<p>When listing your honors, it’s important to focus on any awards that are the farthest reaching, and by this I mean ranking them from International to National to Regional to School awards. Because you will likely be limited in the amount you can include (the Common App allows 5), you may need to make some decisions about what to list. Due to this limitation, you should try to stick to academic-specific awards, and important ones at that. As proud as you may be of being District Player of the Year in football, this only really matters to college coaches, not admissions officials (save this for mention in your personal statement or essays). Focus on any national societies or academic organizations you’ve been inducted to; these are huge for an application. Aside from that, include any major awards or competitions you’ve won, especially if they go beyond the local level. Of course, if you get down to bare bones, it’s fine to include things like Honor Roll and smaller school-level distinctions. Also, if you’ve received any academic distinction for multiple years, this can be a great thing to include.</p>
<p>So, does that mean my Nobel Prize in economics outranks my Congressional Medal of Freedom?</p>
<p>Considering that a Nobel Prize in economics would make you one of the most highly regarded economists in the world, I would say yes. Then again, the Presidential (not Congressional) Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award in the US, so I’d say your app is looking pretty impressive regardless of which you choose to list first.</p>
<p>So if you get awards in clubs like fbla, that doesnt count, right?</p>
<p>College student selling a book.
So, Sikorsky should focus on Who’s Who in High School?</p>
<p>FBLA is a course-related club (generally), so I would consider an award in that to be noteworthy. Depending on the competition for the award (regional, state, national), it could be a great thing to list. When I say to list academic-specific awards, I don’t mean just the ones related to academic achievement, but rather those that pertain to academic-oriented organizations. Professional clubs, like FBLA, generally fall under this category.</p>
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<p>A little late for that. Sikorsky already graduated–in 1981.</p>
<p>Uh-oh. So on OP’s web site, we’re the old-timers, who don’t know so much, that he refers to-?</p>