How important are awards when applying to prestigious schools like Columbia? I’m applying Early Decision to Columbia but I really don’t have any awards. I have a presidential student service award and I got a scholarship for a summer program but that’s about it. Will it really affect the admissions decision?
I got in (well, a likely letter) with very few major awards. I had standard ones (National Merit, AP Scholar) and a few regional debate/tech awards. Nothing major. I was worried, too, because I didn’t have ISEF or USAMO or anything major, but it didn’t end up making too much of a difference in my case.
Ok thank you, that makes me feel a bit better. I will probably be an AP scholar as well cause I’m taking like 4 tests in May. When I look through the ED forums it’s seems like some have major awards and others have zero awards (of the people who get accepted)
I had zero besides National Merit, AP Scholar, and an award from JPL that the other people at the company I was working at called the “piece of paper award” because everyone who works at any JPL subcontractor gets about 30 per year. That’s it. You don’t need awards.