<p>I'm a junior with a 4.0 uw (about 4.45 w) in challenging classes, lots of ec's (with leadership positions), 2310 SAT, and about 100 hours of community service.</p>
<p>This is the fourth year I've done OM, and every time my team's advanced to World Finals. So far, we've gotten 4th, 14th, and 1st place, and we'll find out the next one in about a month.</p>
<p>I'm going to start applying to top tier uni's in the fall (Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, etc.), and I wanted to know if my accomplishments in Odyssey of the Mind might make me stand out from every other student who applies with the same or better academic credentials.</p>
<p>i did OM for eighth and ninth and tenth grade… i don’t know how much it would really help you. it depends on how competitive florida is to go to worlds. if it’s a big accomplishment, write your essay on it and show how big of an accomplishment, a passion it is. i stopped doing it because it took up way too much time and wasn’t a huge passion for me, even though we did win a lot.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input. I was thinking about writing my essay on OM, since I’ve really taken to it. I even coached a primary team this year. That was a LOT of work, but it was pretty cool to see them perform their skit. Florida holds its own, but it’s not an international powerhouse. I was really wondering though if colleges would view success in OM with similar eyes as they would, say, success in a science fair. They’re different, of course, but OM’s not easy to do well in. Thanks again for your input.</p>
<p>Top colleges view any legal activity favorably if applicants have made major accomplishments with the activity whether those accomplishments are awards (preferably statewide, national or international) or via impact on one’s school, community or upon an individual or individuals.</p>
<p>It’s an asset to have achieved a great deal in an activity like OM that’s not that common among applicants.</p>
<p>As in the one my previous secondary school in Singapore hosted? Yeah, that’s prestigious. (And if you see any people from Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), give them a holler, cuz I used to be from there!)</p>
<p>It’s a creative problem solving competition for students from Kindergarten to College (although there are like 10 total college teams). You can choose between 5 types of problems which are given to the coaches at the beginning of each school year: vehicle, technical, classics, structure, or performance. All of them require an 8-minute long skit to accompany and explain your solution to the problem your team decides to compete in. There’s typically a cost limit of between $120-145. That’s the “long term” part of it. Then you have “spontaneous,” which is a secret problem presented to the teams at each competition that’s hands-on, verbal, or a combination of both. The last aspect is “style”. At World Finals alone, there are about 800 teams represented. It’s a really great program. Oh yeah! And the most important rule: no one who isn’t one of the seven or fewer team members can contribute anything, ANYTHING, to the solution. That’s one aspect that really makes participants proud of their accomplishments.</p>
<p>galoisien-</p>
<p>I will totally holler at your Anglo-Chinese School. We always love to see the international teams perform, so unless there’s a conflict, I might even make a point to go see them since you mentioned them. But I don’t think they’ve ever hosted it. It;s only ever been held at college campuses in America, to my knowledge. Since I’ve started, they’ve held it at Colorado University, Iowa State University, Michigan State University, and, this year, the University of Maryland.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the input. It’s all really helpful. :)</p>
<p>Oops, my school in Singapore hosted the Singapore nationals … :o yeah I forgot our team went overseas … I wasn’t there when we won, but I believe we did win the 2001 one. ;)</p>
<p>ah I remember Odyssey of the Mind/Destination Imagination. We did it a couple of years, won the Caribbean regional competition and could have gone on to Globals, but we couldn’t afford the plane tickets/trip It was really fun though!</p>
<p>OM is amazing! It changed to Destination Imagination halfway through though.</p>
<p>I did it from 1st-7th grade and have the best time ever. Too bad I didn’t continue in High School. I wonder how colleges look at it. It certainly is time consuming.</p>
<p>No, Odyssey of the Mind still exsists. Destination Imagination broke away from Odyssey and formed a new group. Today, two organizations exsist, both being nearly identical, except, Odyssey has the founder adn his son writing the problems, so they are the original group. And Odyssey also is sponsored by NASA.</p>
It was really fun though!</p>