<p>Hey -- do any of you have experience with Associated British Royal Schools of Music certificates/diploma? Otherwise known as ABRSM? It issues certificates and a diploma for 8 levels of testing for instruments such as the piano, violin, etc.</p>
<p>I was wondering if these certificates count as the "International" level of an award/honor on the CommonApp, since the ABRSM testing and certification process is offered around the world outside of England (I am a US Citizen btw).</p>
<p>I am using this credential as an EC/award/honor.</p>
<p>IIRC, on the Common Ap you simply self-report your ECs, so I would assume this is up to you. THE ABRSM certification is not common (although not unheard of in the US) and is more common internationally, so why not? I think part of the challenge of the Common Ap is trying to figure out where your own specific ECs and awards fit into their category so that the adcoms can get a clear idea of who you are at a glance.</p>
<p>Twinkie, the certificate is not itself an honor, but a credential. An honor would be winning Distinction on the ABRSM exam. To draw the analogy with the AP exam, taking and scoring well on the AP exam itself is not an honor, and shouldn’t be listed in the honors and awards section of the Common App. However, being an AP Scholar with Honors is an honor that may be listed.</p>
<p>An International level of honor would be winning a prize at the International Level, like the Queen Elizabeth competition on violin, for example.</p>
<p>Yea I got Distinction on them</p>
<p>Twinkie, that counts as a regional honor as that is how the ABRSM certificates are conferred.</p>
<p>Hmm, but on the ABRSM website, they say that the examinations are internationally benchmarked. Also, on the certificates, the International board, not the Regional board, is ensigned at the bottom. And does location of where the examinations proctored necessarily determine anything…? (I’m just confused about the premise of your statement) Like…AP tests are administered at school, and the AP honors/certificates (e.g. National AP Scholar), as well as National Merit, are conferred through the school, but that doesn’t necessarily make them school level or regional awards.</p>
<p>Hi, Twinkie:</p>
<p>It’s a subtle distinction. There actually is an International ABRSM Scholarship award given annually to four students chosen internationally to attend one of the 4 Royal Conservatories.<br>
That is clearly an International ABRSM Award.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that participating in a structured set of tiered exams and scoring highly on them counts as an award in the same way. I myself wouldn’t list it that way. It seems similar to listing a high score on the SAT as a national award.</p>
<p>stringkeymom, you’re being a little ridiculous and unnecessarily harsh to twinkie.
the abrsm exams are NOT like the SATs because the music exams require prerequisites. like, you can’t take grade x until you pass grade y theory. and stuff like that. it’s not like the sat where you can take it whenever, and the sat is also the base miinimum. the very fact that twinkie was able to take grade 8 is an accomplishment in itself.
at the same time, twinkie, passing all 8 grades does not mean that you have a diploma. the dipabrsm is another exam whose prerequisite is passing grade 8.</p>
<p>CR, I don’t mean to be harsh. I believe my comparison was to the AP Exams, for which most students have prepared via a year of Honors studies followed by an AP course in the subject. I am fully aware of what is involved in the ABRSM exams through Grade 8 and even Grade 10, and winning the Distinction is certainly an achievement to be proud of. I still don’t think it is what is intended by the international designation on the Common App. OP is certainly entitled to list it that way if she likes. As someone who spent decades on Graduate School admissions committees, I am just giving my opinion that it doesn’t quite seem to fit the category of an International Award.</p>
<p>Twinkie: AP National Scholar with Honors is administered by the College Board, not the school. Similarly, National Merits. I suppose you might make the case that your ABRSM Distinctions are like the National Merits, but I feel again there is a difference in a “grade” on the exam, like “Distinction” “High Pass” ete. as opposed to a national or international competition for further Honors or Awards based on performance on the exam, like the National Merit Letter of Commendation, Semi-finalist or Finalist awards.</p>
<p>ABRSM is international in that programs around the world use the ABRSM levels of grading (my S did it with music theory in one of the programs he was in). Knowing what I know of the ABRSM, the ‘high distinction’ is a grade level within the level, it is roughly equivalent to whether someone gets a 4 or 5 on an AP exam, it shows the level of achievement at that grade level. </p>
<p>From what I know of the common app I agree with stringkey, that they are looking for things like winning an international competition and the like (and I will add I am no expert on that, just my impressions). ABRSM is an international certification given that the program is used around the world and has merit as such, it shows you did something, and as such should def be on your common app, but I I don’t think it is what they mean by an international distinction. </p>
<p>Can I suggest something? E-mail the admissions department at one of the schools you are applying to and ask them what they see the international distinction as meaning, or ask them outright if they consider something like a certification with honors (which is what ABRSM level 8 with high distinction means) to be what you are asking ie an international distinction.</p>