<p>What are my chances at Ivy Leagues and other top colleges
if I get all these awards in Math, Science, and engineering contests?
U.S. Physics Olympiad Gold medal
Duke Math contest award
Harvard-MIT math contest 1st place
AMC 10 and 12 1st place awards
and others?
Will these help me on my application?</p>
<p>I know this sounds cocky but I really do want to know.</p>
<p>Of course nat'l level awards will help you. Have you actually entered any of these? It is hard to set reasonable goals for yourself until you have actually been involved in particular competitions and see how you do. No matter how talented you are, they all have their peculiarities and strategies that you have to learn and practice to be successful. You get some points with colleges just for trying.</p>
<p>Harvard-MIT is just a regional tournament, nothing special. It is no more prestigious than other similar regional competitions elsewhere and does not draw top competitors from large distances away. There's also no such thing as "winning 1st place". There are awards in specific subjects. If a senior wins 1st place in, say, algebra I, it just means he's competing too low.</p>
<p>There's also no such thing as "1st place awards" for AMC10/12. High scorers qualify for the next exam up, the AIME. High scores on that start to look interesting, and high enough scores to qualify for USAMO are very attractive. Most of the people who do that start competing and doing well in math competitions very early (like middle school). Even very talented and advanced math students have to spend significant amounts of time learning how to do that particular type of math. It is very difficult for someone who has never done math competitions before to get to the USAMO level their first year.</p>
<p>"Harvard-MIT is just a regional tournament, nothing special. It is no more prestigious than other similar regional competitions elsewhere and does not draw top competitors from large distances away. There's also no such thing as "winning 1st place". There are awards in specific subjects. If a senior wins 1st place in, say, algebra I, it just means he's competing too low."</p>
<p>That's not true. We had people coming from TJ and Florida this year. Also, the subject tests--like Algebra--are really really tough, so a 1st in anything is an accomplishment. A kid from my school got 1st in General, and that wasn't a HUGE deal (albeit way better than I could do), but getting 1st in anything else is quite big.</p>
<p>"U.S. Physics Olympiad Gold medal
Duke Math contest award
Harvard-MIT math contest 1st place
AMC 10 and 12 1st place awards
and others?
Will these help me on my application?"</p>
<p>OF course it will help your application. But, you have to realize that the people that win those sort of things or do very well don't necessarily do it for the contest. They actually love doing math and physics. The Physics Medal alone could getyou into a good school (pending other things). But, you can't just expect to do well on them just like that. People who do well on these tests enjoy doing math and practice (well not all the time for the AMC stuff, but for the Physics Olympiad there is definitely a lot of practice involved). Most of the kids who are really good at these contests have an affinity for math and science and are very good at it because of it.</p>
<p>There is no US Physics Olympiad, only the IPhO. If you got a Gold in that, namely if you're Eric Mecklenburg or Men Young Lee, I doubt any tech school would consider turning you down.</p>