Is the National Society of High School Scholars Legit or Is It a Scam?

Author:
ologsinquito
Updated:
Feb 9, 2024 5:35 PM EST

My Child Was Invited to Join the NSHSS

One of my children received what appeared to be a prestigious academic award. What arrived in our mailbox was a creme-colored envelope addressed in nice cursive, much like a graduation invitation. The name of my child's high school was also penned on the envelope, making it seem like this was sanctioned by the administration.

At first, I was excited, but the contents were puzzling. My child was invited to join the National Society of High School Scholars, an organization based in Atlanta. Its acronym is NSHSS, a little like the very distinguished and highly regarded National Honor Society (NHS).

Inside the envelope was a letter that read, “Congratulations! Based on your outstanding academic achievement ... you have been selected for membership.” The letter went on to say that this invitation was extended to a “select group” of students.

Joining the organization would supposedly give access to $500,000 in scholarships and "academic competitions" to be awarded over the next year. A student could also list membership on a college application.

We were given a confirmation code and a membership form that needed to be returned with a $60 lifetime enrollment fee (note that the fee has now risen to $90). However, families that cannot afford this are given a waiver. Students who join receive a certificate and a t-shirt with a NSHSS logo.

The invitation packet also included a black bumper sticker that read, “Proud Parent of a Scholar: The National Society of High School Scholars NSHSS." If I wanted to, I could tell the world my child was part of an “elite” group. (However, I'm not really a bumper-sticker type of person.)

What the NSHSS Offers

A chance to earn scholarships and participate in "academic competitions." (Learn more about this below.)
You can cite membership on a college application.
A t-shirt and a bumper sticker.

National Society of High School Scholars
Tai's Captures on Unsplash; Canva

What Is the NSHSS?

I was interested enough not to throw the packet into the paper shredder without first learning a little more about the sender. So what is the NSHSS, and what does it do?

What is it?

The organization was founded in 2002 by Claes Nobel, a relative of the man who established the Nobel Prize, and James Lewis, who started the Golden Key International Honour Society. The board of directors is impressive and has included writer Maya Angelou and several Nobel laureates.

How many members does it have?

The NSHSS claims to be the "leading" (in terms of numbers) honor society in the world. So far, about 750,000 people from 160 countries have accepted an invitation.

Who is invited to join the group?

According to the organization's website, students must have met any one of the following criteria:

GPA: 3.5 or higher (4.0 scale)
SAT: 1280 or higher
PSAT: 1150 or higher
ACT: 26 or higher
AP: 4 or higher on any exam
IB: 36 combined test scores or higher
IGCSE: Grade A or higher
Class rank: Top 10 percent

Is it exclusive?

Given the eligibility criteria listed above, the NSHSS is not exclusive. There are widespread reports of grade inflation in U.S. high schools. So, if that's the case, membership is available to many.

Does NSHSS help with college expenses?
Pixabay image by PublicDomainPictures

Are the Scholarships Worth It?

The standard advice from guidance counselors and other college admissions experts is to skip any offer of a scholarship you need to pay for. I don't see how this is any different. Even though there are a number of opportunities open to just members, the odds of receiving money for your education are not in your favor.

The group so far has distributed more than $2 million in scholarships, and about 100,000 new members sign on each year, as reported on its website.

NSHSS Scholarships

The letter we received mentioned the opportunity to apply for exclusive scholarships. From the website, we learned that they offer the following awards:

First Generation Scholarship: 5 awards of $1,000 each
Innovation in Technology Scholarship: 5 awards of $2,000 each
College Freshman Scholarship: 5 awards of $1,000 each
Ambassadors of NSHSS Scholarship: 2 awards of $1,000 each
Your First Scholarship: 20 awards of $500 each
Claes Nobel Future Female Leader Scholarship: 15 awards of $1,000 each
Mental Health Awareness Scholarship: 5 awards of $2,000 each
STEAM Scholarship: 10 awards of $1,000 each
18 Under 18 Award: 18 awards of $1,000 each
Foundation Earth Day Award: 10 awards of $500 each
Young Leaders for Office: 5 awards of $1,000 each
Research and Academic Paper Scholarship: 10 awards of $1,250 each

If you add up all of those scholarships, it sounds like they award 110 scholarships per year. According to their website, around 100,000 new members join the society each year. If that's true, if you join the NSHSS, your chances of receiving one of their scholarships is about 0.0011%. That's pretty low!

