<p>I'm a student at Phillips Academy Andover and I feel I have a great application for top colleges (I really want to go to Upenn) but I barely have any awards. How much emphasis is acutally put onto awards if I have great grades (5, 5.5, 6 lower year, i'm an upper currently), a lot of leadership roles, and plenty of ecs (most of them are indian related, so they're a bit different from most people)?</p>
<p>*I know there are many more factors involved, I just wanted to know if going to a top boarding school and getting great grades there changes the importance of awards. </p>
<p>I think their important but not a determining factor. i got the UVA Book Award my junior yr and i def. think it spruced up my app a little but it def. wasn't a determining factor.</p>
<p>the status of awards never changes meaning you can go to a public or a parochial or a private boarding and awards are always going to be looked at the same, however as with all aspects of an app., the more awards you have the more favorably you are looked at</p>
<p>Book awards are pretty meaningless - it's just the subjective opinion of an isolated community of people who each have different values. A long list of ECs isn't going to help much––ANYONE can just sign up for ECs. On the other hand, DO NOT be swayed by this site that EVERYONE who applies to competitive colleges have top ECs. Though many of the competitive applicants who get into top schools, there are some purely acadmic kids who really excel in their academic environment. </p>
<p>I guess the bottom line is that as long as you're always busy (not as a result of procrastination of course) working on things you enjoy and things that can give you RESULTS. The idea is finding things that you LOVE and things that can give you tangible results that look good on paper. The latter requirement isn't as necessary, but it's always a nice plus!</p>
<p>But remember, being state champ in debate gives you a 30 percent higher chance of getting accepted into collegs according to a Yale professor.</p>