<p>Hi, I'm currently a senior and have been deferred by two of my EA schools. The most detrimental to my app I think is my complete lack of awards, academic recognitions, honors, or whatever you may call it. My hs doesn't even give out any awards, so I'm literally award-less. Are there any competitions or contests where I can still enter now and perhaps be able to win an award that I can include in my update to the schools? I've always wanted to join some, test my abilities, and try, but I've never really been informed about where or how to apply to these competitions. Any miscellaneous NY state, district, or national awards that I might be able to get/apply for? I just don't know where to start...yes, I'm quite clueless =[. Be it easy, hard, prestigious, not so prestigious, poetry, chemistry, math, creative writing competitions or any others -- any suggestions? </p>
<p>Any advice for the deferred is also much appreciated.</p>
<p>id disagree with you on that.</p>
<p>schools would invariably be savvy to that. not only that, but most awards are shallow anyways. focus on the rest of ur app.</p>
<p>True, I will indeed be trying to improve the rest of my app if I can. But a little extra on the awards section won't hurt ;D It's just that I wasn't able to get even National Merit Commended since I was a bit sick when I took the psat. And I don't think my school has NHS. And I haven't taken enough AP tests YET to get any AP scholar recognition (was only able to take one AP course last three years due to scheduling conflicts; this year i'm taking the maximum number of APs my school allows). I guess my main point is that I feel inferior to everyone; I don't have even these simple distinctions that many CCers regard as useless. And basically, I'm just trying to improve on my app and which way I can.</p>
<p>Have you ever been in any competitions? Like band or orchestra? Science Olympiad? Debate team?</p>