The NSLS works with your university to develop the criteria needed to be invited to join your local chapter. While the NSLS helps guide the selection process, it ultimately comes down to who your school thinks will benefit the most from our programming. These criteria are usually based on GPA or leadership potential. As a legitimate honor society, we value providing leadership programming to anyone who wishes to become a leader and take the reins of their success. Students can also self-nominate themselves to join if they want to become a member but didn’t get invited.

Members must meet specific nomination criteria that are specified by local chapter leaders (usually based on GPA and/or leadership potential). You're considered a pre-inducted member once you have paid your one-time registration fee. To become an inducted member, you must complete the Steps to Induction listed in the previous question.

Students who wish to join but haven’t been nominated can still apply for membership online.

As a member, you have access to a wide range of training resources, networking events, and learning opportunities designed to develop your leadership skills. To become a fully-inducted member, students must complete the Steps to Induction.

Learn more about the Steps to Induction and everything you’ll do as a member here.

The NSLS helps members develop the skills needed to succeed in the modern workforce. These skills, such as leadership, effective communication, teamwork, inclusiveness, and others, are all highly sought after by hiring managers and are the keys to success to matter your major, career path, or ambitions.

NSLS membership also unlocks benefits that may help your job search, such as an exclusive NSLS job bank, personalized letters of recommendation, and access to success coaching.

To learn more about NSLS membership benefits, click here.

Becoming an NSLS member is not only a nationally recognized honorable achievement that looks good on resumes, it also shows your commitment to self-development. Unlike other honor societies, the NSLS provides leadership development programming that helps you gain the actual skills needed to succeed in a crowded job market.

Yes, the NSLS awards over $400,000 in scholarships and awards every year. Members may apply for these scholarships after accepting their nomination.

To learn more about NSLS scholarships, click here.

Throughout your college career, you may be invited to a number of different honor societies. Sadly, in some situations, scammers may pose as fraudulent honor societies to take advantage of college students. It’s essential to know how to distinguish between a scam and an honor society that will provide value to you.

Look for the below criteria when determining whether or not an honor society is legitimate:

• Accreditation. Accreditation ensures an organization meets the minimum standards of quality that are set by a qualified and credible accreditation institution. The NSLS is fully accredited by Cognia. In addition, our courses have been reviewed and recommended for credit reciprocity by ACE and NCCRS.

• Transparency. The organization should be transparent about its member selection criteria, accountability, and purpose. As a certified B Corporation, or For-Benefit Organization, the NSLS meets the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to its purpose.

• Educational investment. Most legitimate honor societies require a one-time membership fee in order to become a member and gain access to all of the program’s benefits.

• Registration with the Better Business Bureau. Legitimate honor societies should be registered with the Better Business Bureau and maintain the highest rating possible. The NSLS currently maintains an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.

• Collaboration with thought leaders. The organization maintains strong relationships with highly successful, legitimate leaders across a variety of industries, which brings value to its members. The NSLS has worked with many notable, successful leaders to further our members’ education and growth.

Student success stories. A legitimate honor society will have testimonials and member success stories readily available. These stories should tell you how the organization helped members prepare for—and succeed— in their endeavors and the value it brought to their college experience.

Yes, the NSLS is a real, legitimate honor society. As a leadership honor society, our program and curriculum are focused specifically on leadership skill development and career preparation.

NSLS invitations are sent to select students based on their school’s criteria.

The NSLS’s leadership programming is delivered through a high-quality, thorough curriculum. Our program builds upon itself and requires the completion of culminating projects or activities that reinforce key lessons. Throughout this journey, members build their skills from the ground up and then apply those lessons to real-world projects.

Our leadership programming inspires members to think critically, develop a core purpose, build resiliency, and collaborate with empathy. We nurture a diverse community of leaders by providing hands-on experiences, skill-building activities, and time for self-reflection.

No. The NSLS is not a scam. The NSLS is a legitimate, accredited, and esteemed leadership honor society that is nationally recognized, with over 800 chapters and more than two million members at universities nationwide.

Reports of the NSLS being a scam are largely due to the fact that there are very real honor society scammers out there who take advantage of college students. The NSLS isn’t one of them. The NSLS partners with schools to bring leadership development to their campuses.

You can search through our chapter database to see more about the chapter you were invited to and our history with your school. So far, the NSLS has helped over two million members at more than 800 schools achieve success.

No, the NSLS is not a pyramid scheme. The NSLS delivers leadership development programming to students at partnering schools through local chapters on campus or online, depending on the school’s needs. If you have received an invitation to join the NSLS, your school has a local chapter led by a faculty advisor and a student-led Executive Board. Local chapters host events, help each other achieve their goals, and work together to complete the Foundations of Leadership program.

The NSLS National Office supports local chapters by developing curriculum, providing member benefits, and more.

The fee to join the NSLS helps us continually develop our curriculum and deliver new and engaging content to our members. Without a fee, we wouldn’t be able to reach as many future leaders as we do. To that end, we know that not everyone can afford the fee and have provided options to assist members who may be experiencing financial difficulties.

For more information, please consult the NSLS Knowledge Base.