Top 9 National Honor Society Benefits You Should Know About

If you’ve entered high school, you’ve probably heard about the national honor society from your teachers and guidance counselors. They push students to join up for a reason.

There are many National Honor Society benefits to consider. If you can put it on your college resume, it might boost your chances of getting in.

They’ll teach you valuable leadership skills, and you’ll be able to take advantage of internships. You’ll also make new friends who will push you to better yourself.

These are only a few reasons why you should start the application process as soon as possible. Keep reading to learn more about why you should join and find out what the requirements are.

Also Read: 7 Tips for Students to Overcome Laziness

What is the National Honor Society?

The national honor society is an organization that recognizes outstanding high school students. Together, they take part in volunteer events and projects to better serve the community.

By helping out, students learn valuable skills that they can apply to their lives after graduation. They’re also recognized for their academic successes and milestones. There are chapters scattered throughout all 50 states with over a million students participating.

How Do You Become a Member?

As you most likely gathered from the description, the high school honor society doesn’t let just anyone join up. They have strict guidelines that students have to meet.

Grade Requirements

To be considered for admission, students have to have at least a 3.5 GPA. This adds up to about a B+ average. Keep in mind that some local chapters require potential members to have a higher GPA than this.

Students have to maintain the average throughout their time with the organization. If their grades drop down below the requirement, they’ll no longer be considered a member.

Leadership

Leadership is a big part of the national honor society. To this end, it will help your application you’ve been in that type of role before.

If you’ve been the team captain of a club or you were part of organizing a big event, this is something that you should mention when signing up.

Service

Interested students should show knowledge of their community. You may be asked to give examples of a time when you helped someone out.

In some cases, you have to perform a certain amount of volunteer work before you qualify for membership.

Character

The last requirement is character. You have to prove that you are an exceptional member of society. In most cases, a written letter of recommendation from a teacher will be enough.

Filling Out Your Essay

As part of the application process, you’ll have to write an essay. This can be enough to send some students into a panic, but you’ve got this.

Be Professional but Unique

When writing a serious paper such as this, you do want to have some professionalism. This being said, it doesn’t have to read as stuffy. You’re allowed to be creative.

In fact, allowing for some creativity will help your paper stand out from all the others. Something that some students will do is pick a huge event from their life and work their entire essay around it.

You can use something as major as starring in the school play or as simple as your experience working with one of your favorite teachers.

Talk About Your Academic Achievements

The national honor society only lets the best students join up. That means you’re going to have to impress them with your academic prowess.

Talk in detail about all the awards you’ve won. If you’re in AP courses, you’ll want to mention that. It doesn’t hurt to name-drop a few teachers that you’ve worked with as well.

Include Your Non-Academic Achievements Too

What you do outside of the classroom matters in the eyes of the organization. This is where you’ll list all your volunteer work. Use a section to discuss how you’ve impacted the community.

Mention how you made a difference rather than keeping things to a simple list. You can also mention your hobbies or talk about how you participated in a community-run play. It’s all about showing the honor society what kind of personality you have.

Be Sincere

You want to discuss your achievements without coming across as a braggart. They’ll be able to tell if you’re trying to fluff your piece up so you can impress them.

It will have the opposite effect. They want you to be sincere. List of your flaws as well as your positive points.

Proof Read

You’re not done after you’ve finished the paper. You won’t be able to convince the organization that you’re an exceptional student if your paper is full of spelling and grammar errors.

Always double-check your writing. We recommend reading out loud. This will help you hear your mistakes more clearly.

You can also hand your paper off to a family member or teacher to read. You have an attachment to your essay that may get in the way of you looking at it objectively. Your teachers do not.

How Much Does It Cost?

Unfortunately, joining the national honor society isn’t free. The good news is that that the packages are pretty affordable. They start at 65 dollars every 6 months.

What you get out of the deal makes it more than worth it. You’ll have access to free test prep tools, job listings, and amazing career guides. All these benefits add up to a total value of over 1000 dollars.

Will It Increase Your Chances of Getting Into College?

The big question is, will be joining the honor society help you get into college. The answer is, it depends. Simply being a part of the organization will look good this is true, but it still won’t help your odds that much.

