is it COMPLETELY worthless to list it in ‘awards’ ??? should i even consider listing it?
<p>It is worthless, but if you have extra space, you can put it.</p>
<p>DO NOT PUT IT DOWN. Fun story: At my dad's office, they got sick of all the telemarketers, so they set up a voice mail for a fictional person named Sophie Adams. Soon people would call saying they were a personal friend of hers, they'd give her voice mail, and just never listen to the messages. One day Sophie Adams even got invited to join Who's Who. So I am 100% sure that it is complete BS. DO NOT PUT IT ON THE APP.</p>
<p>Haha, well, I don't believe it will hurt to put it, but it won't help either...</p>
<p>Might I ask where the prestige is in this award? I received a letter from them saying I am such a great student, when I screwed off for 3 of HS - 3.0 GPA and no awards. Apparently, if I can receive this award, then to be comparing me with somebody who has a 4.0 GPA and a list of awards a mile long is rather denegrading, wouldn't you think?</p>
<p>DO NOT PUT IT DOWN!!! Why is the rest of the board trying to ensure that this poster gets rejected?</p>
<p>Lol, you do not get rejected for putting it down, scam or not...</p>
<p>Real honors are ALWAYS given freely. There is NO cost involved. None. Never.</p>
<p>Bogus honors always involve you PAYING something to be included. If you, your parents, or your grandparents paid something to be included in the "honored group" or paid to receive a book with all the honorees listed----it is a bogus honor---no matter how high faluttin' or official the organization sounds. It does not matter if it cost "just" $5... or $40... or $200. There are many examples of different "Who's Who" type organizations---and they all go to extreme lengths to make you think they are on the up and up. They have been running their various honor scams for so many years, many people truly believe they are genuine honors. Just because such organizations are "legal" does not mean that they offer true honors.</p>
<h2>If you list bogus honors on a college application, adcoms will think you are an easy mark. That never makes a good impression on anyone.</h2>
<p>Regardless of what I say about this, there will always be a group of people who will say, "Well I thought it was worth the small price, and I think it is a great honor to be included!"</p>
<p>In advance, please let me congratulate you.</p>
<p>;)</p>
<p>Yeah, don't do it. All the air-headed homecoming nominees at my school had it read with their EC's during their walk across the football field to be crowned. We just laughed at them. This one chick had like a mile of "extra-curricular activities" that were nothing but Who's Who, National Honor Roll, etc.</p>
<p>I am apart of both Who's Who and National Honor roll and I haven't paid a thing. I have gotten letters from my senators, articles in the newspaper and I'm a Who's Who Scholarship Semi-finalist (hopefully I get one!). I don't think it will hurt a bit to write it down just don't pay for anything!</p>
<p>....Who's Who? should be changed to "Who's Rich?" or "who is who among the ordinary?? seriously though, being invited into the who's who family does not distinguish you. If you apply to the top college they are looking for "top awards" such as an Intel science fair, successful application into a foreign exchange program based on merit, an AP Scholar, etc. But Who's who won't...not an award that's randomly available to the top 50% of high school students.</p>
<p>Who's Who only exists to sell the book to the parents of the kids listed. That is the entire purpose of this enterprise. It doesn't matter if you buy it or not, you can get in for free. But this is just like paid advertising. It is not something to put on a college application.</p>
<p>I remember seeing a kid in my high school carrying a who's who yearbook around. It was one of the most hilarious things I remember from freshmen year. But anyways, save you award slots on your college application for REAL awards, not these jokes. I definitely would not list them if you're applying for any of the higher tier schools (i.e. Ivies) because they're seen as more of a spacefiller and you give off the wrong impression if you have accomplished nothing more than an award that is given to even fake individuals.</p>
<p>I agree that it will detract from your application. It will be filler and detract from real awards and achievments and EC's, and also show that you are a little clueless as to what is a real accomplishment vs. what is a vanity award. Who's Who and the like are vanity awards that are just based upon your GPA--but your GPA is already known by the college from your transcripts. Let the smaller, focused list of outside accomplishments where you really did something shine by eliminating the junk.</p>
<p>It's not even based on your GPA- in fact it has no basis whatsoever- their goal is to trick the naive into purchasing a plaque or a certificate or even their yearbook which I've actually experienced a person go so far to do. My friends were able to fill out fake information and received a confirmation letter congratulating them that they were accepted into their "prestigious" yearbook. Yes there are those who decide to legitimately fill out the application and don't wind up paying for anything but what you've essentially done is just waste the companies time because their goal is to purely do what they do for profits and even if you just decided to not purchase their merchandise, there will still be some naive people out there who will and those people keep the business running.</p>
<p>Receiving the "invitation" to be included in Who's Who is not an honor. It just means that you were on some mailing list they purchased somewhere. They do not "extend the invitation" to top students - they "extend the invitation" to ANY student.</p>
<p>I think you have to have a 3.0 GPA to get the letter. I also read somewhere that our schools nominate the students that get the letter.</p>
<p>That's not true stardust. The case is what fireflyscout has stated: they get a hold of mailing lists. I've used false names before when signing up for random online offers and I received Who's Who nominations under those false names so I decided to fill them out and they were all accepted into their "prestigious" yearbook. I've talked to my friends who did just the same.</p>
<p>The main purpose of Who's Who is not to award "deserving" students. Their main intent and purpose is to make a profit off the unsuspecting. By not purchasing any of their products, you've essentially wasted their time, but there will be those who are naive enough to actually go so far as purchase their products and again these are the people that keep their business going and also gives rise to mock "Who's Who" such as "National Honor Roll Society." </p>
<p>Bottomline: Re-evaluate your position and think about how you will be perceived by admission officers when they see that what you listed as an "achievement" was nothing more than some joke award that has no basis whatsoever.</p>
<p>Well it doesnt' matter to me anymore anyway because I'm already in college, I was just commenting.</p>