<p>Do you have to win major awards like USAMO, Intel, Siemens, etc. to
make MIT/Caltech?</p>
<p>No, but they can help.</p>
<p>Definitely not. There are far many more spots than awards of that caliber.</p>
<p>No, you don’t HAVE to. But if you’re applying at a school with such high prestige and you don’t have an award like that… You’re going to be in the lower end of the applicant pool. However, there’s so few awards with such high prestige and so many spots in even the most prestigious of all universities. You definately can get in w/out such a award, but it’ll be much harder.</p>
<p>it depends.
if other people at your school have made USAMO, ISEF, Siemens, Intel, etc., then it’s going to be harder if you haven’t.
i mean, i wouldn’t discount your chance, supposing that you have strong grades in advanced mathematics and science courses (Linear Algebra, Multivariable Calculus, Vector Calculus, Differential Equations, etc)</p>