Nhs

hyz · August 1, 2009, 12:16am

I’ve read through some NHS related topics on here, and the general consensus appears to be that being in the NHS does not impact your chances of college acceptance.

However, I’ve just finished reading an email my school sent me and I’m really confused.

BTHS National Honor Society Encourages Membership
by Cory Chan, Academic Recognition Committee
National Honor Society of Brooklyn Technical High School

Brooklyn Tech has over 4000 students and of those 4000, only 300 are members of the National Honor Society (NHS). NHS is one of the largest organizations in the United States that recognizes academic excellence and community service in outstanding high school students. NHS honors students who exhibit excellence in four pillars which include: character, scholarship, leadership and service. With spring enrollment quickly approaching, joining NHS will provide students with an important ingredient in the college application process. 

The Academic Recognition committee recently contacted the most competitive U.S. colleges and universities to find out the effect of NHS membership in college acceptance rates. Colleges often look for students with NHS membership. According to U.S. News and World Report, most of the students enrolled at Emory University (ranked 18th nationally) were NHS members. According to a Johns Hopkins admissions officer, “NHS is a beneficial factor to the student’s admission. It shows the college that the students have potential in leadership, service and academics.” An admissions officer of Rice University concurred, “Yes, being in NHS is a factor in determining a student’s admittance into Rice University. Alongside looking at a student’s academic strengths, it also looks at a student’s experiences and leadership potential…it demonstrates that the student has a commitment to servicing both the school and the community.” Admissions at Vanderbilt University repeated that it values extracurricular involvement, “on a large scale, particularly when these activities reveal a consistent level of involvement and leadership.” NHS is one of the important factors in the college admissions process.

Ivy League schools like Columbia consider NHS two ways: as an academic factor, as well as an extracurricular activity which is, according to the Admissions Office, an important admissions factor. The Princeton University Admissions Office said that “many students in our applicant pool are NHS members.” The Harvard admissions committee values academic accomplishment, community involvement, leadership, and distinction in extracurricular activities. Becoming an officer in NHS or a committee leader is most beneficial in gaining acceptance to Ivy League caliber schools. Since NHS involves both leadership and academic excellence; it is the ideal club for students hoping for acceptance into their dream school.
William Cusick, the president of Brooklyn Tech’s NHS Chapter this year will be attending the University of Notre Dame next fall with the intention to study chemical engineering. He stated, “As the president of NHS, I have learned many things. I learned how to juggle many different tasks at the same time - being the president is a very big responsibility and there are always multiple things going on. I have also learned that you get better results working as a team. I need the help of my officers and chairpeople if I want to see something successful happen for NHS.”

Randy Asher, the principal of Brooklyn Tech stated, “The National Honor Society is a nationally recognized organization that represents scholarship, leadership, service and character. These four principles create a membership profile that yields an incredible network of dynamic young people, who take an active role in moving society forward. The intrinsic value of membership and satisfaction of being part of an exclusive group is coupled with priority selection for many of the amazing opportunities at Tech. I vividly remember my own NHS experiences and hope that our next generation of members achieves the same level of satisfaction that NHS provided for me.”

By being affiliated with Brooklyn Tech’s NHS Chapter, students are rewarded for their academic excellence. Benefits for students at Tech include access to the new exclusive NHS lounge on the eighth floor. The lounge provides new computers for members in a quiet study space during lunch and after school. The lounge will also provide tutoring, help with resumes and help with the college admissions process. NHS alumni throughout the years have included many famous people in the media: singer, Sheryl Crow, model, Cindy Crawford, actor, George Clooney, and even Brad Pitt.

By being involved in Brooklyn Tech’s NHS chapter, students demonstrate the enormous potential of their character, scholarship, leadership and service to colleges. They are given opportunities otherwise unavailable to non members and in turn benefit from them. Mr. Malchiodi, one of the college advisors cautioned, “While membership in the National Honor Society can be a plus when being considered for admission to college, the depth of a student’s commitment and contribution to NHS is more important than membership alone.” Applications for NHS are due on the first week of June and can be found in room 1W2 and online.

