Fall was application season, and students were sick with honor society-itis. Seemingly everyone had Google forms littering their tabs for various honor society applications. As I combed through my own stack of Google forms, there were only so many flavors of the question “tell me about yourself?” I could answer, before I started asking one of my own: What’s the point of honor societies?
Some might argue that it strengthens a student’s application, helps members find a community of peers with the same interests and passions and, provides opportunities to grow soft skills and facilitates meaningful volunteer work, yet at Madison, these benefits are miniscule. There is no point in applying to honor societies if they will just take up time and not create any positive change.
One of the most common reasons for applying to honor societies is to bolster a student’s college application. However, according to college counselor Lisa Rouff at SchoolMatch4u, honor societies may not bear much weight on a college application.
“We don’t find that listing the honor societies on college applications makes any difference to a student’s admissibility.” Rouff said.
Furthermore, Rouff also notes that in her experiences as a college counselor, she has not found that colleges “make the distinction between students who are in honors societies vs. those who do not participate.”
The mass of students applying to honor societies solely to increase their chances of getting into their dream school also destroys another benefit: creating communities of students with like-minded interests. Whether that interest be science, english, art or music, there are a variety interest-based honor societies students can join. However, with a large handful of students only applying to honor societies to boost their college apps and wear fancy cords at graduation, the sense of community within the honor society takes a hit. This can be disheartening for students who apply to find others who share their same passions.
“When I enter honors societies, I expect community because these societies surround people with the same common interests and passion for a specific subject.” Sabrina Stefanik (’26) said. “Regarding the Thespian Honors Society I think that it does meet those expectations, however I don’t think I can say the same about other honor societies I’m in.”
If they don’t provide community, they must provide meaningful experiences and opportunities to grow as individuals. However, this benefit is limited at best. Outside of leadership positions, there are not many opportunities to grow skills or build character within honor societies. The commitment for honor societies at Madison are so light, it is nearly impossible that they give much value to students. Requiring only around two to five service hours pera quarter, they will connect members with service opportunities, but they will hardly change anyone’s life. With meager moral benefits for members, honor societies seem like a waste of time.
One may argue that honor societies teach their members the value of service. A hallmark of almost every honor society is a service hour requirement. In theory, this is a great idea and helps incentivize students to give back to their community. In practice, however, these requirements can feel just like another checkbox for students to cross off to keep their membership.
“I think through honor societies, people become so focused on getting the hour requirement and checking the box of meetings that they’ve lost sight of the ‘why’ for volunteering.” National Honor Society vice president Caitlin Schweers (’25) said.
Volunteering for the sheer purpose of keeping an honor society membership defeats the actual purpose of service. The action becomes meaningless and transactional when it should be thoughtful, driven from a real desire to serve and a true belief in the work being done. Honor societies should strive to emphasize the meaning of service to their members and encourage meaningful volunteering through projects their members truly care about.
“I think volunteering should be because you want to make an impact or difference, even on a small scale,” Schweers said. “Honor societies volunteer requirements make it so volunteering is just another box people have to check on their way to graduation.”
With a lacking sense of community, low application and moral benefits and questionable volunteer system, honor societies at Madison, seem more useless than useful. However, approaching honor societies from the right mindset and applying for leadership positions can enhance the overall experience. When talking to honor society members with profound love and interest in the society’s subject, they had a much better experience. Applying to these interest-specific societies can provide deeper understanding of the field of study and grow their curiosities in the subject. For example, social studies honor society Rho Kappa has helped expand Andrew Jolley’s (’25) relationship with history.
“Rho Kappa has definitely helped me grow my passion for history and developed it.” Jolley said. “It has shown me ways that I can work with history in our communities, whether that’s through volunteering at local museums, like the Freeman House, or doing work for national museums, like the US Holocaust Memorial Museum through our Holocaust Transcription Program.”
Additionally, membership to these interest-specific societies may also resonate more with college admissions officers.
“I think that specialized honor societies are a bit more compelling to colleges than broad ones because they show a student’s level of interest and specialization in a particular area.” Rouff said.
Additionally, students in leadership gain many more skills through honor societies. They develop skills in communication, such as better public speaking, planning skills and the ability to organize large groups of people. These leaders’ dedication and passion for their honor society community and subject shines through not only in their character but also on an application.
Are honors societies worth the effort? Like most things in our lives: it depends. It depends on the “why.” If we are trying to find a community of like-minded individuals to share ideas and build a sense of fellowship, then yes. If we are trying to gain valuable communication, organization and leadership skills, then yes. If we are doing community service to help people and to provide meaning and purpose for ourselves, then yes. If we are checking a box so that UVA or UPenn or Harvard even considers our application, it is time to find another use of our time because honor society membership will do little to help that. While honor societies themselves may have their flaws, it is also the way we interact with these groups that sculpts the experience. For leaders and passionate members, they have maximized the benefits of honor societies and have grown because of it. For those there for the college application help, they reap minimal benefits and may taint the experience for others. For these students, the cure for honor society-itis is to stop applying to honor societies and just enjoy the fall foliage.