I am a rising senior with top notch academics, OK EC’s, from a public school. Starting my journey with the Common App.
My parents are both from North Africa, and I emphasized this cultural background in detail as part of my Personal Statement in the Common App. In my Common App info section, I marked White + Middle Eastern as my race and ethnicity. In reality I see myself brown, though my biological brother (same parents) has a much darker complexion.
Yet when I first joined high school, I identified as African American as one of my ethnicities. Mainly because my specific church is 30% Eritrean American, and I liked attending AASP meets. I didn’t really care for it either way. I identified similarly on College Board.
But yesterday, I received an email from College Board informing me that I have been awarded the National African American Recognition Award. This really made my day, as I don’t have that much recognition, aside from school awards and AP scholar with Distinction stuff.
But now I am at loss whether to add this as one of my awards on the Common App? or will it be confusing and potentially offensive to some AOs?
Again, it doesn’t convey any new information, since my academics are already stellar by any metric, including standardized testing. It is just hard for me to have some award and not mention it.
DataPoint 1: I am chasing merit, thus using Shot Gun strategy by applying to 26 schools.
What do you think? does it hurt or help?
Definitely put that award in your common app. No AO is going to be offended, nor will it hurt you at all.
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Colleges can not utilize your race from the box check in determining admissions. They can use your essays and activities.
You are chasing merit - so yes, it should be noted.
Not sure who gives extra for that, but Alabama, as an example, used to give four years free tuition and a year of housing. They’ve removed it from their website - that might be due to the Surpreme Court ruling - but they may still offer it.
Applying to 26 schools in and of itself isn’t a way to chase merit.
The way to chase merit is to apply to schools, which many on this website can identify for you, that either give auto merit (based on GPA and/or GPA and SAT) or who are known to give a lot of merit.
You are better to do a chance me or match me - provide your stats, budget, and the type of school you seek - whether by size, environment (urban, rural, etc.) , weather and anything else you desire.
btw - budget is key here. Some schools - say a U of Florida, will be cheaper full pay than another school with merit - say U of Colorado…so depending on the budget, it’s not all about merit.
I guess my question in response to your post would be - why wouldn’t you include this award?
It would be extremely helpful if you could share your college list. This online community has a wealth of knowledge on which schools are best for merit chasers and which ones will not be great for merit. You’ll get a lot of useful information if you share your list.
In addition to sharing other info…let this group know your family annual budget for your college costs.
It might be best to just do a chance me thread…and indicate that you would like suggestions to meet your price point…if that is what you want.
And yes, include this recognition.
Since Terms of Service prohibits multiple accounts, I am closing this thread