<p>I come from a very small town in Texas and from my ten year old school, have never gotten the chance to achieve so many national awards and recognitions (I have many district and state awards though). will this work against me in the admissions process?</p>
<p>I certainly hope you don't need national awards. I think (as long as all of the many other components of your application are good) district and state awards can only help you.</p>
<p>You don't need national awards to get in. What matters most is that you have made the most of the opportunities available to you.</p>
<p>i'm willing to bet my left nut (if you are willing to bet yours) that 90% of people who get in because of academics has won some sort of national recognition. I see posterx's point, but the thing is, taking the most from the opportunity given to you is a national award recognition. Stanford stressed this too when my counselor called them about my rejection (although I had multiple national recs... )</p>
<p>the "you need national awards" is a huge, huge myth...</p>
<p>despite alohasam's offer of his anatomy, his assertion (and I assume he's male) that 90% of admittee's have national award recognition just holds no water. Approximately 5000 kids matriculate at Y, H, P and MIT every year. If you know of 4500 National "Best of" winners, share that with ME!</p>
<p>I have no national awards and hardly any state awards (only one major one), but I got a likely letter from Yale. I still don't know how that happened, though.</p>
<p>lol..someone is going to be missing a left nut</p>
<p>Although one may not need a national award, having a national award makes judging one's odds before the fact much easier. Without the national award, a lot more of it is luck.</p>
<p>are you talking national merit award, math or what kind?</p>
<p>From my own experience, the essays are a tremendous piece of the admissions decision.</p>
<p>im living in Texas right now, but lived a good poriton of my life in Indonesia, and I got a national award for math in Indonesia, awarded by the University of Cambridge in UK...i guess its easier to get an award in a country like Indonesia where the competition is not as intense, as compared to USA</p>
<p>A lot of times if you don't go to the right high school then you don't have the opportunity to become involved in these competitions. Believe it or not, my guidance counselor told me that PSATs aren't important (never mentioned national merit), then I ended up with a 1540 SAT. Don't know if that means I could have gotten anywhere in national merit, but still.</p>
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[quote]
If you know of 4500 National "Best of" winners, share that with ME!
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lol then those awards wouldn't count for much if so many people have them</p>