<p>Whats up. I'm a HS Sophomore. I want to go Ivy league or top LAC. With admission being competitive. Do u guys know of any prestigous awards they may look good on my app. Also include summer programs</p>
<p>bump...i'm curious as well</p>
<p>bump......</p>
<p>it really depends a lot on what you are interested in or want to study. Be more specific and you'll get more responses.</p>
<p>premed/biology?</p>
<p>The U.S. participates in 5 int'l math/science olympiads. These are
basically for high school students, although occasionally a middle
schooler with unusual talent will have some success. Selection of the US
team is made based on a series of 2-3 exams, leading to invitations to a
free olympiad preparation camp for the top 15-30 students. Based on
performance at the camp, a team of 4-6 is chosen to represent the US.
The Olympiads are:</p>
<p>1) math
<a href="http://www.unl.edu/amc%5B/url%5D">www.unl.edu/amc</a> The oldest (50 yrs) and best known. Over 200,000 kids take one of the
preliminary exams (AMC 10 and AMC 12). The top 5% take an intermediate
exam (AIME), and the top 300 take the USA Math Olympiad (a 9-hour
proof-based exam). Camp is usually 3-4 weeks in Lincoln, Nebraska. The
2003 Int'l Math Olympiad will be in Japan.</p>
<p>If you have a middle schooler interested in this sort of thing, the
premier math competition for middle schoolers is Mathcounts,
<a href="http://www.mathcounts.org%5B/url%5D">www.mathcounts.org</a>.</p>
<p>2) physics
<a href="http://www.aapt.org%5B/url%5D">www.aapt.org</a> Students are nominated by their teachers to take the prelim exam. So
unlike the math exam where everyone in a school might take it, generally
only the top few physics students at a school take the prelim exam (half
complex problem-solving), given late Jan or early Feb. The top 200 take
a semifinal exam (all complex problem-solving) in March, as well as
submitting transcripts and teacher recommendations to be considered for
the 10 day camp (in Maryland). The 2003 Int'l Physics Olympiad will be
in Taiwan.</p>
<p>The same organization also sponsors a contest called Physics Bowl in
April which is much more accessible to a range of students. There may
still be time to register for this year. You need 4 kids, exam is all
multiple choice and includes recall of definitions/factoids. There are
separate divisions for 1st and 2nd year physics students, as well as a
separate division for students who attend specialized
math/science/technology high schools.</p>
<p>3) computer programming
<a href="http://www.usaco.org%5B/url%5D">www.usaco.org</a> there is a series of contests during the school year which kids take as
individuals (usually from home rather than school) over the internet.
There is still one left. The contests involve problems, usually
mathematical, requiring a complex algorithmic solution before any
programming can even start. There is great (free) training material at
the site, but students need to already know how to program. US
participants usually program in C/C++. Int'l students often program in
Pascal. No one uses Java (it isn't even allowed), which is unfortunate
since the College Board (and hence high school AP classes) is switching
to Java with the 2005 AP exams in computer science. Camp is 10 days,
usually in Kenosha, Wisc, but in 2003 will be in Colorado Springs. The
Int'l Olympiad in Informatics will be in the US for the first time in
2003, in Kenosha, sponsored by Microsoft.</p>
<p>4) chemistry
<a href="http://www.chemistry.org/portal/Chemistry?PID=acsdisplay.html&DOC=education%5Cstudent%5Colympiad.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.chemistry.org/portal/Chemistry?PID=acsdisplay.html&DOC=education%5Cstudent%5Colympiad.html</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.chemistry.org/portal/Chemistry?PID=acsdisplay.html&DOC=education%5Cstudent%5Colympiad.html">http://www.chemistry.org/portal/Chemistry?PID=acsdisplay.html&DOC=education%5Cstudent%5Colympiad.html</a>
Multiple choice prelim exams are going on now at schools. Top students
in each city or region will be invited to take a semifinal exam in late
April or May, administered by a local coordinator at a central site. The
semifinal includes problem solving and a lab part. Based on that, 24
students are invited to a 10 day (or so) camp at the US Air Force
Academy in Colo. Springs. The 2003 IOCh will be in India.</p>
<p>5) biology
<a href="http://www.cee.org/usabo/%5B/url%5D">http://www.cee.org/usabo/</a>
I don't know much about this one. 2003 will be the first year the U.S.
is fielding a team. If you have a student interested in biology, also
check out the Brain Bee (neuroscience trivia)
<a href="http://apu.sfn.org/baw/bee.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://apu.sfn.org/baw/bee.cfm</a></p>
<p>6) not an olympiad, but if you've made it this far you might be
interested in Science Bowl. Teams compete against each other in a
fast-paced hit-the-buzzer type event answering math/science trivia
problems. Regional winners advance to the national contest in Washington
D.C., and the nat'l winners get things like a free trip to Munich to
participate in a meeting of prior Nobel Laureates in chemistry.
<a href="http://www.scied.science.doe.gov/nsb/default.htm%5B/url%5D">http://www.scied.science.doe.gov/nsb/default.htm</a></p>
<p>There is also a DuPont science essay writing contest as well. See
<a href="http://www.glcomm.com/dupont/%5B/url%5D">http://www.glcomm.com/dupont/</a></p>
<p>thank you!</p>
<p>For research related:
RSI
Intel ISEF (InternationalScience and Engineering Fair)
Siemens Westinghouse Award</p>
<p>for juniors - the bausch and lomb science award from university of rochester</p>
<p>also, Intel Science Talent Search</p>
<p>Science Olympiad (<a href="http://www.soinc.org%5B/url%5D">www.soinc.org</a>)</p>
<p>here's a long list:
<a href="http://www.academiccompetition.org/contests.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.academiccompetition.org/contests.html</a></p>
<p>WOW! Thanks Texas! :)</p>