<p>Not sure how accurate this is, but a friend of mine who went to harvard undergrad and worked on the admissions committee, said that if a student wins a gold medal at the International Math Olympiad, admission to Harvard is virtually guaranteed. I mentioned being a finalist at Intel Science Talent Search, and he said quite a few of those kids have been rejected at Harvard. Most of those finalists have parents who are doctors or scientists, and consequently they've had access to special research opportunities. Winning a gold medal at the IMO, however, requires pure brilliance and creativity.</p>
<p>Hey, well good for you and good for them.</p>
<p>Don’t focus on everyone else. IMO medalists have gotten in, and they’ve been rejected. Show them you’re worth their time. There are absolutely no guarantees for admission. All admissions committees look for amazing people, and there are millions of different ways to reveal that.</p>
<p>Being a finalist at Intel is, with my knowledge, guarentted acceptance to Harvard as well. I know two Intel finalists who recieved acceptance into EVERY single college they applied to (all top tier colleges). The whole admission process is a complete mystery so truly, we could go back and forth and still not know what is the right answer.</p>
<p>You are guaranteed admission if you are Drew Faust.</p>
<p>If you were a certified clone of Amartya Sen, you’re pretty set</p>
<p>I think after a certain threshhold, admissions officers aren’t familiar enough with specific awards for them to be much different. If you do math, then you know a guy who barely makes USAMO is worlds apart from an IMO gold, but (just speculation based on lay people’s impressions) admissions officers won’t appreciate the difference as much.</p>
<p>I personally know people who have gotten 2nd in IBO, 3rd in Siemens, and 2nd in Intel, and they all got waitlisted in Harvard.</p>
<p>I think adcoms at Harvard will be well aware of all major awards. But note that while a major award might be a really good reason to accept an applicant, there may be other reasons to reject that person as well.</p>
<p>No credential “guarantees” a Harvard admission, although certainly an IMO gold medal would make admission pretty likely. It shouldn’t really matter, though. If an IMO gold medalist doesn’t get into Harvard, he (or she) will doubtless be accepted at several other colleges of equivalent quality (and they really are of equivalent quality). Rejection at Harvard may sting a bit, but it will be a pretty minor annoyance. I’m not worried about IMO gold medalists having to take University of Phoenix courses online to further their education.</p>
<p>Yes, as others have said, nothing is a true guarantee in the strictest theoretical sense. With that said, I doubt that any domestic applicants who were IMO medalists have been rejected from Harvard.</p>
<p>I know of only one such thing: a Harvard Acceptance letter.</p>
<p>If you are Miley Cyrus or Miranda Cosgrove. Write about how singly changed your life.</p>
<p>“I personally know people who have gotten 2nd in IBO, 3rd in Siemens, and 2nd in Intel, and they all got waitlisted in Harvard.”
Who is that?</p>
<p>I think there are a number of credentials that virtually guarantee acceptance as long as there’s no nasty surprise elsewhere in the application.</p>
<p>If you are in the top 1-2 in the class at the top prep schools in the nation (Andover, Exeter, St. Paul’s et al.), your odds are very, very good. I don’t think there’s ever been someone in that position with crummy scores, so that’s kind of beside the point. If you’re not a jerk in your interview, and your teachers think you’re a decent human being, etc., you’re probably going to get in.</p>
<p>My narrow experience with this group suggests that colleges are right to auto-admit this crowd. I was friends with the #1, the #2, and the Classical Diploma #1 from Exeter from my year. All three graduated from Harvard summa cum laude, one of them in 3 years. One was a Rhodes Scholar. The next got his PhD in under four years and immediately got a tenure-track position at UChicago. The last gave the Latin Oration at commencement, went to Goldman Sachs and then Harvard Business School and is a ridiculously gifted vocalist to boot. So they were basically brainiac hotshots relative to the rest of us at Harvard from the word go. This gave me a pretty high opinion of Exeter and the people who excel there.</p>
<p>^^^ I agree. I think we all forgot that Andover and Exeter send like 20 kids each to Harvard alone every year.</p>
<p>^there are a number??? nice try</p>
<p>nothing is really “guaranteed”. being “guaranteed” admission to harvard is like being “guaranteed” to be struck by lightning. certainly, there are things that will help tremendously in getting in (or being hit by lightning), such as extremely major awards, high placement on standardized tests, etc. (following this hit-by-lightning analogy, standing on top of Taipei 101 with a fifteen foot metal rod during a brutal lightning storm), but nothing will really GUARANTEE you admission. </p>
<p>actually, i take that back. being the luckiest b*** in the world will guarantee you admission. :D</p>