The Common App tries its best to be user friendly, and sometimes even succeeds. That said, we get questions from students every year about different pieces of it, and helping students complete it in a way that appeals to colleges is a major part of the work we do with students. One thing we find ourselves explaining quite often, and get many questions from students about, is the honors section. This is because the section is not well defined or described in the Common App itself. While it is a minor thing, it is also a great way to show off to colleges if done well. In this article then, we鈥檙e going to explain what the honors section is, how best to complete it, and what admissions officers are looking for when they review it in applications. Let鈥檚 get started!
What is the Common App Honors Section?
The honors section is often overlooked, simply because it isn鈥檛 immediately apparent or important looking. It is one of many subheadings under the 鈥淓ducation鈥� tab. When you enter it, you are met with this message:
You only get a chance to enter honors if you click 鈥測es鈥�. Doing so, you are then able to enter up to five different honors. Here is what it looks like to enter an honor:
You have 100 characters to list out the title of the honor you received. Compared to something like the activities list, this is fairly bare-bones, but it is still a useful avenue through which you can brag to admissions officers about things you have done in high school, and the recognition you have received for doing so.
If you earned the same honor in multiple grades, such as honor roll or dean鈥檚 list, then it only needs a single entry. The level of recognition is determined by who is eligible for an award. If it鈥檚 anyone in your town, it鈥檚 a local award, while if it鈥檚 everyone in your country, or anyone around the world, it鈥檚 respectively larger. International awards are the most impressive, but even school-based ones are good to include.
What Counts as an Honor?
This is the most common question, and the reason this section causes so much concern and consternation. It is not defined at all on the page itself, so students are left to wonder; all it says is that honors should be 鈥渞elated to your academic achievements.鈥� What we have found is that what counts as an honor is any third-party recognition of your achievements during the four years you were in high school.
Thus, all of the following count as honors, and can be included here:
- Awards given out by your school, everything from Dean鈥檚 List to awards for attendance
- Prizes won for academic competitions; science fairs, quiz bowl, debate. Winning at the local, state, and national levels are all worth including
- Prizes won for athletic competitions, though these should only be included if you run out of academic awards
- Awards given by community and other foundations for volunteering
- Awards given out by College Board for repeated high scores on AP tests or the PSAT
- Any scholarships you have won
- Membership in Honors Societies, most commonly the National Honors Society
This is a somewhat extensive list, but this is on purpose. What counts as an honor is intentionally both broad and vague, to give you as much leeway as possible to tell admissions officers what you have accomplished, and how you鈥檝e been recognized for it.听
Composing Your Honors List
As with your activities list, there are guidelines we suggest students follow when writing their honors list to make it as impactful as possible. We鈥檒l also give you some examples of what well-written honors look like, and explain why each point is important.
First, you want to brainstorm all potential honors you have received. Use the list above to see what qualifies, and speak with your parents if you鈥檙e having trouble remembering or thinking of any. You don鈥檛 have to fill all five slots, but it鈥檚 good to have at least a few things written here. If you have more than five items, you want to prioritize the most impressive. Generally, the larger the pool of candidates for an award, the more impactful it is.
Thus international awards are the most impressive to admissions officers, while ones from your school the least. If awards are at the same level, you should order them chronologically. If you have multiple different awards in the same category (such as debate tournament victories), these should be grouped together.
The actual entries themselves should have the full name of the award. We advise not using acronyms, especially ones which may be unknown to admissions officers. Something may be very popular within your community, but rather unknown to the world at large. You always want to write out 鈥淵outh American Grand Prix鈥� (a ballet competition), rather than simply saying 鈥淵AGP鈥�.
Here are some examples of what award titles can look like from past 吃瓜官网 students:
- Regional Dance America Scholar – $51,850 in scholarship for ballet programs nationwide
- UIL Science 2nd Place Biology
- Distinguished Honor Roll
- Universal Ballet Competition 2 Platinum Medals
- Precalculus AAC Award of Excellence
Note that you are allowed to include some necessary context in the award title, such as scholarship amounts. This isn鈥檛 the activities list, and you shouldn鈥檛 give full descriptions, but notes like this can help admissions officers contextualize what you have done, especially for awards they may not have heard of before.听
What if You Have More Than Five Honors?
In some circumstances, students have more than five notable honors they wish to tell colleges about. If you do not, then don鈥檛 worry, this isn鈥檛 regular or expected. It can happen though, and there are ways to tell colleges about them even if you exceed the spaces available on the honors list.
