stay in, we have to keep the 3.5 and do at least 8 volunteer hours a semester in 3 different areas. We do a lot of service things, such as blood drive, fundraising for good causes, etc, but I think that 8 hours a semester is too low. Most students (myself included) do more, but eight?</p>
<p>Like others have said, NHS varies by high school. I think that it also varies by the student. There was one guy in my school’s NHS who was very involved. He was a nice person, and he did not seem to be doing it “just to impress colleges.” He joined a lot of the committees, helped with the club’s projects, and did some other volunteer stuff on his own. NHS meant more to him personally because he felt it was an honor and wanted to give back.</p>
<p>Really, it is the students that make any club at their school improtant or not. Their attitudes can change a lot about a club.</p>
<p>NHS/CSF and other similar organizations show you have a higher than average GPA. Sometimes it incorporates volunteer work – but don’t most kids have to do volunteer hours on their own (NHS or not) anyway? (Especially at private schools?)</p>
<p>The admissions committee can see you had a decent GPA on your transcript and doesn’t need to know that through knowing you were in NHS. Whoop dee do. It looks “nice” and can pad out your HS resume, but does it pull weight? Will it automatically get you in to your dream school? Hardly.</p>
<p>At my high school, students with a 3.5+ were accepted into CSF automatically and students with a 3.75+ were accepted into both CSF and NHS. All this required was attending one monthly AM meeting during designated club meeting times – meaning no classes had to be missed, no time after school was spent. NHS/CSF students worked the Open House every year, but that was about it.</p>
<p>It’s not an extraordinary EC, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. I got to wear two cool sashes when I graduated HS from being in NHS/CSF – that’s the advantage!</p>
<p>Being President might be more impressive if you ACTUALLY DO THINGS. Our president didn’t do much; I was an officer of sorts (secretary? Can’t remember, it’s been 5-6 years) and didn’t do anything either because there was nothing to be done!</p>