<p>How important is it to win contests?</p>
<p>In like top 10 colleges?</p>
<p>I don't think I'm going to get any real awards. My stats and ECs are good though.</p>
<p>bump?</p>
<p>ten char?</p>
<p>What are your ECs? Some aren’t going to be award focused–for example, NSM I believe posted about a girl she interviewed for Harvard who was rejected from the band at her school and decided to be equipment manager instead, somehow making some significant headway in that area. So show initiative. Be passionate. Be cool and interesting. </p>
<p>Awards can certainly help in that arena by legitimazing your ECs, but they’re not everything.</p>