<p>I'm an international student from Asia. Do colleges look at awards which I got in some national contests in my native country? I got some awards in large essay contests. The awards are not the highest ones but were given for top ten students out of 5000~10000 applicants. In college admission, how can I tell that I got the award? Because they have almost no way to ascertain that I actually got the award, I don't think they value my achievement so highly. </p>
<p>How do colleges measure the excellence of awards which students get in a foreign country? You know, even large national contests can be quite non-competitive when the population of the applicants are not so competitive. American colleges cannot know whether a contest in my country is competitive or not.</p>