<p>What level of new awards/accomplishments are worth updating colleges about? NMF? Area level, state level, national level competitions? And so on... I just want to get a general idea.</p>
<p>This is a personal idea: colleges like subjectivity. This is verified by essays playing an important role on the admission process. Sometimes, then, it’s not about the “size” of the award you’ve, but how it somehow influenced you. At some schools, adcoms are tired to read boring “qualified for AIME”, “national merit finalist” and other fancy statements. Sometimes, they find to be more interesting to read how you worked to get a specific award; what you learned for the future and what perspective did you have of your accomplishment.</p>
<p>It comes down that, IMO, anything that happened since your application submission and that was important to you is worth reporting.</p>
<p>Anything very positive that’s substantial and quantitative that has occurred to you since you’ve applied is worth an update. So this includes winning a national level award, publishing a major article (literary or scientific) which has had some level of peer review in a public journal, an significant EC achievement (in sports, for example). The best updates are brief, and best is when they speaks for themselves.</p>