My approach in what to list, how to do it, and what order to put honors in is very similar to the way I compile an activities list: lead with your most meaningful, distinctive (to you!), and relevant honors first. I could write an entire chapter in a new book devoted to the honors list.
There is so much advice and nuance I could share, but here are the most important tips to keep in mind as you decide how to fill in this section of your application:
There are plenty of students who get admitted to selective colleges with zero or just a few common honors listed.
Accolades like honor societies, honor roll (or the equivalent at your school), or "student of the month" absolutely have a place on the honors list.
If you have limited space, list your honor societies like this: "Honor Societies: National Honor Society, English, Italian, and Math."
These are perfectly appropriate to list, but within a highly competitive applicant pool these are more common. So if you are running out of room and you have other awards that are less common, you can remove the National Merit awards. If you are submitting high test scores, you have already proven you can test well!
RELATED READING: How to Report Your Test Scores the Right WayIf you are not reporting all of your AP scores, yet you want to list an AP award, you are often revealing to the colleges how many exams you took, a general sense of your scores, and that you are intentionally not listing all of them either.
While you may know what "NSTI" is, admissions officers might not. By the way, I learned that NSTI stands for National Summer Transportation Institute this week from one of my students who attended its program! I encouraged this student to spell it out so that admissions officers would know what it is as well.
In fact, when a student gets recognized within their grade level or school for academic achievements voted on by the faculty, I take note. These are the most respected students at the school! Book awards, school scholarship recipients, or any end-of-year awards are just as important and possibly a lot more unusual within the school environment than being a National Merit Semifinalist or AP Scholar.
Be thoughtful about what you include. The college application is never about shoving as much information in a section as possible. It is about telling your story—your Soundbite—in the most straightforward way.
The honors list is a small section of the application, however, it can be mighty. Believe it or not, it can hint at your major choice, Soundbite, and values. Make sure you don't sell yourself short. Celebrate those academic achievements in a clear way because admissions officers aren't mind readers. They "read" this section of the application in a matter of seconds, so you want it to be as powerful as it can be.
Sara Harberson is the founder of Application Nation™, which provides personalized advice to college applicants and their families. In her book, SOUNDBITE: The Admissions Secret that Gets You Into College and Beyond, Sara reveals the secrets of her signature college admissions tool, the "Soundbite," and shares tried-and-tested exercises that have helped thousands of students gain admission to their school of choice. She is the former associate dean of admissions at the University of Pennsylvania and the former dean of admissions and financial aid at Franklin & Marshall College. Sara’s philosophy is that every kid applying to college deserves the best advice.
