Do colleges care about NHS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean “we” are trying to decide? This should be left entirely up to your daughter and you need to stay out of it.

Oh please go away. Let the mom help her kid. You anti-helicopter parents are a$$holes.

There are helicopter parents and there are helicopter parents. This is NHS, it’s not choosing college or a husband. It’s a standard high school activity that any kid smart enough to be invited to join is smart enough to decide on her own. You people are all nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you mean “we” are trying to decide? This should be left entirely up to your daughter and you need to stay out of it.

Oh please go away. Let the mom help her kid. You anti-helicopter parents are a$$holes.

There are helicopter parents and there are helicopter parents. This is NHS, it’s not choosing college or a husband. It’s a standard high school activity that any kid smart enough to be invited to join is smart enough to decide on her own. You people are all nuts.

Her DD wants to know if colleges care. If my DC wanted to join a club that no one cares about and was already spread thin, I'd give my input. If they wanted to join a club that requires minimal effort and people care about, I'd give my input. If you think parents should have a say in choosing a husband, that's nuts. Parent your kids and let other people parent their kids. You can then advise your kid who to avoid when they are getting married based on who was or wasn't helicopter parented.

[Anonymous]

If her kid really wants to know if colleges care she would take the initiative to ask her guidance counselor. This is not kid driven, it’s helicopter mother driven.

This is the perfect example of a situation where the mother should back off.

[Anonymous]

At highly competitive colleges, no, they definitely do not care as the boundaries for NHS at most HS are far lower than theirs for admission.

At other competitive colleges they also don't care very much since they can see all your stats anyway.

Extremely unlikely an admin is ever going to say "I have two applicants of equal quality except NHS, so I'll take that one".

If time is a concern, better to focus on what makes you special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At highly competitive colleges, no, they definitely do not care as the boundaries for NHS at most HS are far lower than theirs for admission.

At other competitive colleges they also don't care very much since they can see all your stats anyway.

Extremely unlikely an admin is ever going to say "I have two applicants of equal quality except NHS, so I'll take that one".

If time is a concern, better to focus on what makes you special.

Thank you. This is helpful. (My kid just got an invitation to apply for NHS, but it's a bit of trouble, and I doubt he'll follow through.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If her kid really wants to know if colleges care she would take the initiative to ask her guidance counselor. This is not kid driven, it’s helicopter mother driven.

This is the perfect example of a situation where the mother should back off.

This is a perfect example of a situation where you should mind your own business. Do you really think a school counselor is going to tell a student that it's not worth joining a club, especially the NJHS, because colleges don't care about it, even if it's true? This board is more likely to provide unbiased information. That is, of course, if it isn't detailed by some nutter who thinks parents shouldn't help their kids get useful information to make an informed decision. Are you worried that if other parents help their kids make informed decisions your child can't complete, so you're trying to convince others to not hep their kids? Sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If her kid really wants to know if colleges care she would take the initiative to ask her guidance counselor. This is not kid driven, it’s helicopter mother driven.

This is the perfect example of a situation where the mother should back off.

This is a perfect example of a situation where you should mind your own business. Do you really think a school counselor is going to tell a student that it's not worth joining a club, especially the NJHS, because colleges don't care about it, even if it's true? This board is more likely to provide unbiased information. That is, of course, if it isn't detailed by some nutter who thinks parents shouldn't help their kids get useful information to make an informed decision. Are you worried that if other parents help their kids make informed decisions your child can't complete, so you're trying to convince others to not hep their kids? Sad.

No, PP I agree completely with you. It makes far more sense to solicit anonymous opinions from parents about NHS than to ask a school guidance counselor. Take, for example, the parent who opined that elite colleges don’t care at all about NHS and the OP’s response to that person that she was “very helpful.” Sure, rely on that anonymous opinion instead of someone who actually has experience. Ok

[Anonymous]

In our school district some of these honors come fairly easily if the kid meets the prerequisites.
-A student taking language AP, is very well positioned to get the seal of biliteracy and also be in the Foreign Language Honor Society
-A students with great GPA and some service component to their ECs will need to only put minimal effort to be in NHS or other honor societies.
-A student with 1580-1600 in SAT would not have a problem being a NMS finalist.

To make it effortless, students and parents need to know what the prerequisites are from start of HS. If NHS expects you to have 3.5 GPA and 60 hours of service hours during HS, these need to be addressed during the freshman and sophomore year, so that the student gains admission in NHS during junior year and is able to avail of the opportunities from this society.

