Book Award?

science516 · 05-15-2005, 06:53 AM

This week, my school will hand out the book awards (Harvard and Princeton) to students (we don't know who yet). How will the school choose the student? Is it based on his/her junior year or all the high school years? Will it give a boost in your application? I am pretty nervous about not getting it.

shostakovich · 05-15-2005, 10:58 AM

At my school, the book award just shows the tentative top students from freshmen to junior year. For example, the top male and top female got the two Harvard book awards (and they were invited to a breakfast w/ dean of admissions), and the next two got Yale. Then there were book awards for people in the top 10% of the class who did a lot of stuff and top 5% of the class. Anyway, it is not that big of an award, but it's nice to get.

bandit_TX · 05-15-2005, 12:26 PM

It's a strictly local award that won't boost your app much at all. However, any award is better than no award.

wish_it_was_april · 05-15-2005, 01:19 PM

My son got the Penn award but I don't think it means a lot. He got it because he had expressed an interest in Penn to his GC as a junior and was the only one to have done that. So they gave it to him in case it meant a boost. In the end he didn't apply but it was nice to have another award to list... other awards went to a few of the top academic kids - they seemed to just spread them around as no one got two.

When I asked GC about the Penn award - should S write a thank you note and if so to whom? - she said that at some schools it is a big deal among the juniors and their parents but at ours it is of little importance. The only one that really matters is the one that comes with a reduced tuition, which I think is RPI. In that case they try to give it to a deserving kid who might actually take advantage of the $$ attached to the award.

science516 · 05-15-2005, 02:35 PM

Okay, so if I don't get Princeton (my dream school) Book Award, it is okay? But if I do get it, it still doesn't make any difference?

jrpar · 05-15-2005, 03:04 PM

A book award is a nice thing to list on a college application (in the awards won section). Whether or not there is $$ attached (generally not - usually it is a dictionary with the college seal embossed on it or something similar), it is a nice honor.

Each college specifies the criteria for selection. I am the local book award coordinator for my alma mater, and each winter I'm in contact with selected local high schools, reminding them of the criteria for selection (in this case, top 5%, very involved in extracurricular life of school). I provide the college with the names/schools of each of the award winners; the admissions office sends the award winnners congratulatory letters.

I don't understand the guidance counselor's statement that the book award isn't a big deal at their school. That's a very strange attitude (and the local Penn alumni association wouldn't be too pleased to hear it). Nearly every award winner sends me a thank you note; I think a thank you note should be sent as a matter of common courtesy.

gpakistan · 11-10-2012, 07:18 PM

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but what is a book award?

BeanTownGirl · 11-10-2012, 08:45 PM

Book awards usually mean squat. They are just marketing devices for the colleges. Harvard does not care if you won the Harvard book award. They do care however if you ranked first in your class but they would know that through your transcript, not the award.
It is a nice honor of course, to be acknowledged by your school as a top student no matter how they do it. Especially since schools seem to heap praise on the athletes all the time, it is nice to see high-achieving students get some acknowledgment.
It just doesn't mean anything to admissions officers.

BeanTownGirl · 11-10-2012, 08:50 PM

Yes, RPI does give out awards that are tied to the potential for scholarship money if the student applies and gets in. The Rensselaer Medal :: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Admissions
Clarkson U. also has awards tied to scholarships I think.

lookingforward · 11-10-2012, 09:26 PM

The books awards I'm familiar with are from the local alum group.

Sikorsky · 11-10-2012, 11:44 PM

Gpakistan, this was a 7-year-old conversation until today. A lot of folks really don't care for it when you dig up threads that have been dormant as long as this one has.

But I'll tell you that there was a big to-do over college book prizes--and what they are and are not--on the Harvard board last summer. You can find out something about them by reading this thread: Harvard Prize Book Award?.

BeanTownGirl · 11-11-2012, 11:20 AM

How annoying!!!!