In these circumstances, you can use the additional information section to list other honors you think are relevant. If you have more awards than activities, some awards can be placed on the activities list, especially something like National Honors Society. We advise putting that on whichever list needs to be bulked out.
When adding awards to your additional information section, you want to emulate the format and phrasing of the awards section. This isn鈥檛 an essay, but another list which admissions officers can review. Here is an example of what a past 吃瓜官网 student wrote for her additional information section:
UIL Science 3rd Place Team Invitational B
Awarded 3rd place in the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Science competition for biology, chemistry, and physics in the invitational B round
UIL Science 4th Place Team Invitational A
Awarded 4th place in the University Interscholastic League (UIL) Science competition for biology, chemistry, and physics in the invitational A round
Top Junior
Awarded for highest academic standing after 5 semesters of high school
She does provide some additional notes to give context for the awards; what they were, who was eligible for them, and what they mean. This is generally a good idea, and as in this example, can and should be done in a brief sentence.
How Admissions Officers Review an Honors List
In general, getting specific honors or awards won鈥檛 be enough to get you into college. There are exceptions of course; , youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, did likely get an admissions boost to her already incredible resume from that. Most people do not fall into that category however, and awards alone do not decide your acceptance.
Instead, awards serve as a kind of confirmation, building on the rest of the narrative created by your application. This works in two ways; first, they can showcase what you have devoted your time and energy to, though less so than your activities list. More importantly, they offer a third party confirmation of what you have accomplished.
Colleges trust you when you describe your activities and accomplishments of course, but it can be quite difficult for them to understand the scale of them. Awards let them better understand the context of what you have done, and provide an external validation of it.
In addition, particular awards hold more prominence. If you are entering a science fair, the work of doing a project is impressive, but it is seen as more significant if you win the fair (even if only at the local level). This makes sense in a way, since this directly compares your work and efforts to those of your peers.
If you are concerned about this, then you can take other approaches to gain verification and validation of a project or activity even without an award. Projects for a science fair can be reworked, enhanced, and submitted for publication as original research, even if they didn鈥檛 win an award. Some activities are inherently competitive, and achieving success in them is a marker admissions officers will note.
Tiers of Honors
Not all achievements are created equal. We all have some sense of this when we鈥檙e doing things, and it isn鈥檛 much of a surprise to students. We鈥檙e going to describe three tiers of honors. Note that all of these can still be beneficial to include, but tier one are more likely to wow admissions officers. We鈥檒l also try to explain how we鈥檝e separated out the tiers.
Tier 1 Honors
These are international or national awards, where you were selected from among a major field of competitors, and recognized for your merit and accomplishments. Certain schools prefer academic honors, but most top schools will have a very keen interest in any honors of this sort.
Examples:
- Being an olympic competitor, or medalist.
- Winning an international academic competition, such as ISEF or one of the math or science olympiads.
- Winning in an international dance competition, such as YAGP or Prix du Lausanne.
- Receiving a very competitive merit scholarship, such as Davidson Fellows.
- Winning a national debate competition.
Tier 2 Honors
These are honors awarded at a state or regional level, or things which are technically awarded on a national level, but are less competitive. These are still quite impressive, but are less likely to move the needle on your admissions, instead serving to reinforce the narrative you created elsewhere in your application.
Examples:
- Winning a regional sports championship.
- Receiving state or regional recognition in a science fair or academic competition.
- Most scholarship awards, including National Merit Scholarships.
- Becoming an Eagle Scout.
- Publishing a piece of writing, whether fiction, nonfiction, or poetry.
Tier 3 Honors
These are not bad honors, they are merely whelming (neither over- nor under-). These are honors that many students have, generally achieved at the school level. They can look quite good, and reflect well on you. Note that just having these honors will not hurt your admissions chances, but they won鈥檛 boost them much either; the rest of your application will need to show off your potential to admissions officers all the more.
Examples:
- Being a member of the National Honors Society (or other honors societies).
- Making the Dean鈥檚 List at your school.
- Awards for local volunteering.
- Awards from College Board for excellent performance on AP Tests.
Final Thoughts
College applications have a lot of moving parts, and while the Common App has streamlined and simplified the process, it too is often confusing to deal with. We hope that this article has clarified one piece of the Common Application which often trips students up, and given you insight into why and how colleges care about the awards you have won.
If you are looking for help with your own applications, or advice on pursuing the kinds of awards and accomplishments colleges find remarkable, then 吃瓜官网 can help. Our mentors are skilled at helping students accomplish remarkable things, reaching the heights of their passions. Schedule a free consultation today to learn more, we鈥檙e always happy to hear from you.
