<p>I recently glanced at the MIT application and saw that there was a section for awards. I haven't won many awards and if I don't by the time that I apply, do you think that it will affect my chances dramatically? (I'm only in 10th grade).
What kinds of competitions and such do you guys think I should try to attempt?</p>
<p>Whatever interests you, really. Not everyone has phenomenol awards like international olympiad medals, etc (in fact, most don't!). Honestly, compete in and put down the awards most important to you. I omitted a state competition in order to put down a pi-off, and I know I omitted a silver medal in one event in order to put down that I got 7th place in an event of much greater personal significance.</p>
<p>Just do what you enjoy doing. :)</p>
<p>ya, I'm worried about that section too.....my school doesn't really give out awards for anything. We have an academic awards night once a year, but I've never won any of those (they normally give it to the kid that's number 1 in that specific class.....I'm generally 2 or 3). And as for outside competitions, there aren't really many I can try either. I wanted to do the science fair, but I felt like I didn't have enough connections with real scientists to do my experiments with....plus the fact I really don't have time.</p>
<p>Basically, I'm hoping the fact I didn't get many awards won't kill my application....let's hope!</p>
<p>I don't really remember, but the only award I can think of that I might have put down on that was that I was in National Honor Society, which isn't really even an award. Just like every other section of the app- one detail isn't going to make or break you.</p>
<p>If you like competitions you can join things like Academic Team or Science Olympiad (not nearly as serious as science fairs). No guarantee that you'll get awards, but you'll have a chance and it can be great fun too.</p>
<p>Honor Roll ?</p>
<p>You can also put down things that are non-academic but meaningful to you -- I put down making all-state chorus and being chosen as the outstanding color guard member in my year.</p>
<p>EDIT, because I applied many moons ago: Or does it ask specifically for academic awards?</p>
<p>"Academic awards and/or distinctions" is how I remember it, so yeah, I think what Mollie said is still valid.</p>
<p>Ooh, ok, I see. Well, I did get honor roll and such. I'll probably just end up taking Mollie's advice and putting down things meaningful to me. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>well, ok, so I might have Honor Roll, the 50 Club (which I'm still unsure of what it is...but it was an academic award somehow...something like the top unweighted grades in my class)......and how about this, Dance Captain for our high school musical? That is pretty meaningful to me, considering, though it's not academic, the musical is by far my favorite, most meaningful extracurricular.</p>
<p>Then by all means indicate it in the "... distinctions" section! If it's meaningful to you and something you earned, list it.</p>
<p>Wait, so the consensus is that it doesn't have to be "scholastic" distinctions/awards? It's because I earned some really special volunteer awards and would have to bury it in a resume.</p>
<p>An award for volunteering is good. :).</p>
<p>yupp i proudly put a volunteering award too last year. =]</p>
<p>This is a bit off topic, but I also prepared a resume. I understand why MIT only provides a certain number of blanks, but there are some activities/clarifications to activities that I would hate to leave out or put in the "extra info" box. I'm thinking about emailing the office a pdf of my resume to put into my file. What do you guys think? Will it make me seem too much like a laundry lister?</p>
<p>Matt and Ben have said before that, while they won't throw away a resume if you send one, they want people to know that there are limited spaces on the application for a reason. They want to know what <em>you</em> see as your "five most important activities", rather than listing everything you've ever been involved in (that "laundry list" of which you speak). The "is there anything else you'd like to tell us?" open-ended question at the end of the application is also a good place for noting things that aren't easily fit into other parts of the application. People have sent resumes before, of course, but they do not particularly encourage it.</p>
<p>However, if you do want them to have a copy of your resume, SEND IT TO THEM to put in your file, do not email them a .pdf and ask them to do the printing work.</p>
<p>The problem is that I don't have enough space to explain what some of my activities are, and me being the neat freak, putting them all in the little box is...annoying. I do know what my top activities are, so that's not a problem.</p>
<p>Will it actually hurt me somewhat to send in a resume? (my last pseudo-thread-hijacking question ;) )</p>
<p>And mootmom, thanks for the advice on sending it by snail mail!</p>
<p>It won't hurt you to send a resume. Just make sure to put on the application itself the important stuff that you actually want them to see for sure. (There is an unlimited amount of space in the "what else do you want to tell us?" question at the end, though.... :) )</p>
<p>Wow, great advice on this thread! I was under the impression that the awards had to be strictly academic and was worried because I only have a few scholastic awards, like Honor Society and stuff like that. Happy to find out I might be able to include some awards from other activities that are very important to me.</p>
<p>Also, does anybody know if acceptance to a pretty prestigious summer program would be okay to put there? I was really proud and it was a great experience, but its not exactly an "award."</p>
<p>Hey, it's a "distinction," so I'll definitely put it on there.</p>