<p>For those of you who were accepted to Columbia, or for those of you who are currently enrolled at Columbia, what awards did you earn in high school that probably played a significant part in your acceptance?</p>
<p>I'm interested in this, too. I won the 3200 and 1600m at the Texas private schools' state track meet this year and got third in those races last year (I just finished junior year). My school has also recognized me for high PSAT scores and this year I was named anatomy and physiology, and AP U.S. history student of the year. Will those be viewed as significant achievements?? Do they show that I am well-rounded in the sports vs. academics area?</p>
<p>ummm, none</p>
<p>magicmonkey07, you can definately list awards like that on your app but dont think that will really work in your favor....an award has to be pretty significant for it to improve your chance at admission.</p>
<p>National Merit Semifinalist isn't rather significant?</p>
<p>sorry but not really that significant. Think of it this way 15,000 people out of the whole population recieve which would make it seem like its important but the problem is the people that comprise that 15,000 are also going to be most of the people you're competing with for spots at alot of top schools.</p>
<p>You were accepted to Columbia? What awards did you earn in high school (big or small)?</p>
<p>School awards are worthless. Sometimes they're a product of favoritism / gaming the system (everyone gets an award to sound impressive). If not, they're redundant (what does it tell you that the the kid who is #1 has awards for being the top student? nothing).</p>
<p>Anything on a regional / national level that isn't something you pay money for (Who's Who, those silly leadership conferences) is going to be impressive to some degree. The academic awards show that you're smart, and the extracurricular awards show that you're dedicated and passionate about what you're doing.</p>
<p>I wouldn't say it's as dire as all that--"if it's not on the national level it's worthless." Surely almost everyone applying is going to have won at least one or two top-student-in-such-and-such-class awards, but I think county level awards are good even though state or national ones are better. I've never won a national competition. I've gotten a bunch of those school-level awards, and the only things beyond those were a county-level award for SAT's and a small, county-wide, student art show. If you've won a state, regional, or national competition, great, but smaller stuff is good too.</p>
<p>And you were accepted to Columbia, bing?
Ah, there is hope for me.</p>
<p>I received some awards at my school and listed them on my app. I was also a National Merit Finalist. And yeah, Who's Who is ridiculous, they sent an invitation to my mom.</p>
<p>If the prizes I listed played a particularly significant part in my application, I would conclude that it was not because of their prestige but their relevance to my overall application. From memory the application asked for 3-5 that were the most meaningful. So yeah, I wouldn't worry too much if I were you.</p>
<p>I listed scholarships to Physics Olympiad Training School and International Science School.</p>
<p>National Merit Semifinalist just means you did ok on the PSAT, doesn't it?</p>
<p>Semifinalist does. To be a Finalist you have to fill out a bunch of paperwork and write an essay. But I think most Semifinalists make it to be Finalists...</p>
<p>Yeah, but now that someone else mentioned it, I was also a NM recipient; I'd forgotten about that, but unless you're on the waitlist as I was, your decision will be made before National Merit is announced.</p>
<p>columbia 2002, if National Merit awards are out of the question, then what other awards are there?</p>
<p>
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columbia 2002, if National Merit awards are out of the question, then what other awards are there?
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<p>There's awards for everything... Intel/Westinghouse science fair, Math/Science olympiads, stuff for speech/debate / mock trial / MUN, awards for sports, awards for music, etc.</p>
<p>Hmm, Intel is pretty prestigious,</p>
<p>All I've got are some awards from my county's math league, a catholic high school math competition, and math olympiad. I'm President of the Mathletes, so I guess I've got a theme going.</p>
<p>I also placed 2nd in my school's art contest, which I guess isn't too significant.. But I used to take a Studio in Art course, and will hopefully send some supplemental slides of my artwork to college, so I suppose I'll list 2nd place in my schoolwide art contest as "meaninful," since I devote lots of my free time to artwork. </p>
<p>Idk if I should list National Merit though, since that doesn't really "mean" anything to me. All it says is I'm a good test taker.
It should show up on my school's transcript anyway, so I suppose I'll omit that from the "meaningful" awards section of the app.</p>
<p>Yeah, almost everyone who is applying will also have it listed, but they might as well know you got it too.</p>
<p>My son had awards for All-Conference Team at big regional scholar bowls, MVP of school scholar bowl team and some Math Team conference awards at the regional level. He also had a few state level awards for Academic Challenge in chemistry and biology(this may be an Illinois thing). Nothing national. Heck we didn't even know about these national science competitions.....he went to a very rural school and we didn't discover CC until his senior year. He was active in drama and musicals too. </p>
<p>momoffive</p>
<p>I forgot to list that I was a National Merit Finalist and I got in</p>
<p>don't stress, its no big deal</p>