National Junior Honor Society: Requirements, Selection, and What It Means for College
By Rona Aydin
What Is the National Junior Honor Society?
The National Junior Honor Society is the middle level counterpart of the National Honor Society. The National Principals Association, long known as the National Association of Secondary School Principals, founded it in 1929, eight years after it founded the high school society. The organization states the purpose in five parts: creating enthusiasm for scholarship, stimulating a desire to render service, promoting leadership, encouraging responsible citizenship, and developing character.
Membership is local. There is no national application and no national test. Each chapter belongs to a school, is run by a faculty adviser the principal appoints, and selects its own members under national rules. NJHS reports chapters in all 50 states and in schools abroad, serving more than one million students.
Who Is Eligible for the National Junior Honor Society?
A student must be enrolled at a school with an active chapter and must have completed the equivalent of one semester there. Chapters may consider students in grades 6 to 9, and each chapter’s bylaws say which of those grades it considers and when.
Two limits catch families by surprise. Sixth graders must be in their second semester before they can be considered. And ninth graders are eligible only if they attend a middle level school with an active chapter. A ninth grader at a traditional high school that covers grades 9 to 12 cannot join NJHS and waits for the high school society instead.
What Are the National Junior Honor Society Requirements?
Selection rests on five pillars. Scholarship comes first: only students who meet the GPA standard become candidates, and the faculty council then weighs the other four.
| Pillar | National rule | What the chapter decides |
|---|---|---|
| Scholarship | Cumulative GPA of at least 85, B, or 3.0 on a 4.0 scale | Whether to set a higher GPA |
| Service | Voluntary contributions made without compensation | Whether to require evidence of service to the school, the community, or both |
| Leadership | Experience drawn from school or community activities, working with or for others | What evidence of leadership it requires |
| Character | Cooperation, honesty, reliability, courtesy, and respect for others | Whether the council reviews disciplinary records |
| Citizenship | Civic engagement and respect for freedom, justice, and democracy | Its own requirements for this pillar |
The GPA line is a floor. A chapter can require a 3.5 or a 3.7, and the national office will not ask a chapter to lower a higher standard that was properly adopted. The number that applies to a student is the one in the school’s own published procedure.
How Does Selection Work?
Members are chosen by a five member faculty council. The principal appoints the council and the chapter adviser, and a majority vote of the council is needed to select a student. The process ends with an induction ceremony.
Every chapter must publish a description of its selection procedure in an official school publication, such as the student handbook or the school website. That document tells a family when candidates are identified, what form or evidence the student must submit, and how the pillars are weighed. If it cannot be found, the principal can name the chapter adviser.
Oriel Admissions advises families to read that procedure a year before the student would be considered. Most of what the council looks at, including service hours, leadership roles, and a clean record, has to exist before the form arrives. A student who starts collecting it the week the invitation comes is usually too late.
What Do Members Have to Do?
Membership carries obligations, and the adviser should give new members a written copy of them. They may include chapter meetings, chapter service projects, and individual service requirements. Some chapters charge dues to cover expenses, and national rules cap dues at $20 per year.
The service is real work. NJHS reports that the average chapter contributes 650 hours of school and community service and $1,000 in charitable donations each year.
What Is the NJHS Outstanding Achievement Award?
It is the national award for members. Each year 500 students are selected and each receives a $500 college savings plan. Any active member in good standing with a verified NJHS student account can apply, and there is no limit on applicants per chapter.
| Step | Date |
|---|---|
| Application opens | November 2, 2026 |
| Submission deadline | January 29, 2027 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time |
| Applicants notified | April 2027 |
How Is NJHS Different From the National Honor Society?
The two societies share a parent organization and a GPA floor, and they differ in grade, pillars, and awards.
| Feature | National Junior Honor Society | National Honor Society |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 1929 | 1921 |
| Grades | 6 to 9 | 10 to 12 |
| Pillars | Scholarship, service, leadership, character, citizenship | Scholarship, service, leadership, character |
| Minimum GPA | 85, B, or 3.0; chapters may set it higher | 85, B, or 3.0; chapters may set it higher |
| National award | Outstanding Achievement Award: 500 members receive $500 each | NHS Scholarship: $2 million to 600 seniors in the current cycle |
A student is selected for each society separately, by the chapter at the school the student attends at the time.
Does the National Junior Honor Society Matter for College Admissions?
Not as a line on the application. College applications ask for honors earned from grade 9 onward, so middle school membership is not usually listed in the Common App Honors section. The one exception is a ninth grader at a middle level school, whose membership falls inside the window.
What carries forward is the record behind the membership. The council looks for the same things selective colleges later look for in a different form: strong grades, service a student chose and kept up, and responsibility for other people. A student who uses the chapter’s service requirement to find one cause and stays with it through high school has the start of an activity that reads well in grade 12. Our guides to extracurricular activity tiers and leadership activities explain how admissions readers weigh that later work.
In the view of Oriel Admissions, the right way to treat an invitation is to accept it and keep it in proportion. Membership is common among strong students, so it rarely sets an applicant apart. The hours are better spent on one or two commitments the student cares about than on collecting memberships. Families planning the first year of high school can continue with our freshman year plan.
What If the School Has No Chapter?
Then membership is not available to its students. A chapter can be chartered only by the school administration, so a parent cannot start one independently, and a student cannot join through another school. A family that wants one can ask the principal to look at the steps for starting a chapter.
A student at a school without a chapter loses nothing that a college will see. The same service, leadership, and grades can be built through any school club, community organization, or independent project.
Frequently Asked Questions About the National Junior Honor Society
Chapters may consider students in grades 6 through 9. Sixth graders must be in their second semester, and ninth graders are eligible only at a middle level school with an active chapter.
The national minimum is a cumulative GPA of 85, B, or 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. A chapter may set a higher requirement.
No. Students are selected by a five member faculty council through the chapter at their own school. A student at a school with no chapter cannot become a member.
Chapters may charge dues to cover expenses, and national rules cap them at $20 per year.
No. NJHS serves grades 6 through 9 and has five pillars. The National Honor Society serves grades 10 through 12 and has four. A student is selected for each one separately.
It gives the Outstanding Achievement Award. Each year 500 members receive a $500 college savings plan. Applications for the current cycle open November 2, 2026 and close January 29, 2027.
Colleges ask for honors from grade 9 onward, so middle school membership is not usually listed. Oriel Admissions advises families to treat it as a starting point for service and leadership that continue in high school.
Only at a middle level school that has an active chapter. Ninth graders at a traditional high school covering grades 9 through 12 are not eligible.
Sources: NJHS: How to Become a Member, NJHS: Who We Are, NJHS Outstanding Achievement Award, National Honor Society: How to Become a Member, The NHS Scholarship
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