<p>OK, outside of perfect attendance, my D has not received any "honors or awards" in HS. She is one of those quiet leaders discussed in the "Unique Extra Curriculars" thread. Our HS doesn't have a whole lot available in the form of awards; no science fair, history day is a joke. Really the only awards that come to mind are Student of the Month which goes to just 4 kids a month and Bank of America Awards which only go to Srs. in the Spring of their Sr. year. </p>
<p>Do those of you in the same situation just leave that space blank?
Is there anyone in the high achieving world of CC in the same situation?
How bad does it look on an application to indicate that no one took notice of what you have done?</p>
<p>Perfect attendance is HUGE. I'd put it in boldface (just kidding) but it's an award that she earned over a four-year period. It shows work ethic and speaks volumes to character and values, espefcially to college admissions when they know that getting kids out-of-bed and into classes is an uphill battle for some. Could anyone ever imagine her as lazy or flighty after reading that award?</p>
<p>At S's h.s. graduation, loud applause went for 3 "perfect attendance" kids from h.s., and the principal made a huge verbal tribute (and did a mime of bowing down) to the kid who'd had perfect attendance from K-12 in that district. </p>
<p>In direct answer to your question, S-1 had splashy awards but D and S-2 listed one award each. D had a quirky award from being in a pilot dramatics program housed at a BOCES so hers was the "National Vocational-Technical Honor Society" yet was applying to an elite LAC; S-3 had won an acting award from a role in a community theater production, which had nothing to do with any school. </p>
<p>I think you're underestimating how admired it is to have perfect attendance in today's world. Of course if a child is sick, they can't help that so some people feel "perfect attendance" recognition is biased towards healthy kids. BUT think of how many healthy kids don't achieve perfect attendance and you'll realize why it says something special about your D.</p>
<p>I'd have her reflect on it; it might be part of "who she is" to be that hardworking and consistent. It could merit a short-answer response or even work into her personal essay. I wouldn't write a whole essay about winning that award, but it demonstrates (Shows, not Tells) things she wants to get across to describe what she can bring to college in terms of readiness to work hard. Everyone says it, but who can prove it?!</p>
<p>Probably most college applicants don't have any awards except perhaps "honor roll" (which I would imagine your D has made at some time of her school does have an honor roll). However, most students (the stat I've seen is 60%) who apply to college do get accepted to their first choice colleges, and virtually everyone in this country who wants to go to college can find a college that will accept them. Most of the 3,000 or so colleges in the U.S. also accept the majority of students who apply. </p>
<p>Most colleges don't factor honors and awards very much into admission. Grades and scores and having a college prep curriculum are the factors that are the most important.</p>
<p>She can list "perfect attendance," but I don't think it will be a strong factor just like I don't think that most awards are strong factors in admission. So much about perfect attendance depends on good luck -- having good health, for instance, that I don't think that colleges will weigh it heavily. It would, however, be fine for her to put it in the awards slot.</p>
<p>My daughter also had no awards or honors. She did have leadership positions, however. In some high schools, the same kids get all the awards. In other high schools, there are countless awards that mean nothing. Some awards are meaningful. Many are not. It is what it is -- and I would hope that no college would reject an applicant just because s/he has no awards.</p>
<p>My daughter got freaked out when she had to make a resume for guidance and she had no awards! A lot of her friends don't either, and they are all very good students; play varsity sports, participate in community service, etc. I think there are some that pretty much everybody gets in her school as seniors, like you get a sports award if you ever played a sport, so I will be invited to Senior Awards Night.</p>
<p>My shy Ds didn't get any awards, aside from foreign language pins and NHS, and leadership positions in their enormous HS were hard to come by. The diversity of their experiences and interests, despite good but not perfect grades and scores got them good merit money at LACs.</p>
<p>My son is at a school that doesn't give awards, but I hadn't thought of what puzzled suggested. Have others gotten that advice too, to say School X gives no awards? Does it sound too defensive to anyone?</p>
<p>OP, has your daughter competed on any academic teams? That can be an overlooked source of awards.</p>
<p>Don't forget that AP Scholar requires only 3 AP scores of 3 or above. Listing it gives the student a chance to report AP scores if the app doesn't otherwise ask for them.</p>
<p>rainmama, I quietly agree. Not just defensive; to me saying "School X gives no awards" doesn't sound credible. Every school gives out pencils and stuff. </p>
<p>I wouldn't write that in. There's nothing wrong with blank space.</p>
<p>Do you have to put down academic awards only? I don't think I put any academic awards on my college applications, but I had quite a few that didn't have to do with school whatsoever.</p>
<p>Do those of you in the same situation just leave that space blank? Yes. Is there anyone in the high achieving world of CC in the same situation? Yes. How bad does it look on an application to indicate that no one took notice of what you have done? I'm at Dartmouth, so not terribly.</p>
<p>rainmama,
Our high school is a well-respected private one and sends many students to top colleges so I don't that explanation has been a problem for anyone. My kids also used that section to list National Merit Commended and Semi-Finalist status.</p>
<p>I wanted to add that I agree with paying3 that it's okay to have some blank space on the application. One of my kids, who had worked so hard at school and had lots of interesting ECs and summer experiences, was frustrated that she had nothing whatsoever to write under Work Experience. She thought she'd covered all the bases so it made her crazy to leave that section blank. She got into her first choice school just fine and the funny thing is that four years later she's still barely earned a dime. She has many strengths but making money doesn't seem to be one of them.</p>
<p>Some schools really don't give awards. My high school didn't. But only put that down if it's true. I don't think it looks that terrible. Remember the awards don't have to be from school. I think I put down the Girl Scout Gold Award (except I believe it was called something different then.)</p>
<p>Silly me, I never considered honor roll or Principal's list as awards! Scholar Athlete would be one too then so I guess there is recognition for the kids who go about quietly doing their thing. Thanks to all of you for the reassurance and the answers to my questions. I didn't know about the AP scholar thing as D is a junior and just now taking first AP classes</p>
<p>rainmama, our HS has Acadeca but with two varsity sports and 3 APs my D is pretty booked.</p>
<p>MmCheezits: I hope what everyone else wrote on this thread helps you feel less worried. You sound like a great kid. Can I give you an award for that? :-)</p>
<p>You know it just occurred to me there sure could be schools that don't grant awards. My cousins went to a Quaker-based private h.s. and that was just the kind of thing they opposed, philosophically. So yes, not even pencils...forgive me. I just needed my thinking cap stretched!</p>
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<p>Is there anyone in the high achieving world of CC in the same situation?>></p>
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<p>DD was a top 5% student in her class all the way through high school. She was 8th in her class. All of the other top 10 students got awards year after year. She got none. However, she did excel at music both in and out of school, and received a number of awards for that. She was a highest honors student, and we viewed that as an award...so she put that in the spot. And she did get accepted at her number one choice despite not being recognized by her high school. She did receive a large number of local scholarships (noted on the graduation program....her only recognition in her four years of high school), and was honored by the board of education as a presidential scholar at the end of her senior year (too late to put on applications). Basically...she flew under the radar screen in high school.</p>