Would it be appropriate to list extracurriculars and accomplishments from middle school in any circumstances on college apps? I have quite a few awards and clubs I was a part of from 6-8 grade, but I’m just not quite sure if they will be taken seriously on a college app.
No, colleges only look at involvement beginning in 9th grade.
Your first inclination is correct. Omit them. Unless it was the Scripps spelling Bee
Agreed. Unless it was an extraordinary achievement, putting on middle school ECs is a bad idea.
yep. You have ten slots on the common app. To say you were 12 and bested a bunch of other 12 year olds isn’t gonna make you look good to a college. It’ll be straw grasping.
If you were lead in a feature film or Broadway production – that’d be another thing…
^^^any more examples?
Where do you list scholarship money earned in 8th grade?
If its an activity carryong over from middle school, like a long-term project or summer camp councilorship or something like that (but not just being in the same type of club), then you theoretically could list it. However, I would generally advise not putting down stuff from middle school.
The only activity my kids listed that went back further than 9th grade was monitoring a bluebird trail in our neighborhood, which one of my kids did for 10 years. She hatched over 250 bluebirds into our neighborhood during that time period, and had some high school activities around it (4H state fair trips, data entry into Cornell NestWatch system while in HS) that kind of tied in and that she was listing. Because the total number of bluebirds was so impressive, she did put in that she had done it for 10 years with that total result. (And the bluebirds are EVERYWHERE in spring and summer, a lot thanks to her!) 
When I applied (I graduated high school in 2014), I had some activities from middle school listed, but they were all things that continued through high school.
For example, I listed when I began dance (age 3) and when I got my pointe shoes (8th grade), because those were important to portraying my accomplishments in and commitment to dance. For music, I listed when I started private lessons on my primary and secondary instruments, both of which were before high school, because it showed how long Id been playing.
^ I think that’s appropriate. For activities with 10+ years of participation, it’s a misrepresentation to think that all achievement necessarily starts with 9th grade. I know of rock climbing kids who are national champions in their age division as early as 6th grade. That represents thousands of hours of participation and sustained effort. It will no doubt carry over to high school, but it would be erroneous to neglect the effort and accomplishment achieved earlier. The same thing goes for music.
My son was concert master of the freshman orchestra - there was no need to say when he started playing or what sort of awards he had. Really what counted was how good he was in high school. (Which was actually not that good despite being concert master that year.)
I agree that you can and should include high school activities that began prior to high school and I think achievements at the national level are ok as well.
In most cases I think @mathmom is right. The schools know that things like music and soccer skills don’t soring up overnight, and obviously you started early – you usually don’t need to tell them. I personally would not put the middle school rock climbing awards in. One of my kids had a multi-state award in MS that she did not include – she had gone on to bigger things in that area, and that was on her app. And if she hadn’t gone on to later success, they wouldn’t care what she did when she was 12. For the most part, they want to know your accomplishments as a young adult, not a kid.
What about earning scholarship money in 8th grade? Would you list it and where?
What was the scholarship for? Unless it was a competitive, national scholarship without any need based component I wouldn’t. If it fits all those criteria, it’s an award/honor, not an extracurricular.
I would definitely include national championship awards. If instead we were talking about 1st place at the local gym, then no.
Intparent, the bluebird activity is very, very worthy. Love it.
Why would you list 8th grade scholarship money?
Music is a common multi-year activity. Plenty of kids mention, eg, they’ve been playing for 6-10 years. There are other examples of continuity. But think twice before a fresh line entry for something you didn’t continue in hs. Middle school just isn’t important for a college decision unless it’s part of a specific pattern- you climbed Everest in 8th and now lead expeditions up local mountains. (I’m stretching.) Or lends back story.
My son’s Destination Imagination team went to Global Finals in 5th grade and 8th grade. He could not continue in DI after 8th grade - no schools participate at the secondary level here. I am assuming that we will leave that off his college app, correct?
@uwalummom I don’t know that much about DI but the fact that it doesn’t continue wouldn’t stop me from mentioning it. As someone said, you would mention if you you were a scripps spelling bee finalist. I’d probably put it as an award/honor rather than EC though because you’re no longer dedicating any time to it.
You make the wisest decision you can. Did he continue with some sort of “challenge” program or competitions in hs, so he could insert that bit somewhere? Or that experience is at the root of some burst of activity in hs?
I don’t mean to confuse. And a lot of this depends on the tier of colleges. The more demanding schools want to know how the kid evolved through hs, what challenges he took on as he grew and how that makes sense. Sometimes, as with the bluebirds, the timeline speaks volumes. Other things, not so much. See what makes sense.