<p>"more awards/honors beyond NHS would enhance the application"</p>
<p>Such as? typical awards/honors that they look for?</p>
<p>i think susan's point might be that though they'll recognize that NHS, etc. is an achievment, NON-typical awards/honors might catch their eyes more. for example, for a few years i was "russian language student of the year" at my high school -- that's something not many kids can say just becuase of how rare a russian program is. or, i participated in many highland dance competitions and won some awards with that (i know that's not academic, but it is unique!). for MT i made sure to include the voice competitions i had competed in and won and titles and companies of the CDs i can be heard on, knowing that it would be pertinent.</p>
<p>i don't think there are "typical" awards that admissions reviewers will look for they'll just take into account what you have.</p>
<p>Chris, as to what honors/awards/achievements "they" look for, VARIES greatly depending on the selectivity of a college (I'm talking academic selectivity only, not BFA stuff). If someone is applying to elite colleges, certain achievements would be common place, such as Honor Roll or NHS, for example. In a state university applicant pool, such achievements might be more noteworthy. It is very relative.</p>
<p>As well, achievements are not always in the form of an "award". There are achievements worth noting that don't have a "name" to them as well. </p>
<p>There are so many kinds of achievements. My comment was to do with MORE selective colleges and so if you want me to list some examples of such awards/honors, please keep in mind I am talking if applying to MORE selective colleges only. </p>
<p>Examples....Any school, regional, state, or national prizes in any subject, sports awards, sports rankings, National Merit Scholar or Finalist or Semi Finalist, Westinghouse/Intel finalist, state or national math competitions, debate/forensics awards at state or national level, published articles, state or national prizes in writing, being published in newspapers or creative writing publications, state and national arts competition winners, History competitions/awards, Scholastic Awards, NFAA awards, state scholarship winners in music, music competitions, All States for instruments or choral, selection as a leader of an organization (president, captain, etc), college "Book Awards" given to juniors in HS, the AME exam score in math, NHS, Dean's type list at school, valedictorian or salutatorian, NCTE Writing award, publishing an academic paper or research, Boys or Girls State, Rotary Scholar, AP Scholar, IB Diploma, and so on. </p>
<p>Colleges can then determine if you stand out in your high school (ex, departmental awards or other school type awards), in your state (ex., All States), or in the national pool with some of the bigger awards (ex., Westinghouse semifinalist or NFAA award).</p>
<p>I did not see Sporti/Maggie's post but yes, she also brings up if you are going into a certain field, that they will look for achievements you have gotten in that field. It all paints a picture and gives some idea of accomplishments either on the school level, state, regional, or national level. Of course for BFA candidates, so much is the actual audition! I am just talking of the paper part of an application...the academics, activities and achievements.</p>
<p>For my D's activity resume and artistic resume for college, she listed all awards/achievements. Now, on her theater resume she uses for auditions, she has left them all off except one National one and two state winner ones, even though she had many others but it is no longer about awards/achievements which is more of what colleges look at. But for someone going into the arts, also list all awards received.....it may be on the school level, in the community, or a state winner, or selection to something. When I interview applicants to college and they state an interest area, be it academic or extracurricular in nature, I look at what they've achieved in that area. I'm not just talking awards with names but those are good too. I interview applicants for a selective college and I expect applicants to have achievements of some sort.</p>
<p>bumping up for those who are putting together their resumes/filling out applications for the upcoming year. </p>
<p>Regarding NHS, how much can you "double-dip" on the NHS membership... meaning, if a school's NHS membership "requires" you to perform a certain number of volunteer hours, can you list NHS and those volunteer hours in separate extracurriculars? For my older daughter (now a junior in college), she really didn't have much in the way of volunteer service outside of school; but within NHS, she completed a certain number of hours, which I assumed colleges know that if a student is in NHS, they are doing community service, so why repeat it. So... under extracurriculars, do you list NHS and the volunteer hours you've completed required by NHS as separate activities?</p>
<p>I guess my take on NHS is (and I KNOW there are exceptions to this), if you have the grades and extracurriculars, colleges might be more likely to wonder why you aren't in NHS. There can be lots of reasons for this... some kids just don't want to be - they are invited to apply, but don't; but if I were a college admissions counselor and saw excellent grades on a transcript, I'd wonder why a kids wasn't in NHS, if their school offers it. At least at our high school, kids that apply and aren't accepted usually do not have a sense of maturity as witnessed by faculty, or being difficult to get along with, or other behavorial issues. I would think these traits would matter to college admissions counselors, to a certain degree. Both of my daughters actually felt the academic requirements for our school's NHS are too soft, but that's just their experience. (I also know that busy schedules can prohibit adding another activity or demand to a student's life)</p>