r/highschool • u/MineBloxKy Senior (12th) • 1d ago
Question Is this a scam?
Tried looking it up, but didn’t really find anything.
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u/chicken______nuggets 1d ago
I got a letter like this a few months before I graduated high school back in 2019.
From what I gathered, it’s not necessarily a scam per se. I believe there’s a membership fee, but it is a community that gives you access to a scholarship “platform” and may help you network.
However, it’s not as prestigious or exclusive as they let on. If you are willing to pay the membership fee, you have access to its services. When I got the letter, I was briefly under the impression that I had been selected by a prestigious institution and my prospects for higher education had just gotten much more impressive (I had committed to a community college at that point because, while I was getting into universities , i was not receiving scholarships and had it in my mind that I wouldn’t be able to afford a university—turns out I was eligible for needs based grants, but I didn’t know that until after I started CC that fall).
Anywho, the moment I realized I had to pay a membership fee, I talked to a college specialist at my high school and he explained everything I just explained here.
I would just talk with the resources at the high school and the financial aid offices at the schools you want to go to. Chances are most of what the Honor Society claims to provide is already an existing (free) resource that’s there for you if you seek it.
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u/rainbow--skies Senior (12th) 1d ago
I’ve been getting these for like a year and it doesn’t really seem to be as exclusive as they claim, it seems like a money grab. I think they’re trying to confuse people into thinking they’re National Honor Society to make money.
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u/T_Rey1799 1d ago
I was in NHS, did absolutely nothing for me
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u/rainbow--skies Senior (12th) 1d ago
This isn’t even NHS, this is a group just called Honor Society that spam emails high schoolers and tries to cash in on NHS’s popularity.
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u/T_Rey1799 1d ago
Ah. Understood. Still tho, NHS did nothing for me
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u/rainbow--skies Senior (12th) 1d ago
As someone that’s currently in it I sort of get where you’re coming from. I don’t regret joining because it was a good way to get community service opportunities and it’s so common at this point that I think competitive colleges are kind of expecting most of their applicants to be members so it might look weird to them if you aren’t, but I don’t think it mattered as much as my grades, SAT score, essay, and other extracurriculars to determining what college I got into or anything like that.
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u/Denan004 4h ago edited 4h ago
First -- good for you in questioning if this is legit or not. You should always question unsolicited or confusing offers -- especially if they want your money or your data.
This company apparently took "Honor Society" from the actual "National Honor Society" and added a trademark symbol to the name and removed the "National". Is this to deliberately mislead students or parents? If they didn't want to confuse people, they would have chosen a different name. You decide.
Think carefully before giving them your money or any of your data. This is true for anything, not just this post.
Here are reviews from the BBB (Better Business Bureau). Some 5 star reviews are obvious fakes or non-students. Ignore the 5 star reviews - read the lower rated reviews. https://www.bbb.org/us/nv/las-vegas/profile/professional-organizations/honorsocietyorg-inc-1086-90026685/customer-reviews
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u/old-town-guy 1d ago
Well, I wouldn't say scam per se. It's a worthless group with no membership standards that charges a fee, so think of it more like "a big waste of money that you'd be embarrassed to be a part of," instead.