For the common app honors section I could list the (bleh) “awards” I got like Honor Roll, [insert my DE university here] Dean’s List, and AP Scholar but there are some other things that mean a lot more to me and would add more to my application. I’m just worried they’re not “academic enough” even though most relate to robotics. Is my current list ok and is it ok to be unique in this section?
FIRST Dean’s List Semi-Finalist
School
10
Certified SOLIDWORKS Associate (CSWA)
International
10
FIRST Lego League Competition Judge
State/Regional
11
Highest Number of Robotics Varsity Points Earned
School
10, 11
National Merit SemiFinalist
State/Regional
11
I don’t know if being a judge is an homor. Here is how my kids handled that type of thing:
Robotics was an activity (obviously). In the line where you describe it, she put “See Additional Information”. Then in Additional Information she put a header that said Activities - Robotics, and briefly bulleted out her responsibilities and awards in that area. Be concise. But this works – I think ad coms actually appreciate it, as it groups all the info on your busiest ECs together in an easy to read way.
Her Honors & Awards section was pretty slim, but all of them were covered between there and the Activities section. Ad coms read your whole app, so they will see it.
Based on your other posts I am guessing that you & your parents are expecting that you will apply to selective colleges- the kind that read the apps, rather than just make cuts on grades and test scores.
The lower the acceptance rate, the higher the number of apps that the AdComm readers have to say ‘no’ to.
It is not in your interests to do anything that makes their job harder, or makes it easier for them to say ‘no’.
You might have somebody read the list and laugh when they figure out that your “awards” are a mix of silly and real. It seems more likely that most will be annoyed that they wasted valuable app reading time trying to figure out what a Dean’s List Semi-Finalist is, or why being a judge at a Lego competition is an award. AdComm readers can average as little as 8 minutes per app- to read the LoRs, your essays, your ECs, your test scores, your curriculum, your grades- everything, before moving your app forward or saying ‘no’.
IMO, this is not the place to try to be clever or funny or to inflate your achievements.
@collegemom3717 FIRST Dean’s List Semifinalist is a real award. It’s the only individual award in FIRST robotics and because FIRST robotics is something a lot of kids do I’m sure add-ons know about it. The judge thing is a big deal because it’s a really official competition; only a couple high school kids were invited to do it, everyone else (like 40 people) were stem teachers or professionals or coaches, and it’s cause Ive been involved in the program for 7 years as a mentor and student. CSWA is a legit professional certification (Look it up) and highest varsity points means I was the most involved out of everyone on my robotics team for 2 years. Just because you’re not familiar with robotics programs doesn’t mean adcoms aren’t and it’s not nice to call my acomplisments jokes.
Would it be better if I explained the most out there ones in the 100 characters I have? Because I really think these tell more about me that’s not found elsewhere in the application than AP Scholar with honor (my AP scores are there) or university dean’s list/high school honor roll ( I have a 4.0 the cut off is like a 3.5).
I get what you’re saying about selective college admissions trying to find a reason to say no but isn’t it also true that they’re looking for a reason to say yes? A plain, cookie cutter, vanilla application isn’t gonna cut it.
FIRST Dean’s List Semi-Finalist
School
10
Certified SOLIDWORKS Associate (CSWA) | Professional 3D Modeling Certification
International
10
FIRST Lego League Competition Judge | ~2 High School Students invited out of ~40 judges
State/Regional
11
Highest Number of Robotics Varsity Points Earned | most committed out of ~30 on robotics team
School
10, 11
National Merit SemiFinalist
State/Regional
11
Does this look better? I’m still a little eh on the varsity points description but I’ll work on a better word than “committed”
Maybe this would sound better:
Top Varsity Point Earner (Robotics) | Award for year-round commitment to the team of ~30
Says the same thing but a little smoother. This is something I was recognized for.
@intparent I’m sorry I glossed over your reply earlier. I guess being a judge at a robotics competition isn’t so much of an honor as the circumstances that allowed me to be invited for the position? Does that make sense? I want to fit all the information in the regular parts of the common app because I feel like colleges don’t want a list of every silly little thing you did in high school in the extra info section. There are character limits for a reason! I’m using that section to say things like “hey I’m not actually signed up for my winter and spring classes so my schedule may change slightly but I’ll try my best to keep the same rigor that I indicated” and special circumstances like that. Idk, my philosophy on all this may be wrong.
Not sure why I didn’t see @intparent’s post before I posted, but her reply is really helpful.
Also, use all of your application elements carefully. For example, the quote above is really not necessary. Your fall schedule will go with your app, and your GC will address the rigor of your schedule. Promises of what you will do in the future are easily discounted.
Grouping your achievements, and being able to put a context on them helps them make sense. You can’t assume that any given AdComm person will know all of the things out there. Given that FIRST seems to be an important part of your EC experience, you might also consider writing about it, and fleshing out the important parts of the process of getting to those points of recognition.
