I was joking, actually, but now that you point out real scams, I’m not so surprised.
At my school, there was no application involved. I had a graduating class of 20; teachers had a pretty good grasp of students’ activities and what not.
There was one kid, let’s call him T, who ended up being his class salutatorian. He was also the first-grade teacher’s son (I went to a K-12 school–all ages under one roof). Of course, he assumed he would be inducted. He wasn’t. He ran upstairs and cried to his mother, which essentially explains why he was not inducted. T was never a criminal or anything, but he was cocky by nature and could not face any adversity without throwing a crying fit. Every teacher in school knew this, and they were sick of it.
In direct reply to the OP, your daughter should certainly apply. There’s certainly no harm in it. Then again, I was NHS president, so I’m a little biased.
The gold braid I got to wear at graduation really rocked.
I considered it one of those things that didn’t hurt and could have maybe helped. In my day (early 70s) and the schools I applied to (Pitt, Cal-U) bigger importance was having the money to pay for it all. 
Yeah, the community service requirement came about later. I don’t know exactly when. I had to track members community service (and their GPA’s.), but none of that went in to NHS. Maybe some schools/advisors fudge on that stuff, but my school took the whole thing seriously, and I did, too.
Speaking from relatively recent experience, one kid graduated HS 2015, the other 2018, 2 different schools, both NHS members.
It’s not a scam. There’s NSHSS (National Society of High School Scholars), which is a scam and sends out letters trading on the similarity of their names, but NHS is recognized as legit and has just minimal fees. http://www.collegeprepresults.com/is-nshss-national-society-of-high-school-scholars-a-scam-or-a-real-award/
Schools have leeway in interpreting the community service requirements. One kid’s school had them do 20 hours of outside projects which they found on their own and they had to bring in letters stating how many hours of service they performed. I think that they had just one NHS service event. The other kid was scheduled by his school’s NHS for 3 or 4 school-based projects and events like ushering at school plays and concerts and open houses. They even had special yellow blazers for the NHS kids to wear at events. I was afraid that we’d have to pay for the ugly blazer, but the school provided them; they had a rackful of assorted sizes.
And like others have said, it’s a line to include in the graduation program. It’s a recognition of hard work and achievement.
The NHS keg parties were the best.
I was elected president of NHS my senior year in Highschool. I was absent the day [del]we[/del] they voted and won by a landslide. No projects, just weekly meetings that were basically study hall time. I put it on college applications!
This is the sole reason for its existence. Not as important as GPA, SAT, class quality, letters of recommendation. But more important than being VP of the debate club.
Note that once you get into a college its importance disappears. There’s no point in putting it on a job resume 4 years later.
We’re going out tonite to a local brewery for beer and dinner. I’m going to make an effort to bring up my NHS Presidency to at least three people. Unless my gf kills me after the first or second.
I became a member as a junior. In my day, it was considered useful on college applications, since it put you among the top of your class. It was a small school, so members were chosen by the faculty.
I don’t recall it even being a thing at my my private college prep high school. There was some honors recognition thingee but no application for it. You got the grades and avoided getting so many demerits and they gave you a patch and a certificate. My first thought was maybe it was the NHS but there was no service requirement.
Apparently, my school that sold itself based on college admissions didn’t think it mattered in the 80s.
So, last night started off great. Bartender asked me if there was anything new with my life. Seeing my opportunity, I replied, “did I ever tell you I was National Honor Society President my senior year in Highschool?” She smiled, served my beer, then walked away.
A few minutes later, a guy my age approached and introduced himself. The bartender is his daughter. He’s intrigued by my NHS information but is totally confused as to how this topic came up in conversation. It took awhile, but I explained.
He hung out with us till last call, bringing up the fact that I “used to be a genius” each time someone new came in. Weird night.
it’s mildly distressing that universities would put any stock into something that is literally no more than checking a box.
I have my doubts that they actually do, and would like to see some evidence of it. I would think that with SAT/GPA and AP classes they have what they want to know, and meaningful extracurricular activities would be what really matters.
You have to go through a teacher committee, and kids are kept off because of concerns about character. Kids are also kicked out if they are caught cheating (usually there’s one warning) or otherwise have disciplinary problems. Like I said, very minor red flag. It probably wouldn’t even register unless there was a second indicator that their might be a problem–like something in the letter of recommendation, or even an essay that make a kid sound like a grade-A douche. This would be especially true if it was a kid from a school that had a robust and active NHS that virtually everyone with the grades was in. On the other hand, if the kid had a glowing letter of rec that talked explicitly about their strong character/integrity, then not being in NHS likely wouldn’t matter at all.