What colleges care about is what you do as a member of the organization. The volunteer hours you put in and the experiences you rack up are what will really make your application stand out amongst all the others.

1. Conferences

Now that you know more about the honor society and how to join, it’s time to discuss why you should bother. What do you get out of it besides a little test prep and career help?

First of all, as a member, you’ll be eligible to attend a number of conferences and summits. The biggest one is the LEAD conference. Here, you’ll learn a great number of leadership skills and run into a ton of networking opportunities.

There’s also National Student Leadership Week. This is where the organization recognizes budding leaders in the community. Since you’re part of the club, you might be one of the people that get recognized.

If you miss the LEAD conference, you’ll have another chance for networking at the State summits. This event will allow you to collaborate with mentors to address real problems in your community.

2. College Admission and Scholarships

Perhaps the biggest bonus of being in the honor society is the college help. While being a part of the organization will help your chances of getting into a good college, you’ll still need a killer application.

The honor society holds classes and webinars that will help you out with the entire process. This includes planning for what happens after you get that acceptance letter in the mail.

One of the hardest parts of going to college is paying for it. The national honor society hosts webinars that are full of helpful financial planning tips.

They can also help you pay for college via scholarships. Since you won’t have to worry about paying back hefty student loans when you get out of college, you can focus on building your career.

3. Jobs and Internships

The honor society is partnered with many professionals in the area. This will open doors for members in terms of internships and jobs. You’ll be able to use all this experience to buff up your resume for your future career endeavors.

As an honor society member, you’ll also hear many different key speakers that come from a variety of fields. Getting in-depth information about the career you’re interested in can be crucial to your success.

4. Student Networking

You won’t only get a chance to network with mentors and industry professionals. You’ll also meet like-minded students and forge lifelong friendships.

They’ll provide a little friendly competition that will push you to better yourself throughout your high school years. They’ll hold you accountable to do your part for the organization.

Your peers can even provide extra motivation once you get out of high school. By communicating with high achievers, you’ll be more likely to achieve big things as well.

5. International Travel

International travel isn’t something that everyone can afford to do. By studying abroad, you’ll get the chance to experience a bunch of different cultures. You’ll also learn a new language, and meet interesting people.

You’ll be exposed to varying educational styles that will allow you to see your field of study in a brand new light. You won’t have to stick to the main destination. You’ll get a chance to explore all the surrounding countries too.

When you experience a country’s culture, you’ll gain an appreciation for it. You may find new interests that you never would have been able to explore otherwise. On top of everything else, studying abroad in other nations looks great on resumes.

6. It Will Push You to Make Better Grades

Again, to be part of the national honor society, you have to make certain grades in school. If you fall below the required GPA, you’ll get kicked out of the organization.

This will push you to study and make better grades. The national honor society also offers SAT study help, which will assist you with getting the points you need to get into the school of your dreams.

7. You’ll Improve Your School and Community

The national honor society is all about doing your part for the community. You’ll be participating in projects that can clean up your neighborhood.

You’ll also be doing your part for your school. As an honor society member, you’ll be able to bring attention to key issues and have the opportunity to make things better for your fellow students. This is something that you’ll carry over with you when you graduate from high school and become a college student.

8. Mentors and Advisors

The conferences and summits are going to be full of mentors and advisors that can help you along in your journey. You’ll get to listen to these professionals talk about their field.

You’ll get the chance to ask them any burning questions that you may have. They once sat right where you are and are committed to giving students like you the advice they need to succeed.

9. You’ll Become a Better Leader

The honor society doesn’t only build better students. It creates leaders. You’ll attend courses that will help you work on your communication skills.

You’ll get to weigh in on issues concerning your school’s national honor chapter and suggest changes to make it better. Having these leadership skills will help you stand out in college.

Good communication is also a skill that many employers look for in a candidate.

Surprising National Honor Society Benefits to Keep In Mind

Are you looking for ways to help your community? Do you want help with college? These are all national honor society benefits that you can take advantage of if you join.

They do have stringent requirements, but if you can make the grades and show that you’re an outstanding citizen, you’ll be well on your way to greatness. If you’re looking for more ways to succeed in school and advance in your chosen career path, visit our blog for additional articles like this one.