My Honor Society FAQ's

Most questions are answered in the My Honor Society User’s Manual – please see below for pages on which you can find the step-by-step answers for these common questions:


How do I log into the My Honor Society system?  - see page no. 3
How do I change my password?  - see page no. 11
How do I change my contact information?  - see page no. 11
How do I set my chapter’s dues?  - see page no. 7
How do I invite students to join?  - see page no. 12-20
How do I send a paper invitation?  - see page no. 19
How do I send out reminder e-mails?  - see page no. 21-22
How do I order certificates? (Short answer: You don’t have to!)  - see page no. 23
How do I waive a student’s dues?  - see page no. 25
How do I accept cash or a check for a student’s payment?  - see page no. 25
How can I ask my incoming members a question?  - see page no. 30-33
How do I determine which of my incoming members wants which type of jewelry?  - see page no. 33
How can I look at a list of my chapter’s members?  - see page no. 35
How do I help a student who’s having trouble with the MHS system?  - see page no. 38

Answers for other questions:

The Registrar’s Office won’t release student e-mail addresses to our chapter – what do we do?
The MHS system requires that student e-mail addresses be uploaded into the system.  If your Registrar’s Office won’t release e-mail addresses to the chapter, have them contact us (or get us the name of the appropriate person in your Registrar’s office and let us get in touch with them).  We’ll explain all of the security mechanisms in place and (hopefully) change their mind.  If they are still unwilling to allow you access to student e-mail addresses, you will not be able to use MHS to manage your chapter’s invitations.

After I created my invitation group, I found out about some other students who should have been included.  What do I do?
It’s fairly simple to add new students to an invitation group.  Whatever you do, don’t create a new invitation group – that will just cause confusion later down the road.  You can add new members to your existing invitation group by logging into MHS and clicking on “Invitation Groups” in the left-side navigation bar.  Then, find the invitation group you’re currently working with (if you’ve given the group a “friendly” name, such as “Spring invitees 2012,” this should be easy), and click on the pencil icon next to the group name.  After the group loads, you can click on the “Invitees” tab, and you have two options:

  • If you’re only adding a handful of students, you can add them one-at-a-time with the “Add Invitee” button in the bottom right-hand corner of the “Invitees” table.
  • If you’re adding several invitees at once, you can upload another spreadsheet file with the student data.  Follow the same procedure as you did for uploading your first list of invitees.
  • Regardless of which method you use, after you’ve added your new invitees, make sure to click on “Send e-mail invitations” and follow the instructions that appear– this will send the invitations only to your new additions.

I want to get my letters ready to send, but the Registrar hasn’t gotten me my list of invitees yet.  Can I create an invitation group before I get my list of potential members?
You can, but with a few caveats.  If you need to create your physical letters of invitation before you’ve gotten your invitee data from the Registrar, you can do so provided that you’re very careful.  In this case, you’ll follow the instructions starting on pg. 12 of the MHS manual.  Go ahead and create your invitation group, name the group, and give the group an expiration and an initiation date.  You’ll now have an invitation code that you can insert into your physical letters.  Later, when you receive your invitees’ list from the Registrar, you can upload your new members to the existing invitation group, and proceed with the invitation process as outlined in the user’s manual.  You should be careful about the following:

  • Make sure that you’re uploading your list to the existing invitation group – DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES create a new invitation group.  If you create a new group, it will have a different invitation code than the one you included in your letter, and recipients of the letter will not be able to join your chapter via MHS.  To check this, when you click on the “Invitees” tab to upload your list of invitees, get a copy of the letter you’ve produced and make sure that the invitation code appearing at the top of the “Invitees” screen matches the one on the letter.  If it doesn’t, double-check that you’re working in the correct invitation group.  If you still don’t get the correct invitation code, stop immediately and contact the National Office.  We can help you recreate an old invitation code, but we can’t do anything for you once you have two active invitation codes out there.
  • Make sure you’ll have the list uploaded before the letters arrive.  Getting ahead is a good thing, but don’t get the cart ahead of the horse.  If your letters arrive at their destinations before you’ve gotten your list of invitees uploaded, your potential new members won’t be able to join.  Ideally, you should have your list in hand before your letters go into the mailbox.

My list of invitees opens perfectly in Microsoft Excel, but when I try to upload the file to MHS, the system hangs or I get a “file type not supported” error.  What do I do?
Microsoft Excel will open many file types besides the native Excel format.  Even if your file has a .xls or .xlsx extension, it may have been saved as a different format.  Re-open your invitee list in Excel, and then select “File -> Save As…”  Then make sure that the drop-down menu at the bottom of the “Save as…” dialog box reads “Excel Workbook” before you click “Save.”  This new file should be accepted by the MHS system without any trouble.

Why can’t my students choose between a key or a pin?
Due to unprecedented demand, National ALD’s supplies of the “insignia key” are exhausted.  We’re working with suppliers to get more keys in hand as soon as possible, but at the moment, all members will be receiving the membership pin.  When keys are available again, we’ll be offering them via MHS. (Chapters wishing to offer only one type of jewelry will also be able to override the jewelry question at that time.)

I prefer to allow/require my chapter officers to manage our chapter’s invitation process.  Can I set up our chapter’s profile to allow a chapter officer to manage our invitations?
Not directly, but this is possible.  You may simply add them to the system as a chapter sponsor (see pg. 9 of the MHS manual).  Keep in mind when adding them, if the chapter officer in question has joined ALD using MHS online registration, they must use an alternate e-mail address when being added as a sponsor. (MHS will not allow you to add a sponsor using the same email address used to join ALD.)   Once you have set the officer up as a sponsor, provide them with the password you established during the set up procedure. Make sure to delete the officer’s entry on your sponsor list after the officer is out of office. 

I can’t save anything on my chapter’s profile!
Most of the time, one of two things has caused this problem:

  • You may need to update your system’s Java software.  You can update Java through this site: http://java.com/en/download/installed.jsp  (Note: Some campus IT departments don’t allow users to install software; if that’s the case, contact your campus IT dept.)
  • If you’re using Internet Explorer, you may be operating in “Compatibility View” mode, which can cause errors with MHS.  If you see an icon that looks like a ripped-in-half sheet of blue paper in your browser’s address bar, you’re in Compatibility mode.  Click on the blue paper icon to disable Compatibility View, and then refresh/reload the page.
  • If neither of those solutions work, contact the National Office.

How do I order Honorary Member Certificates and Senior Certificates?
The current MHS system does not have any mechanism for advisors to order Honorary Member and Senior certificates. Until this feature is implemented, e-mail your chapter’s honorary member list before your Invitation Group’s expiration date and your senior certificate list when needed to elaine@nationalald.org.

Can I attach a file to my chapter's invitation and/or welcome e-mail messages?
Unfortunately, no.  However, if you need to get a file to your chapter's invitees, you can upload the file to a file-sharing service such as Dropbox or Google Docs, and then include a link to your file in the e-mail.