What Questions Should Students Ask Before Paying for an Honor Society? A High School Counselor’s Guide
Last Tuesday, 15 minutes after the final bell, a sophomore named Mia and her mom pushed open my counseling office door. Mia’s little brother trailed behind them, sipping a lemonade from a gas station cup and dragging a pack of markers across the back of my whiteboard. Mia held a crumpled cream-colored envelope in her hand, the kind with gold foil lettering that screams “you’re special.” She’d gotten an invitation to join an honor society in the mail, and the organization wanted a $48 membership fee to secure her spot. Her mom already had her credit card pulled out of her wallet, ready to pay before we even sat down.
I’ve worked in public high school counseling for 12 years, and this scene plays out at least a dozen times every fall. Invitations hit mailboxes right when kids start thinking about college applications, and every year, parents and students walk in asking the same thing: Is this worth the money? I never say yes or no for them, but I always walk them through the same set of questions I’ve picked up from years of sorting out legitimate groups from useless, overpriced invitations.
First, I always start with, did you apply for this, or did they find you? Mia shook her head. She’d never heard of the group before, never filled out any form, never asked for a nomination. That’s the first red flag. Legitimate honor societies require some kind of process: teacher nominations, student applications, a review of grades and service work by your school’s faculty. Most of the pay-to-play groups you get random invites from just buy student contact and GPA data from school district directories. Any kid with a 3.0 GPA can get one of these invites, regardless of whether they’ve actually done anything to earn recognition. I once had a 9th grader come in with an invite his 7th grade little brother got in the mail at our school—his brother had a 2.7 GPA, the organization just bought an old list and spammed everyone on it.
Next, I ask them to find out what membership fees actually cover. We pulled up the organization’s website while we talked, and we searched for a breakdown of fees. All they said was that fees covered “administrative costs and membership benefits.” No details. If you can’t get a clear answer, that’s a problem. Legitimate groups will tell you what the money goes to: induction dinners, regional leadership conferences, scholarship funds exclusively for members, printing of official awards for college. A lot of the random national honor societies spend 80% or more of their membership fees on marketing to get more students to join, not on benefits for the people who already paid.
The biggest question most families miss is whether colleges actually recognize the organization. This is the reason most people pay up—they think the membership will look good on college applications. But 9 times out of 10, admissions officers don’t care about random pay-to-play honor societies. I had a senior a few years ago who joined three of these groups, spent almost $200 total, and when he got to orientation at his state university, he asked his admissions advisor if they’d noticed the memberships. The advisor laughed and said they barely glance at those, because they know anyone can buy a spot. If you’re not sure, just search the name of the organization plus “college admissions recognition” before you pay. Legitimate national groups like the school-based National Honor Society are widely recognized, and they almost never charge more than $20, and you apply through your school anyway.
I also tell students to ask if they can talk to a current member at their school to hear what they get out of it. If the organization doesn’t have a chapter at your school, or can’t put you in touch with a student who’s already a member, that’s a bad sign. Most of these groups just send you a fancy certificate and a generic welcome email, then never contact you again. One mom I worked with a couple years ago told me her son paid $60 for a membership, then got another invite a year later asking him to pay another $75 to upgrade to “senior distinguished membership.” It’s just a tiered system to get more money out of you, with no added benefits.
Last, check if the group is affiliated with your school. If your school doesn’t have a faculty advisor for the chapter, and your counselor has never heard of the group, that’s almost always not worth it. Mia’s invite wasn’t affiliated with our school at all, I’d never seen it in 12 years, which told me everything I needed to know.
I get the impulse to say yes, though. After we went through all the questions, Mia leaned forward and said, “It just felt nice, you know? No one sent me anything this year saying I got all A’s. This made me feel like my work mattered.” I get that. It’s a huge ego boost to get a personalized invitation in the mail saying you’ve been selected as one of the top students in the country. These organizations know that, and they exploit that feeling to get your money.
Mia decided not to pay the $48. Instead, she used that money to cover the registration fee for the school’s peer tutoring program, which she’d been wanting to join anyway. That gives her actual hands-on experience she can put on her college app, and it lets her work with other students, which she’s wanted to do. Her mom put the credit card away, her little brother erased his stick-figure drawing on my whiteboard, and they headed out.
I still get at least two emails a month from these organizations asking me to promote their invitations to our students. I delete every one. Every application season, I see a handful of students post their new honor society certificates on Instagram or bring them in to add to their application portfolios, and I don’t say anything if they already paid. It’s their money, and for some kids, the recognition alone feels worth it. But more often than not, asking a few simple questions before you pull out your card saves you from wasting money on something that doesn’t actually give you anything in return. It’s a good habit to build, anyway—learning to ask what you’re actually paying for, before you hand over the cash.
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