Saying ‘yes’ is much easier for most people than saying ‘no’. If you are looking at a pile of hundreds of applications, knowing that you have to say no to almost all of them, you are looking for the ones that scream “YES”.
You are completely right that “A plain, cookie cutter, vanilla application isn’t gonna cut it.”, but the place to sparkle is the essays, not the factual information sections.
@collegemom3717 I’m taking dual enrollment classes at a university on the quarter system so that’s why that’s there, I don’t know about any scheduling conflicts in the future because I don’t have a crystal ball. I have to put my entire (planned) senior year schedule on it, and because the rigor isn’t different from my schedule this year it wouldn’t seem odd. I might actually make it more rigorous than I put by adding an extra class but better be safe than sorry. Obviously I would update colleges if it changed though.
I have some ideas about essays and while FIRST will come up I don’t want it to be the entire focus. I remember a situation at a robotics outreach event a couple years ago where we were talking to people about what we do. We asked a couple of ladies “Do you know anything about FIRST?” and they said “Yes, we’re college admissions officers! We get a ton of essays on that topic.”
I will probably have my robotics coach write me a letter of recommendation and that will probably help but I’ve seen her LORs for me in the past and she’s honestly not that great of a LOR writer (love her otherwise though!).
So you think a honors section that said:
FIRST Dean’s List Semifinalist
National Merit Semifinalist
AP Scholar With Honor
Honor Roll
University Dean’s List
would be better? I’ll keep your advice in mind.
@snowfairy137, my D2 who followed that approach got in everyplace she applied (EA if she applied EA, RD for the rest) – including UChicago, Swarthmore, Harvey Mudd, Carleton, and a handful of other schools with very good merit aid. The Common App was not designed by the admissions offices who are now reading the app. The itty bitty space isn’t their invention. Of course you don’t want to put junk in. Here are the rules my kids used:
- If they stopped an activity prior to junior year, they didn't put it on unless they or their team had won some kind of award or honor for it.
- The exception to this was if the EC applied to their planned major.
- They used this "grouping" method on all their big ECs (examples for them were Robotics, Quiz Bowl, Music, and Volleyball -- there were more, but you get the idea). If you use the honors/awards system, ad coms have to flip back and forth with the ECs and trying to match them up. It is actually much more straightforward for them to go to Additional Info and see everything for one EC in one place. Plus, you can bullet out your role on the team, for example, even if it isn't an honor.
- My kids had no qualms about going over 10 activities and using the additional info section for that as well, as long as it met those criteria. But the "grouping" allowed them to take something like "Music" and make one activity from it (so a kid who plans 2 instruments, or is in choir and band, can show that in bullets under one activity).
- They were careful to sort their activities with the things they were most interested in first, and match the order of the sections in Additional Info with the activities section to make it easiest for admissions. And in at last one case, my D2 created a separate version of the Common App to resort them because she thought it would matter to that school.
- Nothing was in paragraph form; this is NOT another essay.
- They were able to use their essays for the intended purpose -- to show their personality and what is interesting about them. I think a lot of students are trying to use their essay to show interest in ECs. And you still can mention them in the essay if they fit the story you are telling. But it can take over the essay -- if you do your ECs this way, you are free to use the essay real estate in a different way.
Here is an example for what my D2 put in her Quiz Bowl section:
Quiz Bowl
- Letter 9th, 10th, 11th grade.
- 9th grade - Top Freshman at National Academic Quiz Tournament (NAQT) XX State Championship.
- 10th grade – 26th individual in NAQT XX State Tournament. Competed in NAQT Nationals.
- 11th grade - Top ranked player from in XX State High School Quiz Bowl League season (14th of 533). Team finish 9th of 108. 3rd place individual in East League Division. 7th of 98 individually at XX tournament. 2012 NAQT XX State Championship - 8th place individual/4th place team finish. Competed in NAQT Nationals tournament.
- 11th grade - National History Bowl & Bee - 4th place individual in XX History Bee.
- 12th grade - Currently ranked 4th out of 521 students in XX High School Quiz Bowl League individual standings.
- Attended ACE Quiz Bowl Camp summer 2011, 2012.
- Will play College Bowl if there is a team.
I think all that kid has in awards/honors was National Merit Semi-Finalist and Honor Roll.
I can tell you, you will be competing for admission against kids who to put in their honors and accomplishments in a readable format. Use the real estate they have given you effectively. They don’t want extra essays or essays over the requested length, but they do want a 3D picture of your interests and accomplishments. As long as they are logically grouped and labeled, this will help you.
Super helpful post, @intparent.
So did you end up putting Dean’s List under academic awards or under the activities/additional info section?? I’m in the same boat.
@18college1111 I’m definitly putting (FIRST) Dean’s List there. I dont have room in my activities descriptions.