<p>Currently, all five spots for honors are filled up in my Common App. Unfortunately, this means that I excluded other honors. I'd like everyone's opinion as to whether I'm making the right choices.</p>
<p>My honors currently listed are:</p>
<p>Chemistry Olympiad, Top 10 in State (Grade 10)
Sewanee Book Award (greatest excellence in writing within my class; grade 11)
TECA-sponsored essay contest, 2nd place (winning $2000 and trip to D.C.; grade 11)
National Merit Scholarship Semifinalist (Grade 12)
AP Scholar with Honor (Grade 12)</p>
<p>Things I've left out include:</p>
<p>First place winner in an essay contest specific to my school's freshman. (I won $850!)
Second place winner in an essay contest specific to my school's sophomores. ($400)
Second place winner in an essay contest specific to my school's juniors. ($450)
Some award for being top in my class in world history Freshman year.
Treasurer of my school's NHS (But I included this in the Activities section)</p>
<p>More about me:</p>
<p>I want to major in English, and I'm applying to some top LACs and Ivies. And backup colleges, of course.</p>
<p>Closing thoughts:</p>
<p>My AP scores already reflect that I'm an "AP Scholar with Honor," and NMS is implied by my stats. I'm guessing book awards don't greatly impress adcoms. Should I nix any of those to include an essay win, or are those honors meaningless because they were awarded at the school level?</p>
<p>The only thing I would do is take out “Sewanee Book Award” and instead create a jumbled honor called “Annual Essay Contest” and say what place you got which year. To me it just stands out more that way.</p>
<p>This is just my opinion, so take it as you will. Good luck to you on all your endeavors.</p>
<p>Don’t leave any out. Just use the Additional Information section to add what you can’t fit on the app. No worries, it won’t hurt you (my kid got into U of Chicago and Swarthmore last year after doing this with activities and honors).</p>
<p>Great suggestions both of you! I’m already using the additional information section to list my spillover activities, so it makes sense that I include an extra honor or two as well. Plus, I like the idea of an “Annual Essay Contest” category. I’ll work with these suggestions some and see what I can do. Thanks guys!</p>
<p>Any thoughts as to whether AP Scholar with Honor > Sewanee Book Award? On one hand, the former has much greater respect. Then again, the award is given to students whose four AP exams average 3.25 or higher, and my four AP exams are actually all 5’s. I don’t know that either it or the Sewanee Book Award adds anything to my app, honestly.</p>
<p>Schools are familiar with the AP certificates. They are going to see that you took 4 APs, and if you list your scores, they’ll know your AP standing, so it’s not crucial you list it.</p>
<p>Thanks one last time to everyone here for their awesome advice. My surprise acceptance to Princeton University surely reflects the care I spent packaging together my last four years, and the creation of the “Three-time winner” category is certainly a part of that. Thanks @TenMore.</p>
<p>Perhaps pitifully, after shining my award section so brightly I realized I had entirely forgotten to include that I have been published in The Tennessee Magazine. My omission, indubitably, did not help my application, and my rejection letters from other elite universities testify to this. That Princeton chose to accept me is a wonder. It was my first choice and I am indescribably thrilled.</p>