Is NSHSS making money?

If 15% of the annual applications include waived or reduced fees, the number of new members would still generate $5 million a year. That's an awful lot of money for what seems like a relatively small return to the students.

Quick Facts About the NSHSS

The National Society for High School Scholars was founded in 2002.
It claims to have had more than 2,000,000 members across 170 countries since its founding in 2002.
About 100,000 new students join each year.
It generally costs $90 to join unless there is a hardship. Partial fee waivers are also available.
A relatively small fraction of those enrollment fees is given out as scholarships.

Is It a Scam?

The letter arrived either at the end of the school year or shortly after summer break started, so we weren't able to speak with our very competent guidance counselor about whether she recommended this group or even if she had any knowledge of it.

So I logged on to College Confidential, arguably the largest and one of the least-biased sources of college-related information on the web. In its online forum for students and parents, reviews of the NSHSS were mixed. Most posters didn't believe it was worth the money. Some people said it was a scam. Others compared it to playing the lottery.

The overwhelming consensus was that joining this organization was all right, but it wouldn't cast a student in a more favorable light or give them any advantage with highly selective universities.

I don't believe NSHSS is a scam in the classic sense of the word (when someone takes your money and runs), but it seems as if it might not be worth the money, time, and trouble.

Students are members for life. They receive a certificate and a membership card. The organization also furnishes a “personalized press release” (this is why you may see write-ups in your local newspaper about students being invited and accepted into the NSHSS).

My Child Decided Not to Join

Actually, I'd be embarrassed to have my child showcased this way, because it means we'd be buying this little bit of recognition. There are much better and more reliable sources for financial aid, including private scholarships and, most importantly, those offered by the educational institute your child will attend.

One of the stated benefits is the ability to list membership on college or job applications. However, considering how easy it is to become a member, it probably won't make much of a difference. Chances are that it also won't help fund a student's education since only a small fraction of new members receive a financial award.

There might be some marginal benefit later in the job market, because if someone quickly glances at a resume, they might assume the acronym stands for the more prestigious National Honor Society. However, it would be misleading for someone to join for that purpose.

In the end, we've decided the $60 fee would be much better spent on upcoming college applications. In reality, private scholarships are relatively rare and difficult to obtain. Most grant aid is awarded from the college itself once the student is accepted.

The College Process

Common Scholarship Scams and How to Avoid Them - Finaid
Fraudulent scholarships can take many forms. If you receive an offer that uses one of these tactics, be suspicious and protect yourself from scholarship scams.
Is My Child Ready for College? - Our Child Wasn't and Here's What Happened
Going away to college has long been seen as a rite of passage. But are all students ready to leave the nest?

What do you think about the NSHSS?

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 28, 2018:

During the summer, when no one can contact a high school guidance counselor. :)

Jeremiev on June 16, 2018:

I’ve been a meme era of NSHSS for 10 months now and I feel outraged because I received the invitation again today, and that is unacceptable, how a member that wants to become an Ambassador gets an invitation again. I’m calling them and making a complaint. I have a friend that received an invitation, and I told her that it was legit and convenient to be in the organization , but now I think that I gave her the wrong advice. And yeah it’s a coincidence that all invitation arrive in the summer time.

Frank Van Nostran on June 16, 2018:

My son received the NSHSS letter. m mWe reviewed it. Checked the Net. It's a piece of crap. No worth any effort at all not even the effort to write this opinion.

