<p>I was wondering if there is a specific format for sending awards' updates to colleges? Does it have to be concise or detailed? Should I use snail mail or Fedex? Please let me know!</p>
<p>Updates. My sons used a Memo Format from Word. Their SSNs were in lighter font in upper left (not getting lost in mounds of paper is your challenge)…</p>
<p>2005 applicant sent everything as a FAX with attached brief brief Memo. But most of his applications were hard copied! Dinosaur era! Some colleges…like Rice and UVA are quite specific about only wanting things online in their effort to be Green and to streamline. You can see that Admission Reviews are roomfuls of adcoms on laptops.</p>
<p>The 2009 applicant did them all in emails as word attachments. The email would state would you kindly place the following award and update in my admission folder so it can be viewed when my application is reviewed for admission. Close with a statement of ongoing interest and desire to be part of the class of 2015.</p>
<p>2009 son also sent one email with attachment to the main admissions office email address…and a second identical one to the college counselor assigned to your region for safety reasons…we did duplicate.</p>
<p>best</p>
<p>The attached memo would have no more than 3 sentences listing </p>
<p>The Award or Recognition or Accomplishment’s name
Context of the Award (if possible indicate the definition, meaning and scope of the award.) Adcoms appreciate you having a sense of proportion.</p>
<p>One son made it to top five finalists in a state academic competition…that went to his colleges. he eventually won that state title but decisions were likely over and done by that date. They also sent in prizes in local and regional science fairs since both were intending on majoring in sciences, but there is definitely a time to question if you should stop and if local awards are not worth adding.</p>
<p>good luck!</p>
<p>Here’s a CC “Ask the Dean” response to that question: [How</a> Do I Send Resume Updates to Colleges? - Ask The Dean](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/how-do-i-send-resume-updates-to-colleges.htm]How”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/dean/archives/how-do-i-send-resume-updates-to-colleges.htm)</p>
<p>General rule of thumb: The more selective the college, the more significant the updates should be … e.g., accomplishments that are the norm at the hyper-competitive level, such as getting on the honor roll, aren’t worth reporting, nor is being one of many to earn a particular honor or participate in an activity or event, unless it’s fairly unusual.</p>
<p>What about being hired by an SAT Test Prep company, or any other job for that matter?</p>
<p>Yes, starting a job would definitely be something worth including on an Update.</p>
<p>Note, however, that one pet peeve of mine harks back to my own application-reading days when I would see students saying something like, “Last week I started a job at a local stationery store,” and then I’d find elsewhere on the application that the kid’s parents owned a stationery store. Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with working in the family business, but I feel that when an applicant is doing so, he or she should be open about it. It’s also a good opportunity to demonstrate one’s sense of humor. e.g., “Conscripted to work in family stationery store. It was easy to ace the interview, but it’s hard to call in sick when I’m not.” :)</p>
<p>I’m applying to an Ivy League and my counselor wants me to write a midyear update. Would these things be good to include?</p>
<p>1) Being nominated to apply to be a Washington State Scholar, an honor recieved by one percent of my class and that is based on GPA, SAT scores and other calculations.</p>
<p>2) Running pre-season lacrosse conditioning plus clinics for new players to learn the sport.</p>
<p>3) As the Events Coordinator of my community service organization, helping to organize a Jeans Drive called “Be Comfortable in Your Genes!” to promote eating disorder awareness and planning a charity bake sale and volleyball game against the boys’ community service organization at our school.</p>
<p>UVA actually says to have the counselor submit any new awards in the mid-year report. They would rather you not send in new info. unless really necessary. I think most colleges feel that way now. Think the email would be ok from the applicant, but much easier for them to just have the new info. added to the mid-year report from counselor.</p>
<p>S1 had a bountiful resume when he applied, so the mid-year update was limited to national awards where only a few folks were recognized. Even so, there was one major recognition he didn’t include because it was in an area outside of his passions and he earned it by taking a series of exams, not by extra effort on his part.</p>
<p>S2 felt none of his additional goodies were significant enough to add to his app, so he didn’t send an update.</p>
<p>S1 faxed to the admissions office, and emailed to a regional rep if he had a name. His update bulleted the items and didn’t go into lots of detail, as they were pretty self-explanatory and colleges would know exactly what he was talking about. I think he included the website links announcing the awards as verification.</p>
<p>When we visited the U. of Chicago, the admissions person told us that the staff makes a record of every contact the student has with the University. He strongly recommended mid-year updates as a way of maxing those contacts. He said that when an entering class is almost filled and the staff are choosing between two equal applicants, the one with the most contacts can carry the day because that applicant looks more interested in acceptance and is more likely to actually enroll (raising the “yield” on acceptances). My daughter took that information and ran with it: she sent two updates a month apart to her first-choice college (not Chicago) that listed honors and awards that had just come in. She sent these updates as e-mails to her regional admissions office. In EVERY correspondence with the college she wrote, “I remain strongly committed to X College as my first-choice college.” We won’t ever know if that interest was a factor, but she did get into her first-choice college which had a 16% acceptance rate that year.</p>
<p>^^^that sounds like a dramatic and frankly, surprising, change in policy at Chicago. My kids were HS class of 2008 and 2010 and neither sent regular emails or replied to Chicago’s quirky mailings. Both got in EA with varying degrees of “lopsided” records.</p>
<p>katieknitsstuff–Those updates are all fine to include. At the hyper-competitive Ivy level, they are fairly routine and probably won’t push your folder any closer to the “In” pile, but it won’t hurt to send the update, especially because your counselor has requested it.</p>
<p>Does anyone know what format a midyear update from a student should take?</p>