What to Save and/or Keep?
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| Sat, 09-02-2006 - 7:45pm |
I'm in the midst of sorting and packing around the house in preparation of putting our home on the {increasingly soft} market, anticipating a move -- somewhere!
DD has in the course of her educational career, received an awful lot of awards. What sorts of things and/or types of awards should I keep for her portfolio and college applications?
Or is that even necessary? DH seems to think her hs transcripts will contain it all. Aren't hs transcripts just grades? And don't include or indicate any other types of achievement awards?
At middle school graduation, as well at the end of freshman year, DD received several awards that were non-academic or grade related. Those sorts of things won't show up in transcripts, so are they worth keeping?
Thanks in advance,
Julie
Edited to add: DD has some pretty lofty goals for college and beyond. I think that having lots of documentation regarding her achievements could be helpful. Is that a valid point or no?
Edited 9/2/2006 7:47 pm ET by hydrangea_blue

When my ds applied to college I believe that there was a place on the application form where he could list awards etc but he never actually showed an award to anyone from a college. He applied only to UCs and one CSU so our experience is limited. And you are correct that the HS transcript shows only grades.
I have a couple of suggestions if you have time to spend on this: visit the websites of some colleges that she is interested in or at least the caliber that she is aiming for. You can download the application form and see what their specs are. That might give you an idea if they are likely to want to see the awards. I seem to have heard that smaller/private colleges tend to be more personal in their admission process, using letters of recommendation and face to face interviews that could allow the candidate an opportunity to show the awards.
The other idea is to post your question at the Parents of College Students board:
http://messageboards.ivillage.com/iv-psppcollege
The members have kids attending a variety of colleges from very large public U to small private school all over the U.S. They may be able to advise you as to whether the awards documents were shown for college apps, and from how far back--I wouldn't think anything prior to 8th grade graduation would be applicable but see what the others say.
I do think the idea of putting the awards into a binder is a good idea, if for nothing else than posterity. At the least she should have a list of awards and dates, they might be helpful in getting scholarships too.