I go to Brooklyn Technical High School in NY, if that matters or not.

T26E4 · August 1, 2009, 12:27am

That article is misleading and is a marketing strategy. Sure NHS is an EC and may very well be worthy at your HS. But it implies that it’s a tip factor for admissions to top colleges over other ECs. It’s not.

"Becoming an officer in NHS or a committee leader is most beneficial in gaining acceptance to Ivy League caliber schools. "

Outstanding leadership can be attained elsewhere and often this is the case.

Of course most students who are at JHU or Princeton were NHS members. I’ll bet they were on their school’s honor roll too, dontcha think? You don’t see JHU or Princeton officials commenting on that do you? Why not? Because it’s practically a given.

The correlation is the key here. The fact is top students attend Emory and Princeton. Lots of top students qualify for NHS. But it doesn’t mean the Emory or Princeton care a lick about NHS status. Think about it.

NHS can be a tip factor for some scholarships however. In this way, it can be valuable. But NHS likes to promote itself (what organization doesn’t?) and in this article, overstates its importance IMHO.

Me? I wasn’t invited or I missed my school’s NHS recruiting meetings. I didn’t even know. Was too busy w/my other ECs and getting top grades in my rigorous classes. Accepted at all schools applied. Only student my year to be accepted and attend an HYP college. Not being in NHS didn’t make anyone not notice me.

*Remember, NHS is a series of letters (in 10-point font) on one line in your college application. * Your file readers will spend 0.3 seconds looking at it unless it’s your one of your main ECs and you expand on your involvement.

And that’s if you apply to colleges that even give a darn about ECs (most don’t).

hyz · August 1, 2009, 12:39am

Thanks for the reply, and excuse my ignorance but what does HYP mean?

Also, if colleges don’t care much for EC, what do they care for? Just grades and SAT scores? All my life I’ve been hearing about the importance of ECs.

absent · August 1, 2009, 12:44am

HYP = Harvard, Yale, Princeton.

I suggest reading through [url=<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-confidential-cafe/429948-cc-acronyms-complete-list-acronyms.html]this”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-confidential-cafe/429948-cc-acronyms-complete-list-acronyms.html]this</a> list of CC acronyms<a href=“and%20%5Burl=http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/52585-abbreviation-thread.html]this%20one[/url]%20too”>/url</a> so you can actually understand half the damn posts on this forum. ;)

And ECs are very important only at the most selective colleges. Since these colleges receive so many qualified applicants, they can’t just draw the line at specific scores or grades; they need subjective factors to differentiate between applicants—that’s where ECs come in. At most colleges, however, this isn’t really necessary as long as you’ve got the grades and test scores.

T26E4 · August 1, 2009, 12:47am

HYP: harvard yale princeton

Only tippy top schools like the Ivies and top LACs who evaluate students holistically consider ECs. 85% of US colleges solely evaluate applicants based on GPA and standardized scores. This probably means about 90% of entering freshmen are attending colleges who gave no tip consideration to ECs.

kwu · August 1, 2009, 1:29am

I’ve seen Brooklyn Tech’s matriculation list. =P

Anything that’ll give you an edge, no matter how negligible, helps.

Why not send an application in earnest?

tal105 · August 1, 2009, 11:26am

hey!! i go to brooklyn tech too!!!
im on nhs!!
whose writing this post if you dont mind me asking?!?! lol

hyz · August 1, 2009, 8:58pm

Where can I take a look at it? Can you link me?

I prefer to remain anonymous, sorry. But I’m going to be a Junior when the school year starts. I’ve already sent in my application with all my stuff, but now I’m sort of regretting it since I have so many APs and tests coming up.

Tal105, what committee are you in and how much work is required of you?

absent · August 1, 2009, 9:17pm

[Brooklyn</a> Technical High School](<a href=“Brooklyn Technical High School”>Brooklyn Technical High School)

“2008 College Statistics.xls” (admissions data, no matriculation data) and “Final-2007-BTHS-College-Admissions-Data.xls” (matriculation list) are what you’re looking for.

hyz · August 1, 2009, 9:29pm

Thanks, absent.

Nhs

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