By Samantha Moll
Each year, about 20 percent of Northeastern freshmen, sophomores and middlers receive invitations and e-mails to join the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS).
According to the organization’s website, the honor society will look good on resumes and graduate school applications. But the prestige has a price – a membership fee of $75.
The group is an honor society that invites students who are in the top 20 percent of their class and have a 3.4 GPA or higher to join. Founded in 1994, the society currently has 229 campus chapters nationwide and 165,699 current undergraduate members. Northeastern’s campus chapter of NSCS was established in 2000 and has 3,502 lifetime members, including alumni.
Though NSCS’ invitations promise prestige, some have never heard of it, including Clay McShane, head advisor of the History Department, and Joyce Khoury, coordinator of admissions in the School of Education.
Khoury said that unless the NSCS offers very specific benefits, like large scholarships, it is not worth it for students to pay for membership.
According to the NSCS website, scholarship opportunities are limited. Fewer than 100 members receive scholarships each year, nationally.
Jordyn Linsk, a senior psychology and communication studies major, is Northeastern chapter president.
“The membership fee provides lifetime membership to the organization. By joining, members have scholarship and leadership opportunities that otherwise would not have been there,” Linsk said.
NSCS holds a convention each summer in a different city in the United States. The three-day NSCS Convention is open to more than 1,000 members. The cost of attending the convention is $299, not including travel or accommodations.
Despite those costs, Evans Erilus, the Northeastern chapter’s advisor, said the NSCS is based on community service, so he said he encourages all members of the Northeastern chapter to volunteer.
Chris Hoogewerff, a freshman business major and recently elected vice president of public relations for the Northeastern chapter of NSCS, said the Northeastern chapter focuses their community service on mentoring local youths to encourage them to graduate high school and go to college.
However, community service is not required of members. Many choose to pay the membership fee but never participate in community service opportunities offered by the NSCS, Erilus said.
“It is only worth paying $75 to join an association or organization if you plan to become an active member and/or it offers some specific benefits in addition to mere membership,” said Tina Mello, associate director of Career Services. “Simply listing it on a resume is going to have minimal impact on an employer’s decision unless the student is able to articulate their participation and the value of the association in an interview.”
Nancy Warner, associate director of student services in the Bouv’eacute; College of Health Sciences, said she believes graduate schools and potential employers would focus more on grades than on whether an applicant is a member of the NSCS or not.
“I try not to give hard opinions about this to students but I encourage them to think about what personal value the recognition may have for them, or for their parents,” Warner said.
Philip Andrusin, a middler electrical engineering major, declined his invitation to NSCS.
“I didn’t really see the point, even though my mom wanted me to join,” Andrusin said.
