Academic Awards?

[CornellMANheh]

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[AllBleedingStops]

Award 2 is better than Award 1 but if you have room, feel free to put them. If you can better use that space with something that can't be gleaned by looking at your GPA then I would do that instead.

 

[JeSuisUnDoc]

They’re not gonna make or break you but there is a section for it and you can put them all together. Summa cum laude and phi beta kappa are pretty on paper lol and some people do find them appealing.

 

[LizzyM]

if your school has grade deflation such that a 3.6 is still magna cum laude, for example, then it might be worth putting it down to place your GPA in context. Sometimes committee letters will also do that and at least one school I know puts student's class rank on page one of the letter in a template.

 

[freedoctor17]

I had extra space so i put all my awards under one activity (including scholarships and non gpa awards). Gave each one a short description if it wasn't obvious what it was.

 

[Catalystik]

Are academic awards worth putting as an activity or pointless because adcoms can already see GPA.

For ex:

Award 1: Given to top 1% of class

Or

Award 2: Given to highest gpa in a field of study

Or Latin honors: summa cum Laude, Magna etc.

Don't list Latin honors unless you've already graduated.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I had extra space so i put all my awards under one activity (including scholarships and non gpa awards). Gave each one a short description if it wasn't obvious what it was.

This is what I did too. FWIW, only one interviewer was even remotely interested in that section, and she was only interested in my military awards. And I think that’s only because I was wearing my blues and she wanted to know what all the ribbons were. Basically I wouldn’t stress it.

 

[freedoctor17]

This is what I did too. FWIW, only one interviewer was even remotely interested in that section, and she was only interested in my military awards. And I think that’s only because I was wearing my blues and she wanted to know what all the ribbons were. Basically I wouldn’t stress it.

Yeah the only one i had mentioned at an interview was an award one of my organizations won while i was one of the leaders of it and that was a team one rather than an individual one.

 

[907914]

This is what I did too. FWIW, only one interviewer was even remotely interested in that section, and she was only interested in my military awards. And I think that’s only because I was wearing my blues and she wanted to know what all the ribbons were. Basically I wouldn’t stress it.

Silly question: Is it common to wear dress uniform to interviews (outside of USHSU)? I don’t have mine anymore, but just curious if I should’ve kept them...

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Silly question: Is it common to wear dress uniform to interviews (outside of USHSU)? I don’t have mine anymore, but just curious if I should’ve kept them...

Only if you're active duty. Possibly reserves. If you're out, then no.

 

[CornellMANheh]

if your school has grade deflation such that a 3.6 is still magna cum laude, for example, then it might be worth putting it down to place your GPA in context. Sometimes committee letters will also do that and at least one school I know puts student's class rank on page one of the letter in a template.

Would you recommend putting down the Top 1% or highest GPA awards?

My AMCAS GPA is ~3.9 but I got nearly all A+'s junior and senior year which put my GPA at 4.18 (A+ = 4.3), which earned me valedictorian out of ~300 biology majors as well as top 1% in my graduating class. Do you think I should mention the 4.18 or might that seem excessive?

 

[907914]

Would you recommend putting down the Top 1% or highest GPA awards?

My AMCAS GPA is ~3.9 but I got nearly all A+'s junior and senior year which put my GPA at 4.18 (A+ = 4.3), which earned me valedictorian out of ~300 biology majors as well as top 1% in my graduating class. Do you think I should mention the 4.18 or might that seem excessive?

Yah, they don’t care about school GPA just AMCAS standardized. Valedictorian might be worthwhile mentioning, but a 4.18 doesn’t exist for purposes of your application.

 

[CornellMANheh]

Yah, they don’t care about school GPA just AMCAS standardized. Valedictorian might be worthwhile mentioning, but a 4.18 doesn’t exist for purposes of your application.

Thing is my school is a pretty big feeder, with I'm sure a few applicants applying to top schools with >3.9 GPAs as biology majors each year. I wouldn't want adcoms to think I was lying about valedictorian if they see someone else in my class with a higher AMCAS GPA.

 

[907914]

Thing is my school is a pretty big feeder, with I'm sure a few applicants applying to top schools with >3.9 GPAs as biology majors each year. I wouldn't want adcoms to think I was lying about valedictorian if they see someone else in my class with a higher AMCAS GPA.

If they question it then show them the certificate that says your name next to the word “valedictorian.” No one has time to go through there 10,000 applications to find the OTHER applicant from this one school just to see if you are lying. If everything is consistent in your app, then schools will just trust you on a faith based system. No one can fake an entire application without inconsistencies.

 

[DokterMom]

Would you recommend putting down the Top 1% or highest GPA awards?

My AMCAS GPA is ~3.9 but I got nearly all A+'s junior and senior year which put my GPA at 4.18 (A+ = 4.3), which earned me valedictorian out of ~300 biology majors as well as top 1% in my graduating class. Do you think I should mention the 4.18 or might that seem excessive?

Congratulations! Assuming you're graduating from Cornell -- which is known to be a grade deflator (despite the 4.3 A+s) -- list those honors but make clear what they stand for succinctly.





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