<p>I just have a question. How much do high school play in the role of college admissions?</p>
<p>I live in a small town, so not that many awards are given out to us. Do colleges take that into account?</p>
<p>What kind of awards should I be looking for as a rising senior?</p>
<p>I want to apply to top-tier colleges but I didn't know that getting awards was such a big thing. </p>
<p>Can anybody offer any advice?</p>
<p>for not as competitive colleges, they are probably not important… as for the top 20 colleges or so, maybe someone can answer their degree of importance relative to other parts of the app</p>
<p>I feels, my school only gives out honor roll. The only other things are from the science fair and stuff. Always entered but never won :(</p>
<p>school awards are essentially meaningless : the point of awards is to show achievement outside the classroom </p>
<p>@foolish How much does it play in college admissions though?</p>
<p>Most awards don’t mean anything. If it’s a major award that would actually be significant (see [this</a> thread](<a href=“http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/high-school-life/302001-list-of-top-prestigious-awards-p1.html]this”>List of Top, Prestigious Awards - High School Life - College Confidential Forums) for some ideas), it’s probably possible to get it without your high school sponsoring it. When they had their awards night, my high school mostly just announced awards people had gotten from outside sources.</p>
<p>As a rising senior, there is no chance for awards, is there?</p>
<p>There will always be chances unless you do something about it. If you just sit back and be lazy, you will have no chance. How you do things is how you get something in return even if you try your hardest.</p>
<p>If you come from a small town, the college admissions will understand. They don’t expect someone in the middle of a square state in the middle of the map with horses to fly out to silicon valley and win awards. Unless you’re Bill Gates. Good luck!</p>
<p>The importance of awards is what they convey about the student that is not apparent in other ways. Some schools give loads of awards and some few. But the information conveyed by school awards can be conveyed in other ways. A college can learn about the strength of a candidates writing by reading a recommendation that says she is the best writer in the school. School awards are not that important. But the awards that are meaningful are those that students can often win regardless of where they go to school. but, sometimes they have to work harder to access the opportunity to win the award. You can enter an Intel contest or take the AIME tests regardless of where you go to school. The best awards are those that are earned in national or international competitions. Those are meaningful and are not limited to those in a large or small school. Go outside the school!</p>
<p>^Well, it is more difficult to take the AIME (or AMC) if your school doesn’t offer it… </p>