<p>Here is my chance me thread just to get the idea of what kind of student I am.</p>
<p>My parents are relatively angry that I did not get any of the school awards tonight (my sister got an award for Art). I'm slightly surprised too given that I am a very good student.</p>
<p>Are these really that important? There are awards for individual subjects, and also they give out book awards, and I didn't get any this year. Obviously they mean a little, but school politics play a big role in these awards as well.</p>
<p>Are my chances to get into colleges deflated now?</p>
<p>The only problem with not getting a book award is that it may indicate that your school isn’t going to be pushing for you come application time, but instead for those to whom they did give awards.</p>
<p>You have the grades and scores to get into Yale as a legacy and I’m sure they don’t have many Asian legacies. That puts you in good shape there. Make sure your application is fantastic and I think you’ll be headed to New Haven.</p>
<p>I was like you. I didn’t get any awards junior (and senior) year, even though I, and others, thought I deserved at least a few, as I was a better student than a lot of those who got awards. You hit a point about the school politics. The awards, at least in my experience, go to the same people that all the teachers love for whatever reason. One of my teachers said they recommended me, but for whatever reason I didn’t get one (I don’t know how the school knows who is a better student than the teachers, though). It hurts my confidence, but that is pretty much it. I don’t think I didn’t get into a school because of a lack of awards. </p>
<p>But, as someone else mentioned, you probably won’t have teachers/counselors going head over heels to write you a fantastic rec.</p>
<p>“But, as someone else mentioned, you probably won’t have teachers/counselors going head over heels to write you a fantastic rec.”</p>
<p>That’s not true. There is a lot of politics and turn taking (i.e. if a teacher’s fave student got the award last year, another teacher’s fave may get the tip this year) involved in school awards. That doesn’t mean that will be reflected in recommendations.</p>
<p>^Generally they are awards that teachers, advisors, or other faculty give out to certain students. I don’t really know what a book award is, although I think it is a book that you receive that has a college affiliation with it. But, never receiving one, I wouldn’t know for sure. Neither are that big of a deal to college admissions, IMO.</p>
<p>The college book award is just a book (someone this year got a dictionary, others get actual nonfiction books, etc.) with yes, the college affiliation with it, but it’s not a big deal; mainly it is just a tactic for recipients to become interested in the school of that award. However, CCers know that many applicants with such college book awards who apply to that college are not at all guaranteed admission.
For our school, I think a board of teachers discussed academic accomplishments, community service, and ECs before deciding who should be recipients. The criteria is also dependent on which college’s book award is and what that college “values.” (For example, maybe the college stresses lots of public service, so public service must be taken in account by teachers. Very subjective.)</p>