Shatira Phillips on November 20, 2016:

Hi everyone. My daughter is in 10th grade and got the letter too. After researching and talking to customer service there, we decided to join. The $60 was in my child's opinion was worth he welcome package..LOL, but to me it was worth being able to list this on her resumes for college. I feel the more the better. I know there are a lot of honor students world wide and though this program is not as hard to get in, I respect the fact that it honors kids still. If the $60 is too much for families, they send you a waiver in the mail and you mail it back. After that you are a member at no cost and they mail the welcome kit after that.

Brook on November 01, 2016:

I received the envelope while my brother did not, so I assumed it was put out to people who actually cared about their grades and test scores. After my family saw the amount of scholarships we could apply for, they thought the 60 dollars would be "nothing compared to what you'll get". Unfortunately that wasn't the case - no matter how many times I attempted, I never won anything. I was winning other scholarships, but none from NSHSS. This could just be chalked up to the fact that another kids entry was better than mine - which is, of course, 100% plausible.

Unless you're very confident in yours or your childs abilities, I would ignore this all together - and just go for scholarships outside of the organization.

thomas sherman on August 17, 2016:

nobel the man who set up nshss was my neighbor when he lived in milwaukee. he is a lightweight and a phony pure and simple. he sets up paper organizations and then asks for contributions. he is a glorified beggar. never had a job at the time that i could see. he was our "neighborhood environmentalist". thought the environment was going to be fixed at a very late date. he thought that because he was economically illiterate. i gave him a book by ezra mishan the first economist to oppose growth. by his own admission couldn't understand it. yet he poses as and considers himself an environmental leader.

thus on July 28, 2016:

Thank you for your post. I save at least $ 120 be cause i have 2 kids got the envelope

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 21, 2016:

Hi Imani, I think you know the answer. Thanks for reading.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 21, 2016:

Hi, everyone who has commented. Thank you for reading. I wrote this article several years ago. Each year around this time, this organization sends out a flurry of letters to students and their parents. For some families, the $60 is "worth" it. But read the above comment. For a low-income family, that is money that will be much better spent.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 21, 2016:

Hi Maddenlyn, yes, it seems like you would not be getting a good return on your investment and that $60 could be going toward books or living expenses when you get to college. Best of luck in your college choices.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on March 15, 2016:

Hi proudmum, I'm so happy to hear this worked out well for your daughter. She beat the odds and received one of those scholarships. For your family, it was a good return on your investment.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on February 15, 2016:

Hi Ransford, that's funny. Thanks so much for sharing and best wishes to you.

Ransford on February 15, 2016:

I received the letter a few days ago and I am not even in high school...

ologsinquito (author) from USA on January 23, 2016:

Hi Andre, I don't know what to tell you. I'm assuming you are a college senior. This is something to ask your guidance counselor. I have to think that admissions officers know about this organization, and realize that it's open to almost anyone.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on January 21, 2016:

Hi David, thank you for reading. Joining certainly didn't seem worth it to us. The odds of getting a scholarship are so low.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on October 12, 2015:

Hi Tori, our family didn't have unlimited finances to send our children to school. But we manage to do so, partly because we've avoided such offers. I can understand why you're feeling taken advantage of. Anyone can tour any college, as long as they can get there. This membership didn't seem to earn you any advantage. At least it was only $60.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on August 18, 2015:

Hi JD, if that's the case, then you didn't waste your money. Best wishes to you and your daughter. Thanks so much for reading.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on July 30, 2015:

Hi Darron, thanks for reading and best of luck with your college choices.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on July 27, 2015:

Hi Magdalena, I'm sure college admissions people are well aware of this organization and how letters are sent out to everyone. I'm of the mind that people should probably save their money, and use it for books or for another application, as you never know what type of financial aid package you'll receive. Best of luck in your college career. I'm sure you do very well.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on July 07, 2015:

Hi Jessica, thanks for reading.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on July 07, 2015:

