<p>I've seen a lot of people posting about having earned a "Book Award" from Harvard, Yale, etc.</p>
<p>I googled it, but I still don't understand what it is; explain please?</p>
<p>A book award is presented to outstanding junior students. Different ones stand for different things. Harvard stands for "top decile, leadership, excellence in other areas," Cornell stands for "innovative thinker, top decile, involvement in ECs," Columbia stands for "outstanding academic achievement," Yale stands for "intellectual promise, ECs, community service,"
The college is only represented in some schools. Yale is represented in some places, Columbia others, Harvard others...</p>
<p>These are some outstanding ones. They generally stand for all around students/achievement. Usually the top few students (in top decile) in the school get them, but not necessarily.</p>
<p>I'll add to that...Dartmouth Book Award is "Top decile, intellectual promise, ECA's".</p>
<p>My School only gave out the Harvard Prize Book and the Dartmouth Book Award for Book awards, but there are other great awards like Baush and Lomb Science Award, medals for Engineering schools...I guess they look great to put on your application.</p>
<p>My school had a few Ivy book awards but also Williams, Colby and Trinity of the NESCACs and a lot of other schools gave awards. None stood for a certain "type" of student.</p>
<p>GoNavyXC: would the book awards, bausch and Lomb, medals for engineering...all those kinds of awards be considered National awards or school awards?</p>
<p>Those book awards are usually given by guidance/administration, which means that they're school-wide honors based on a mix of academics and citizenship. They generally that you are well-respected as a person in your school community. They might offer a little insight into character, but overall they're never going to be dealbreakers. Few awards will.</p>
<p>At the basest level, the college book awards are a means of marketing by the schools to keep themselves in the minds of students of top performing high schools. If you have an active local alumni association, a volunteer will drop off the "award" -- your principle and top admins will choose who gets what.</p>
<p>You'll see that no Yale or Penn or Cornell book award ever darkens the door of the mediocre or poor performing inner-city high school. Wonder why? Sadly because it's not a good use of the college's resources.</p>
<p>I've heard of some awards being given afer an essay is submitted -- but this seems the rarity.</p>
<p>It's a nice recognition by your school -- that's it. It means next to nothing to the colleges themselves if you won theirs or someone else's book award. it's like being on the Honor Roll. It's not a great honor in this context.</p>
<p>Do a search on "book awards" on the CC threads and you'll arrive at this same info.</p>
<p>Mean nothing.</p>
<p>lol ealgian pretty much summed it up in 2 words. hahahahahahahahahah</p>
<p>theyre to make u feel better=]</p>
<p>
Given the term "deal breaker" never applies to something good, you're absolutely right. Almost no awards are deal breakers, except for maybe the U. of Florida Book Award for "excellence in underage drinking".</p>
<p>Our school gave out a bunch, but you have to apply for them. So if you arent in the know, you wont get one.</p>
<p>You don't have to apply for these awards...I was given an award by complete suprise. The engineering schools give out medals for their respective areas..The northeast might give out the RPI medal...I know that there are a lot of schools in my area (northeast) that give out the Ivy League Book Awards. Those are handed out by an alumni network in the state and they have a certain number to award each year. They're good marketing tools for kids to keep schools in mind. I really didn't know Dartmouth was good until I got the book award, so the award did its job in getting me to apply there my senior year.</p>