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Lupine
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| Joined: | Thu May 17th, 2007 |
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Posted: Tue Apr 29th, 2008 06:14 pm |
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Junior D was told by one of her teachers that she'd been nominated for the junior book award from one of the womens colleges, and that she'd literally get a book this May.
I'm not familiar with these, and neither is D, so if anyone can help I'd appreciate it:
1. Is this an award that ought to be listed on applications?
2. Do you only list it if you're applying to that specific college?
3. Is there any meaning to it coming from college X vs. college y?
4. Besides the teacher who nominated you, who else do you write a thank-you note to?
I tried searching "junior book award", "junior book", and "book award" and didn't get any matches, so I'm not sure if this is more of a local or regional type award, or if I'm not doing searching properly.
Puzzled, but hoping to be less so.
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CarolynLawrence
Administrator
| Joined: | Sun Mar 5th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 3197 |
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Posted: Tue Apr 29th, 2008 08:01 pm |
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Congratulations to your daughter. Her high school obviously thinks highly of her.
Book awards are typically awarded this way: The college's alumni association, or the college itself, contacts a high school and asks it to nominate a student or students who meet certain top academic criteria. Sometimes other criteria is included (i.e., leadership).
The high school nominates the student or students that fit the criteria. In some cases, everyone nominated will receive the award. For some book awards, however, the alumni club or the college makes the decision of which students get it.
The significance of the awards in terms of admission to the school sponsoring it varies. At some colleges, book awards are a way for the college to identify "top prospects" and a slight edge may be given to those students in admissions if they are admitted. People who tell you that getting a book award is the same as a guarantee of getting admitted to the college however, are incorrect. The book award is no guarantee of admissions and any "boost" in admissions at the particular college just for receiving it is usually very slight. (Although book award letters like to talk about the percentage of students receiving it who go on to attend that college -- but that only means that these are kids who are in the ballpark for admissions, not that the award ITSELF gave them an edge).
Students who receive book awards should definitely list them on their college applications under "Academic awards and honors." Since other colleges know that students nominated for them are being recognized by their high school for their academic accomplishments when they are nominated, it is fine to include them on applications for other colleges, not just the one that gave it. However, in general, I would list book awards behind other national and state awards, such as NMS, Intel, Governor's School, etc. These are not national awards, they are really more like local awards, even though they have a college name on them.
If she receives the book award, and she knows who nominated her, she should write a thank you to the teacher. She should also write a thank you note to either the college or the local alumni chapter thanking them after she receives the book.
Congratulations again to your daughter!
Last edited on Tue Apr 29th, 2008 08:03 pm by CarolynLawrence
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scoop
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| Joined: | Wed Oct 4th, 2006 |
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Posted: Wed Apr 30th, 2008 11:03 am |
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| Hi, Congratulations to your daughter. My daughter received one last year from our art department and I asked about it on this board. I had never heard of them. I believe that some of the awards given by specific colleges had a monetary award attached to them. This was given if the student chose to attend that college. My daughter did list the award whenever she was asked to gather that type of information.
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Consolation
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| Joined: | Mon Apr 9th, 2007 |
| Location: | USA |
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Posted: Thu May 1st, 2008 03:17 pm |
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Junior year book awards have been a standard part of the high school honors scene in our neck of the woods for as long as I can remember. (Dating back at least to the 1960s.)
Basically, college alumni clubs sponsor book awards at local high schools. The college establishes the criteria by which the kids are selected, the local club sponsors the award, and the high school makes the selection. It is usually considered the way that the HS honors the most outstanding students in the junior class ("outstanding" being a combination of grades, course rigor, ECs, and community service). The actual prize is an actual book, which is often presented by an alum. An exception to this is the Renssalaer Medal. In that case, the student is guaranteed a $60K merit scholarship over 4 years if he or she is accepted to RPI. (That was the $$ figure cited the last two years at our awards ceremony. The RPI medal always goes to a prospective engineering/science student. The last two recipients I can recall at our HS chose to attend Cornell (School of Engineering) and Tufts (biomedical engineering prospect).
The number of such awards depends on the number sponsored at the school, which definitely varies. They are sponsored as a marketing tool, really, since their presentation at the awards ceremony brings the name of the school before the more highly qualified students in the school on an annual basis. Kids are certainly proud to receive one, and definitely list them in the awards section of any applications or the like.
Last edited on Thu May 1st, 2008 03:18 pm by Consolation
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outwest
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| Joined: | Sun Mar 4th, 2007 |
| Location: | CA |
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Posted: Fri May 2nd, 2008 10:49 pm |
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My daughter received the Wellesley Book Award last year. They are given by alumni to the various colleges. At her high school it was quite an honor as it was supposed to denote the top Junior girl. They also gave out three other book awards. One was for Cal Tech as I recall for the top sciency math person. My Ds book award was a surprise and quite a thing for her to get up in front of the school at the end of the special evening awards ceremony to receive the award directly from the alumni representative. Thanks for reminding me how cool it was.
Here is a link to Wellesley's Book Award:
http://www.wellesley.edu/alum/Awards/Book/
Even though the book awards at my Ds school are considered quite special, the colleges don't see them that way. In fact, many see them as more of a popularity contest with the teachers since it is the teachers who nominate and root for their favorite kids. My Ds German teacher nominated her. Often times it is unexpected students who receive these. At my Ds school they are usually those students who have great test scores and grades although they are often the types that fly under the wire. I think they do get a notice in admissions decisions, but not a very big notice unless it is the college it came from.
My D did not apply to Wellesley in the end (perhaps she should have). We will never know if it was the catalyst that caused the awesome FA offer from Bryn Mawr (her ultimate choice). There is no way to tell.
The physical book she received is a beautiful blue linen bound book with gold seal and personalized to her. It came in its own case and is really quite handsome. It is a book of successful women's biographies and she has enjoyed reading it.
Congratulations! And, make absolutely sure she puts it on her applications. Oh, and don't do what my D did! Try to have her apply to the college that gave it to her.  We heard later that unless there was some weird affectation on her transcript, that receiving the Wellesley book award WAS paid attention to at Wellesley.
Last edited on Fri May 2nd, 2008 10:59 pm by outwest
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Deja
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| Joined: | Thu Apr 13th, 2006 |
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Posted: Mon May 5th, 2008 04:45 pm |
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| I don't know much about book awards. I know Cornell gives them. I don't believe they are given in my area, though. I haven't pursued the Cornell book awards because I would like some say in who gets them. I don't entirely trust high schools to give them to the most deserving individual.
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outwest
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| Joined: | Sun Mar 4th, 2007 |
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Posted: Mon May 5th, 2008 05:09 pm |
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Deja, at my Ds school the teachers nominate the kids, but the alumni makes the final decision.
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Deja
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Posted: Mon May 5th, 2008 05:59 pm |
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| For the Cornelll book award, it is specifically mentioned that the high school picks the student that gets the award.
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Consolation
Member
| Joined: | Mon Apr 9th, 2007 |
| Location: | USA |
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Posted: Fri May 16th, 2008 01:00 am |
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I was just looking at some information about students in my S's class, and realized that contrary to conventional wisdom, the Yale Book Award winner is going to Yale, and The Harvard Book Award Winner is going to Harvard.
This is probably a first. The rest of them are all mixed up, though.
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