Honors and Awards on Application

[altitude]

Is there a designated spot for honors and awards on the med school application? If yes- how much space is there for these types of things and what types of awards and honors would be appropriate to write?

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[music2doc]

Is there a designated spot for honors and awards on the med school application? If yes- how much space is there for these types of things and what types of awards and honors would be appropriate to write?

IIRC, these go under "Experiences" and you could devote entire slots to them; however, I would leave out most awards, as you [hopefully] have much more valuable experiences to talk about. Now if you got a Fulbright and did research somewhere then by all means!

(This will, of course, depend upon your other ECs. Personally, I easily filled up all 15 spots with substantive activities and had several slots that had multiple activities combined into one big activity. YMMV.)

 

[altitude]

What about scholarships, honor societies, graduating with distinctions, ...?

 

[altitude]

Is it appropriate/favorable to put an international honor society on the application? Is there even space for something like this?

 

[music2doc]

What about scholarships, honor societies, graduating with distinctions, ...?

Meh, crap, and meh, I'd say.

Scholarships are generally not all that significant. Everyone has them.

Most successful premeds were probably eligible for honor societies (IMO, the smart ones rejected the offers). I found myself rejecting honor society invitations every semester of undergrad. They are usually nothing more than filler for your resume and, frankly, they're really not even that impressive there. IMO, they are a total waste of money unless you actively utilize funding from them and most people don't even do that.

Graduating with distinction generally can be seen by your GPA and other projects (e.g., a scholarly research project, which would be listed as an experience in and of itself -- you could mention it there if the project was part of your distinction requirement).

 

[sector9]

Is it appropriate/favorable to put an international honor society on the application? Is there even space for something like this?

It is appropriate to include them on your application grouped with all other awards and scholarships. They aren't going to help much as your grades should already show your academic prowess. You should probably include some sort of an explanation of the selection criteria (especially if it is not very well known) if you decide to include it.

Whether or not it is favorable depends on the exact honor society. It has been said that Phi Beta Kappa is the only one worth mentioning. Your mileage may vary.

There is a category to list "honors/awards/scholarships" as an entry for your EC list on AMCAS

 

[music2doc]

Consider what you're trying to tell the schools about yourself....

 

[Stumpyman]

What did you do in the honors society? It it's only grade-based, then I don't think it's worth much. Some honors societies have members volunteer, do bake sales, etc. a couple time a month, if that sounds like something you guys do then I might list it.

 

[ps9891]

Meh, crap, and meh, I'd say.

Scholarships are generally not all that significant. Everyone has them.

Most successful premeds were probably eligible for honor societies (IMO, the smart ones rejected the offers). I found myself rejecting honor society invitations every semester of undergrad. They are usually nothing more than filler for your resume and, frankly, they're really not even that impressive there. IMO, they are a total waste of money unless you actively utilize funding from them and most people don't even do that.

Graduating with distinction generally can be seen by your GPA and other projects (e.g., a scholarly research project, which would be listed as an experience in and of itself -- you could mention it there if the project was part of your distinction requirement).

Um, do you mean merit scholarships or financial aid? If it's a merit scholarship, I would definitely make room to put it on your app and not take such a cavalier attitude towards it.

EDIT: I would also use the space in AMCAS for a line or two describing the scholarship. ex: "full 4-year scholarship given to top 10% of incoming class" or something of the sort.

 

[candav]

There is an "Awards" activity designation on AMCAS, and it gives you the same amount of space (700 char?) as any other activity type. I fit all my merit scholarships into a single slot; you only need a short one-sentence description for each.

ETA: I included a few different scholarships and Dean's List (although the latter really isn't that significant, in my opinion). My school doesn't have formal honour societies.

 

[music2doc]

Um, do you mean merit scholarships or financial aid? If it's a merit scholarship, I would definitely make room to put it on your app and not take such a cavalier attitude towards it.

I mean merit scholarships. Anyone worth their salt can get a merit scholarship. If you're really cut out for med school, you can probably pull off at least a decent scholarship (whether institutional or external). While they do show some accomplishment, I would hope the OP has other, more significant, accomplishments that overshadow any sort of merit scholarship s/he may have received.

 

[sector9]

Merging related threads from the same OP.

 

[sector9]

I mean merit scholarships. Anyone worth their salt can get a merit scholarship. If you're really cut out for med school, you can probably pull off at least a decent scholarship (whether institutional or external). While they do show some accomplishment, I would hope the OP has other, more significant, accomplishments that overshadow any sort of merit scholarship s/he may have received.

In my mind, it depends how much money we're talking about. If it's a few hundred bucks, then I would leave it off. If more, I would include it. It's really not going to sway an adcom much either way unless it's truly impressive so the OP can do whatever he/she wants

 

[raltima07]

I think the only awards that you should put down are national awards (Goldwater, Fulbright, Rhodes, Marshall) because they are hard to get and are well known. Outside that bubble...they might not have much impact either way on your candidacy

 

[searun]

I was Phi Beta Kappa and I listed it on my med school application. Academics respect Phi Beta Kappa. I was also an all conference soccer player in college and I also mentioned this fact on my application...Mention anything that makes you stand out from the crowd a bit. Actually my athletic background seemed to be a big positive in my interviews.

 

[tachybrady]

What if you earn a scholarship from things such as poetry contests, short-story contests, etc.? Even though it isn't related to medicine, it's still academic, right?