My kid goes in a competitive school and mostly all of the peers will have similar stats. Being in NHS may not help, but not being in NHS will stand out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If her kid really wants to know if colleges care she would take the initiative to ask her guidance counselor. This is not kid driven, it’s helicopter mother driven.

This is the perfect example of a situation where the mother should back off.

This is a perfect example of a situation where you should mind your own business. Do you really think a school counselor is going to tell a student that it's not worth joining a club, especially the NJHS, because colleges don't care about it, even if it's true? This board is more likely to provide unbiased information. That is, of course, if it isn't detailed by some nutter who thinks parents shouldn't help their kids get useful information to make an informed decision. Are you worried that if other parents help their kids make informed decisions your child can't complete, so you're trying to convince others to not hep their kids? Sad.

No, PP I agree completely with you. It makes far more sense to solicit anonymous opinions from parents about NHS than to ask a school guidance counselor. Take, for example, the parent who opined that elite colleges don’t care at all about NHS and the OP’s response to that person that she was “very helpful.” Sure, rely on that anonymous opinion instead of someone who actually has experience. Ok

So why are you here then, at DCUM? Every post solicits anonymous opinion.

[Anonymous]

The Common App has space to list 10 extracurriculars - does she need more ECs? If so, NHS is a good one to list. Also if she has no academic or service ones, it might be good to add.

That said, my magnet school kid did NOT get selected for NHS even though he had almost straight A's & service hours -- never got an explanation why. Anyway, he got into several top colleges, including Ivies, so they didn't seem to care (but he also had a substantial list of 10 ECs w/out NHS).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If her kid really wants to know if colleges care she would take the initiative to ask her guidance counselor. This is not kid driven, it’s helicopter mother driven.

This is the perfect example of a situation where the mother should back off.

This is a perfect example of a situation where you should mind your own business. Do you really think a school counselor is going to tell a student that it's not worth joining a club, especially the NJHS, because colleges don't care about it, even if it's true? This board is more likely to provide unbiased information. That is, of course, if it isn't detailed by some nutter who thinks parents shouldn't help their kids get useful information to make an informed decision. Are you worried that if other parents help their kids make informed decisions your child can't complete, so you're trying to convince others to not hep their kids? Sad.

No, PP I agree completely with you. It makes far more sense to solicit anonymous opinions from parents about NHS than to ask a school guidance counselor. Take, for example, the parent who opined that elite colleges don’t care at all about NHS and the OP’s response to that person that she was “very helpful.” Sure, rely on that anonymous opinion instead of someone who actually has experience. Ok

So now your issue is that the forum is anonymous, not your original objection that OP is trying to get information for her child?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In our school district some of these honors come fairly easily if the kid meets the prerequisites.
-A student taking language AP, is very well positioned to get the seal of biliteracy and also be in the Foreign Language Honor Society
-A students with great GPA and some service component to their ECs will need to only put minimal effort to be in NHS or other honor societies.
-A student with 1580-1600 in SAT would not have a problem being a NMS finalist.

To make it effortless, students and parents need to know what the prerequisites are from start of HS. If NHS expects you to have 3.5 GPA and 60 hours of service hours during HS, these need to be addressed during the freshman and sophomore year, so that the student gains admission in NHS during junior year and is able to avail of the opportunities from this society.

My kid goes in a competitive school and mostly all of the peers will have similar stats. Being in NHS may not help, but not being in NHS will stand out.

No, it really won't stand out in college admissions. Especially if you have the finite number of slots in the common app filled with better things. They won't even know you didn't just leave it off.

[Anonymous]

My #1 was in Boy Scouts had tons of service hours and skipped NHS which he knew would require more service hours which were not a good use of time. My #2 had fewer service hours and joined as an easy way to get more in.

[Anonymous]

In some HSs, the prerequisite for invitation also is pretty high.

I have seen GPA ranging from 3.5- 3.7, and service hours from 20 hours to 60 hours in the NHS chapters of different HSs. In my kid's HS, they only want service hours earned in the HS years and not in middle school as a prerequisite. My DC has 300 service hours earned in MS, and while HS graduation requirement has been met, the NHS invite requirement has not been met because all of the service hours were earned during MS.

[Anonymous]

Op, here's some other feedback on the topic. https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/915258-national-honor-society-how-important-is-it.html