<p>My friend and I are on different sides of the fence. I thought that middle school stuff doesnt apply for college and she said that it does. So which of us is right?</p>
<p>You.</p>
<p>But before I make that definite, what are the achievements? Some might be alright.</p>
<p>Mainly they were just some volunteer work and student council, and one other friend had a student of the year award, even though our school gave three others that year too.</p>
<p>In general, they don't count.
Only mention it if it's something EXTREMELY prestigious, to the point where it would be a true hook.
But anything below the national level would not count, and even then...eh.</p>
<p>No, those have no place on an application. You're the one who's right. (It would have to be something AMAZING for it to go on.)</p>
<p>oh damn I was the "Social Studies Student of the Year" for the state in 6th grade</p>
<p>ugh, i won the school spelling bee in 5th grade. and youre telling me that wont be a hook? omgomgomgomg now i am going to be rejected from all my schools.</p>
<p>^Andrea brings up a good point. I think the national spelling bee champ (note: national) is generally an 8th grader and should put it down.</p>
<p>if the activity is being continued into high school, then it would count.</p>
<p>...and i worked so hard on those middle school science fairs so i could get into a good college</p>
<p>WHY is it that nobody cared to tell me this stuff back in 6th grade?</p>
<p>bummer. and i got grand prize.</p>
<p>I don't know what the correct answer is or if it's any sort of hook, but I would think that if a student finished in the top 10 in the National Spelling Bee or the National Geography Bee while in middle school, they should note this somewhere. It should not be #1 on their list, but it should be included. Most normal people (of which I would include admission committee folks), understand that this is a significant national achievement. More to the point--a student who has this on their record, likely has a ton of other great later achievements and won't need to rely on this for acceptance, but it will be an interesting footnote.</p>
<p>what about awards in Academic Pentathlon(middle school)</p>
<p>Putting my middle school achievements on a college app would easily take up several pages that would probably just be glanced over or possibly even not looked at.</p>
<p>No one cares about what you did in middle school unless you found a cure for cancer or climbed Mount Everest. Colleges really only care about what you did in high school.</p>
<p>if you put down a bunch of awards that you got in middle school, they might think you accomplished more in middle school than you did in high school. which is def not a good thing.</p>
<p>Middle school awards don't count unless they're really prestigious.</p>
<p>My philosophy: if you're still enormously proud of one of your middle school achievements by the time you're a senior, you have wasted high school. (Exceptions for cancer-curing and the like.)</p>
<p>i won state championships for chess in 7th (for 7th graders) and 8th grade (for 8th graders). Lol. Maybe i might meniton that. Did some other stuff for chess in hs, but not as impressive. Ha this is so nerdy.</p>
<p>That might be worth mentioning. State champion is pretty good. Congrats on that!</p>