Hi Keelyn and Sarah Jean, thanks so much for reading. It looks as if you both made very good decisions. Best of luck in college.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 29, 2015:

Hi Linda, thanks so much for reading.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 28, 2015:

Hi John and Tonya, thank you both for reading. One of the beautiful things about free speech is that we're all entitled to our own opinions and we can agree to disagree.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 27, 2015:

Hi Joy, thank you so much for reading. Best of luck to you and your son as you continue the college application journey.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 23, 2015:

Hi Kat and Jo, I agree with both of you. It's not a scam in the classic sense, but just not really worth the money. Thanks for reading.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 20, 2015:

Hi Eric, Marbella, Melissa, Jeff and Tracy, thanks so much for reading and for leaving your feedback. If I were a college admissions official, the NHS would carry so much more weight.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 19, 2015:

Alex, thanks for reading. Good luck in your college plans. Hi Joram, your grandson definitely doesn't need this, you are absolutely right.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 19, 2015:

Hi NotDoingIt, Danielle and Hailey, thanks so much for reading. I'm sure you will all do fine without these letters on your college applications, or your children's. The whole thing sounds too much like the legit NHS. NotDoingIt, of course the interviewers care mostly about your college record and achievements, as these are most relevant.

Cheyenne, do what you think is right. You have every reason to be proud of yourself and your parents should be proud of you as well. On your college apps, just be sure to highlight anything unusual (adult like) that you did while in high school. For instance, filming local city council meetings or something like that. Don't forget how much weight that essay carries either.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on May 18, 2015:

That's too bad they took your money, and you aren't getting anything in return. Thanks so much for reading and for commenting.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on April 02, 2015:

Hi NHSSParent, thank you so much for reading. I'm glad you're happy with the membership and I wish your daughter the best of luck. This is a very exciting time for her.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on February 28, 2015:

Hi NSHSS, thanks for your feedback. I'm glad this worked for you and your daughter and that she's doing so well. It is ridiculous how much of it comes down to politics.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on January 23, 2015:

I was leery of this organization for the exact same reason. Thanks so much for reading.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on August 14, 2014:

Hi Leslie, thanks so much for weighing in. Of course, employers probably don't care a bit about this widely available honor, and having lots of volunteer hours would certainly impress an admissions board more than this. We didn't see the need to do this either.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on July 31, 2014:

Hi AGADFA, I appreciate your input, but my son and I decided we didn't need this additional accolade. He did just fine without it.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on July 28, 2014:

Hi CropDoc, Landing a private scholarship that's attracting applicants from all over the country is a long shot at best. Plus, you shouldn't have to pay to apply. They do claim to waive the fee for families in need though. We decided to save the money.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on July 15, 2014:

Hi Sofa7, I'm happy the article helped you make a decision. Best of luck with your college plans.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on July 09, 2014:

Hi Greg, I think you're right. Money is better spent elsewhere. It sounds as if your children did not need this additional "award."

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 26, 2014:

Hi Monique, I have no doubt this group is legit and not breaking any laws. Everyone who gets a letter has to decide if it's worth it for them or not.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 26, 2014:

Hi SoccerMum, those are my sentiments exactly. It's not a scam in the classic sense, but just not worth the money. That $60 fee could instead go toward a used textbook. The one thing I do like, though, is that the fee is waived for those in financial need.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 25, 2014:

Hi Cynthia, thanks for reading. We experienced the exact same thing. The letters were sent out after the guidance counselor was no longer available.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 23, 2014:

Hi kokeb, no problem. Thanks for reading.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 22, 2014:

Hi David, the scholarships awarded by this organization are not guaranteed. Most scholarship money comes directly from the school you attend. Private scholarships are relatively rare, and the competition is intense. If you are looking for a private scholarship, you'll have less competition if you apply for local scholarships, such as through your credit union. Good luck in your college plans.

ologsinquito (author) from USA on June 19, 2014:

Hi everyone, thanks so much for reading. I appreciate the different perspectives.