NSLS - National society of leadership and success

[nykorn]

I got an invite Email on Friday (saw it today on Sunday). It was sent straight to my WGU school Email, which I don't give out to random places. My 2nd term at WGU ends in a month from now and I have been in good standing. Someone online states invitations are usually sent out every January and August. Several college students immediately contacted their advisors upon getting the Email, at which point their advisors told them it's legit. The Email I got states:

Title: You Are Invited to Join the NSLS Honor Society
Sent by: (a WGU staff member's Email account ending in .edu)

Body: (Contains the WGU university logo)

Join the NSLS Honor Society

Dear (Name),

We’re pleased to share that you have been invited to join WGU’s chapter of The National Society of Leadership and Success (NSLS).

NSLS invitation is awarded only to select WGU students and is a great way to stand out from the crowd while networking with other success-driven students.

Congratulations on your invitation! Your achievement of a greater than 98% SAP at WGU provides you the opportunity of joining the NSLS as a Presidential member.

Accept Your Invitation
Invitation Code: (redacted)
Your acceptance deadline is February 18, 2025

By accepting your invitation, you will be well positioned to maximize your leadership potential and distinguish yourself among your peers and future employers with certificates and digital badges that can be achieved online at your own pace.

Membership is also a great complement to your current studies and helps develop the critical soft skills needed to succeed academically and professionally no matter where you are in your career, such as communication, team-building, and emotional intelligence.  

In addition, you will gain access to a five-step, self-paced leadership program. Membership benefits include scholarships, an online job bank, a personalized letter of recommendation, and discounts at major brands that may save you hundreds of dollars each year.

Leading Figures Talk About Accepting the Invitation

A formal acknowledgment will be sent to your home in 7–10 days. You do not need to wait until you receive it to get started. Visit http://www.nsls.org and enter your invitation code, (redacted), along with your one-time registration payment to access your member benefits right now.

Sincerely,
The National Society of Leadership and Success

You are not on an email list. This email is being sent at the request of WGU’s chapter.

(The Email footer is WGU's marketing Email footer)

Bill Nye the Science Guy is in their video!! So is Obama and George W. Bush.

Their FAQ says in order to get in you must be nominated by a school faculty member, then the head of your local (school) chapter must approve the nomination.

From reading online, you have to pay over $95 to get "in", then pay more if you want any certificates. I'm not sure about this and am trying to do more research online about it. I'm not a bad student but I've gone to several colleges and universities and I've never been invited to this kind of club before. There are mixed reviews on if it's worth it or not, most saying it's not however most talking about it also haven't joined it in the first place. One person supposedly impressed a hiring manager with it. Quite a few people said they joined as personal motivation to keep up their studies and it really helped them at the time since their grades or motivation had started to slip.

Most of their supposed "deep discounts for members" available as a preview are discounts you can get from anywhere even without being a member of anything, or even just for playing some online games. Example: 40% off your first Hello Fresh order. There are no discounts advertised on their main page I could use - I don't even have any of the cinema chains anywhere near me.

Their personalized letter of recommendation, according to one comment, is automatic and can be saved as a PDF or printed out as soon as you pay the fee.

I haven't gotten the physical invitation in the mail yet.

There is definitely some shady stuff going on with this, but my relatives think it sounds legit and par for the course. According to this article, chapter heads try to recruit people because chapters have dues to pay that can be over $2,000 and with each new person they recruit they get a $5 to $10 credit towards their annual dues!

Some guy on Quora says:

After completing all the Executive and Advanced classes, I was able to give the transcript to my university (the University of Central Oklahoma) and the courses counted for 9 credit hours towards my degree electives. This was a huge deal at the end of my college journey, as I was able to take my final capstone in the summer and receive my degree without another semester of schooling. I did accept the special discount for paying for the Advanced and Executive classes right when I enrolled in the NSLS otherwise it would have been a lot more money.... The classes do take some time to complete. They give you like 2 1/2 years to finish all of them... the main reason, and most importantly for most people, I believe, is the possibility to turn your work into college credit.

Their courses are recommended for credit by American Council on Education (ACE) and the National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS). I'm in a Masters, so I have no electives. And Sophia would be cheaper.

There are some other comments saying it is a mixed bag depending on where you live. Supposedly if your local chapter gets you access to roles like social media manager, treasurer or other stuff it can be worth it to have that volunteer experience.

A LOT of the comments regarding this club in general were either written by robots or are just a summary of whatever they read in the above person's writing. Regardless of if they thought it was worth it or not, it is looking hard to find credible looking people who have actually tried to join it.

Here is one lady's experience of it, with a lot of detail on how it gave her confidence