Do awards matter for top 20 schools

parentologist
Wed, 08 Sep 2021 11:14:18 +0000

My kid had two first place awards in two major international level competitions in his main EC, and he NEVER would have brought this up in his interview! He also didn’t mention it in his essays. They were there on his application listed under awards, to be seen by those charged with evaluating it; he would have felt that any further mention of it without being asked by the interviewer would have been seen as bragging. I know that he discussed his involvement in his main EC with his interviewer, but I doubt he ever mentioned his awards. But I’m also sure that the admissions committee saw them when they reviewed the application.

Asking whether awards matter is like asking whether GPA or SAT/ACT or recommendations matter. Yes, they do matter, but if your level of achievement is very high, the lack of major awards would matter less. I don’t think that you should decide not to apply to any T20 schools if you have all the other components, and are only missing awards.