Mention scholarships and awards in the cover letter? Forum

[Anonymous User]

For pro-grad job hunting, will merit-based scholarships and awards for related field of work look good on the cover or should the resume highlight them? (for example, say employment law award by X bar association for pro bono work on X case) I don't want to come off douchey, if no one else does this.

[RaceJudicata]

I think if its a specific award/honor for some sort of specific work/activity (e.g., your example "X bar association for pro bono work on X case"), then I don't think it comes off as tacky and is value added.

However, I think just listing a law school merit scholarship is tacky (basically says "hey look at me i paid less for school than others!"). The only exception to this is if you received a named scholarship (i.e. Ruby)

[ggocat]

I don't think it's douchey, but relevance will depend on how long ago you went to school/received awards and the work you did to get them.

[GenericLawApplicant]

I think if its a specific award/honor for some sort of specific work/activity (e.g., your example "X bar association for pro bono work on X case"), then I don't think it comes off as tacky and is value added.

However, I think just listing a law school merit scholarship is tacky (basically says "hey look at me i paid less for school than others!"). The only exception to this is if you received a named scholarship (i.e. Ruby)

So you think it would be okay to say "I'm an X Scholar" if we have a named scholarship (though not necessarily a Ruby).

I could see it making sense on a resume, but it seems hard to artfully incorporate into a cover letter.

[Anonymous User]

Op here. After several revisions, including a merit scholarship is just douchey and comes off weird. But awards for my work on a particular project comes off naturally, as it speaks to excellent work product.

I wish i could just rely on the GPA and write a barebone cover. But I cant because Im a median at T30 and people like me dont get to write barebone cover. Such is life.