What are these "national awards" that every kid on here has?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Regeneron, national level debate, math/ Chen olympiads- those are the big ones. National language are a dime a dozen, but my dd still listed hers

It has National in the title, so it is literally what they are asking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:On CommonApp Honors category, you are supposed to list your awards and the levels- regional, state, national or international. A simple Google can verify. You cannot lie.

Right, but how do you know whether an award is national?

I mean, I recognize some big awards that would be national. But there are other things where I think the line is blurry.

[Anonymous]

It's a thoughtless arbitrary classification.

50 people could win a State championship, and 100 people could win a National talent search that awards 2 people per state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:On CommonApp Honors category, you are supposed to list your awards and the levels- regional, state, national or international. A simple Google can verify. You cannot lie.

Right, but how do you know whether an award is national?

I mean, I recognize some big awards that would be national. But there are other things where I think the line is blurry.

The organizers can call themselves national.

My kid won an international award from some other random kids who made a website and ran an international contest on Zoom. 100 kids showed up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s competitive dance team qualified for nationals, came in third place, and won some sort of award they give out for a specific dance thing.

I never describe it as a national award the way people do on DCUM. But I suspect when people talk about “national awards” they mean something like that.

I agree that people here use the phrase very, very loosely.

That would make the term “National award” virtually useless.

I always thought in order to mention a national award you had to win the whole thing. Out of thousands of students all over the country you were the winner. Like the spelling bee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s competitive dance team qualified for nationals, came in third place, and won some sort of award they give out for a specific dance thing.

I never describe it as a national award the way people do on DCUM. But I suspect when people talk about “national awards” they mean something like that.

I agree that people here use the phrase very, very loosely.

That would make the term “National award” virtually useless.

I always thought in order to mention a national award you had to win the whole thing. Out of thousands of students all over the country you were the winner. Like the spelling bee.

Correct. It is useless.
Would you prefer a national basket weaving champion, or a county math champion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s competitive dance team qualified for nationals, came in third place, and won some sort of award they give out for a specific dance thing.

I never describe it as a national award the way people do on DCUM. But I suspect when people talk about “national awards” they mean something like that.

I agree that people here use the phrase very, very loosely.

That would make the term “National award” virtually useless.

I always thought in order to mention a national award you had to win the whole thing. Out of thousands of students all over the country you were the winner. Like the spelling bee.

Correct. It is useless.
Would you prefer a national basket weaving champion, or a county math champion?

And an individual award not team…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s competitive dance team qualified for nationals, came in third place, and won some sort of award they give out for a specific dance thing.

I never describe it as a national award the way people do on DCUM. But I suspect when people talk about “national awards” they mean something like that.

I agree that people here use the phrase very, very loosely.

That would make the term “National award” virtually useless.

I always thought in order to mention a national award you had to win the whole thing. Out of thousands of students all over the country you were the winner. Like the spelling bee.

Correct. It is useless.
Would you prefer a national basket weaving champion, or a county math champion?

That’s a judgement for the school though.

Apparently one kid got into Yale - pretty unremarkable with normal strong stats - national champion in the cha cha.

Read up - this weird basket weaving champions have more interesting stories than another boring national msth Olympiad nerd.
Look at the scoring rubrics on Reddit under AMA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is getting to nationals in speech and debate meaningful or do you need to break to elim rounds? What about invites to things like TOC??

You usually have to get break or better for it to be meaningful.

If you qual for nationals or TOC for 3 years, put that

[Anonymous]

If you have to win your school district, then travel to Rockville and win some regional level, and then go to Des Moines to win nationals .. that’s big even if it’s in cha cha.


It’s not the only way (sometimes it’s a contest or test) but big national anything usually has stages

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have to win your school district, then travel to Rockville and win some regional level, and then go to Des Moines to win nationals .. that’s big even if it’s in cha cha.


It’s not the only way (sometimes it’s a contest or test) but big national anything usually has stages

Agree 💯
It shows commitment/impact.

[Anonymous]

The national birding competitions…..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s competitive dance team qualified for nationals, came in third place, and won some sort of award they give out for a specific dance thing.

I never describe it as a national award the way people do on DCUM. But I suspect when people talk about “national awards” they mean something like that.

I agree that people here use the phrase very, very loosely.

That would make the term “National award” virtually useless.

I always thought in order to mention a national award you had to win the whole thing. Out of thousands of students all over the country you were the winner. Like the spelling bee.

Correct. It is useless.
Would you prefer a national basket weaving champion, or a county math champion?

How about NMSF or commended? NMSF is technically a state award. Commended is national.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s competitive dance team qualified for nationals, came in third place, and won some sort of award they give out for a specific dance thing.

I never describe it as a national award the way people do on DCUM. But I suspect when people talk about “national awards” they mean something like that.

I agree that people here use the phrase very, very loosely.

That would make the term “National award” virtually useless.

I always thought in order to mention a national award you had to win the whole thing. Out of thousands of students all over the country you were the winner. Like the spelling bee.

Correct. It is useless.
Would you prefer a national basket weaving champion, or a county math champion?

How about NMSF or commended? NMSF is technically a state award. Commended is national.

List it as state. That’s an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s competitive dance team qualified for nationals, came in third place, and won some sort of award they give out for a specific dance thing.

I never describe it as a national award the way people do on DCUM. But I suspect when people talk about “national awards” they mean something like that.

I agree that people here use the phrase very, very loosely.

That would make the term “National award” virtually useless.

I always thought in order to mention a national award you had to win the whole thing. Out of thousands of students all over the country you were the winner. Like the spelling bee.

Correct. It is useless.
Would you prefer a national basket weaving champion, or a county math champion?

How about NMSF or commended? NMSF is technically a state award. Commended is national.

I disagree with the PP. National is in the name. Put national to highlight the award. (Yes, every college knows how it is determined.)