Hi,
so in the common app there is an honors section and activities section.
First and foremost, should awards not go into the activities section? What is the difference and point of the activities and honors sections?
Secondly let’s say in my honors section I have
“Won Robotics Olympiad”
In my activities then under my extracurricular of Robotics should I not repeat myself and say “won Robotics olympiad”? I have less important awards I could fill it up with, but everything matters so if I’m being redundant I should delete it from my activities section because its in the honors section, right? Or is the honors section not looked at enough and I should remind them by writing it in the activities section.
Don’t list things twice, no matter how important. You have a very limited amount of space to tell your story, to show who you are. Don’t waste that space by repeating things.
Also - and this is something that students often stumble on - don’t think of the app as trying to check as many boxes as possible, filling in sections just to create the impression that you’ve done “a lot.” Only list the things that add something to your app, that create the image you want to show. Readers have very limited time to spend on the app, don’t waste that time with things that don’t matter because the volume can detract from the important things.
@milee30 Understood. But do they pay attention to the honors section as much as they pay attention to the activities section??? The award I got is pretty important and i dont want them to forget/mis-read,etc
Some schools weigh some information more than others. You can find out from the common data set. That said, if it’s on the application, it’s on the application.
I think you should assume they’ll read each section and make notes of what is most important to them. Don’t worry that they ignore or forget about certain sections.