<p>Okay, so the title is pretty much self-explanatory... but essentially, I was nominated for this and that, but I never went to any of them because I didn't want to pay $5,000 to go to a workshop that "teaches leadership skills".</p>
<p>Anyone know if this is going to hurt me in my application? I'm applying to Duke, Yale, Princeton, MIT, and Stanford.</p>
<p>All of those programs that you receive in the mail regarding National Leadership Conferences, Presidential Leadership Conferences etc. are money making propositions. They do not count for anything on your app.</p>
<p>What if it required nomination by a teacher at the high school? </p>
<p>Thanks for the input!!!</p>
<p>Unless it is a very prestigious nomination, I would only list thing that you attended.</p>
<p>Well, if any of ya'll are interested, here are the nominations:</p>
<p>Park Scholarship High School Nominee (4)
Harvard Book Prize Award Nominee (3)
National Leadership Conference Nominee (3)
The National Society of High School Scholars Nominee (2)
NC School of Science and Mathematics Admission (2)
2003 SummerVentures Program (2) Student Government; Yearbook Editor
US Achievement Academy International Foreign Language Award Recipient (1)</p>
<p>oh yeah, the numbers indicate years (4=senior, 1= freshman)</p>
<p>Typically the programs that impress colleges are the ones that truly have a selection process and also are free. Getting nominated for the chance to pay $5 k for a program is not impressive.</p>
<p>Got it! Thank you so much for the help (not just on my thread either)!!</p>
<p>Did you actually receive any of these awards?</p>
<p>Well the whole idea is that a teacher at my high school nominates a student to go to some conference, workshop, etc. Some of them do not require payment (i.e. Park scholarship). The others did, and I was not interested - so I simply decided not to pay and therefore did not "receive" the award. The non-paying kind, I either did not receive or am going through the process right now.</p>
<p>Thank you for the explanation. I will stick with my initial advice...list only the items in which you actually participated. If you were nominated and didn't attend, that would not impress anyone unless this were SUCH a prestigious award as to be nationally recognized. If you were nominated and were not selected, that would not be worth a mention either. List the items that you attended that are not just money making ventures, but which are actual awards. I'll give you an example....when ds was a junior in high school, he was nominated for a prestigious (and nationally well known) music ensemble in which he would participate if selected. He did not know if he was selected until after most of his applications were sent. He did not list his nomination on the applications because, to be honest, selection was more important than being nominated. If he had not been selected, that would have been the end of it. HOWEVER, he was selected, and therefore sent a letter to all of the conservatory programs with a copy of his letter of acceptance into this ensemble as an addendum to his application. Because of the national recognition, this was worth it. However, had he not been selected, this would not have worked to his advantage as many other conservatory applicants are nominated as well. Am I making sense?</p>
<p>Here's another example - the chemistry and physics olympiad training camps will not allow you to attend any other academic training camp if you are attending one of theirs. Also, some of the olympiad training camps occur at the same time. So if you were invited to two, you might have to choose just one. But you could (and should!) certainly say that you were invited to the other one and something like "declined due to conflict".</p>