What do you do? First, from your activities resume identify everything that might be appropriate for the Awards and Honors space. Then organize what you write by the directions offered in the application. Sometimes, directions will say to start with the 9th grade and move forward through the rest of the grades. If no directions are given, begin with the most important honors first, and then list the rest. Try to give as much descriptive information as there is space for.

adMISSION POSSIBLE® TIP! Even though an application allows you to submit an activities resume, be sure to fill out the application Activities Grid. Do not type in, “See attached resume,” unless you want to rustle the feathers of the admissions folks.

Here is an example of how one very competitive student filled out a typical pull-down grid:

Honor	Grade Level				Recognition
	9	10	11	12	School, State/Reg	National
NATIONAL MERIT SEMI-FINALIST			x			x
AP SCHOLAR WITH DISTINCTION			x			x
MATH DEPARTMENT AWARD, only student in upper school	x	x	x		x
MODEL U.N.CONFERENCE, Outstanding Delegate				x	x
JUNIOR THEATER, Best student actor				x	x

As you can see, one way of making an Honors grid more readable is to capitalize the names of the different items, followed by descriptions in lower case.

Less competitive students who don’t have the same kind of honors or awards as the above student, should not necessarily leave the space blank. Be creative: identify a special research project you completed; or how you were selected to be a teaching assistant for a class.

Extracurricular Activities Grid
The activities grid is a very important part of any admissions application. Not only can you document what you have done, but you can also distinguish yourself from the rest of the crowd.

Sometimes the directions for an Activities grid call for all extracurricular involvements including community service. Other directions separate extracurricular activities and community service. Whether together or separate, these grids are usually allow for five to seven entries. Activities grids might involve “pull-down” lists of activities or simply offer an empty space to fill.

Most activity grids ask for the following information:

• Activity
• Grade level/s during which you participated
• Approximate hours per week and weeks per year spent on activity
• Positions, honors or athletic letters held or won.

Usually there is a strict limit in the number of words you can use to describe what you have done.