<p>Yes, I know there are lots of threads already about this topic, and yes I did receive the award, but I have a very specific question.</p>
<p>Because my school does NOT do class rank at all, will they look at the Harvard Book Award and say, "yeah he's at the top of his class," which I am, or what exactly will they notice when they see the award on my common app?</p>
<p>They won’t equate that because the award criteria is dependent on the staff at your HS. It could be for whatever they choose – and it varies school by school. </p>
<p>What will they notice? Nothing that’s not already in the rest of your file. It’s not a “wow” factor as much as the rest of your achievements.</p>
<p>OK, that’s fine. Top rank isn’t the biggest deal because I’ve got a very strong resume for a high school student as well (had an internship in a European parliament and another internship for a US Senator), and while my resume is by no means going to guarantee my acceptance to any given college, it definitely is much more a hook than having an official top of the class rank.</p>
<p>If your school is like my kids’ school, what it means is that the school is trying to signal that they think you’re a good candidate, maybe the best they have, and that they know you want to go there. Which isn’t of earth-shattering importance, but I wouldn’t pooh-pooh it, either.</p>
<p>My H & I fund the Brown Book Awards at 3 local schools & an out of state one. the Engl depts of the various schools decide to whom to give the book, and they base it on their perception of the student’s excellence in their dept. </p>
<p>Brown’s goal is to get these strong students to think favorably of Brown when they are choosing schools to which to apply (now I know CC people don’t think Brown needs to engage in these incentives but there are high schools elsehwere in the country where Brown and Harvard et al are not considered right away by even the highest ranking kids).</p>
<p>Having received one of these book awards is not going to put you over the edge for any of them if you are from a subset of students from whom they receive tons of applications. It is really a marketing tool aimed at kids who would otherwise not think of the school.</p>