Does the order of your EC's and awards matter?

Applying to College
1

I’m wondering if my son should put his EC’s and awards in a certain order. I suggested he put the EC’s and awards that show leadership first and follow with the rest. Am I overthinking this crazy college application process??

2

Most important (to him) first

6 Likes
3

I usually suggest listing the most impactful ECs and highest awards first.
For example, if there’s a national or state level award it should precede a local one.
But there’s no hard and fast rule.

3 Likes
4

Agreed. From what I can tell, this is what AO’s expect, and you are risking a miscommunication if you do otherwise.

2 Likes
5

Agree that activities should be listed in the order of importance to the student. Adding that may not necessarily be the activities they spent the most time on, for example, it could be something they spent less time on than another activity, but participated in that activity consistently for 4 or 6 or even 10 years, whatever the number.

1 Like
6

The order does matter. AOs only have so much time to spend and they will be scanning both sections quickly.

Start with the ECs that show they matter to the student through some combination of greater leadership/sustained involvement/hours spent/quantifiable impact. As involvement increases, those activities should move down the list.

In general, the activities where the student spends his or her time will be higher on the list, but it’s not absolute. One of my daughters spent the most time at the two sports she played, but listed an activity that she was really passionate about first. She had four years of participation and leadership in it, so it wasn’t just something she had done a couple of times, but it also wasn’t as time consuming as the sports. It made sense to the story she was telling about herself to list it first. My other daughter, though, did list first the activity where she spent the most time.

Similarly, with honors/awards, start with those that are more selective and/or more important to/representative of the applicant. Which brings him or her the most pride? Start from there.

7

This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. If you’d like to reply, please flag the thread for moderator attention.