Awards & Honors

Awards and Honors are a tricky section of the admissions process that many people either interpret incorrectly or ignore altogether. However, most students have achievements that they can list in this section, even if under first consideration, they think these achievements to be too insignificant or inapplicable to this section.

Diversity of Achievement

While the awards and honors section is looking for academic achievement, counselors at the Kollegio development team have noticed that admissions committees allow for non-academic achievement to be included in this list (this is a consistent trend noted in several successful applications). Through this idea of diversity of achievement, students can include other achievements in this section of the Common App. For example, you can include debate, business competition, and community service awards in this section as well, as they are just as relevant to your profile.

Significance of Achievement

As alluded to earlier, many students feel that they do not have any achievements that go into the awards and honors section of the common app. However, it is important to understand that even small achievements can be listed in this section. While there is a clear ranking of school, state, national, and international achievements, even smaller class achievements like getting the best grades in your class on a test or winning a school spelling bee can be included in this section.