Last night after my Zoom call for my Application Nation - Class of 2027 group, I stayed up to watch the recording of the Dancing with the Stars premiere. I'm not a devotee when it comes to this show, but something struck me about the cast this season.
Their stories are so captivating. A Paralympic gold medalist. A movie star. A semi-professional baseball player/entertainer. The cast is stacked. I don't really care who wins the trophy at the end. I am just here for the stories, performances, and stars.
It's a good reminder for high school students who are struggling to fill their honors section of the college application. Common App provides room for five academic honors. Most students don't have any. And that's perfectly okay.
But here are some academic awards you can list in the honors section:
- Honor Roll (or your school's equivalent for getting a certain GPA each semester or year)
- Any of the honor societies, like National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, etc.
- College Board School Recognition Award
- Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
- Honorable Mention, Bronze, Silver, or Gold Awards for one of the national language exams (like the National Spanish Exam)
- Departmental awards given out at the high school
While many students get an AP award, National Merit Commended, or National Merit Semifinalist, these awards are not necessary, per se. The actual test scores on the exams matter so much more than the award (unless a college is a National Merit sponsor).
I see a lot of students listing non-academic awards in the honors section. But Common App asks for "any honors related to your academic achievements." I like the awards related to an activity to be listed with that activity, not in the honors section. As a former dean of admissions, I am a stickler for following the rules.
READ MORE: My New Strategy for Ordering Your Activities on the Common App
In the end, it's rare for an academic honor to be the reason a student gets admitted to a college. Instead, the collective story about the student, which emerges from the application as a whole, makes the biggest difference in college admissions.
My late night TV-watching left me exhausted today. But thinking about the interviews, struggles, and triumphs of the new cast of Dancing with the Stars made me feel surprisingly light on my feet. Human stories move us, figuratively and literally. Trophies don't.
