<p>Like Seiken said, never consider your acceptance guaranteed at a school like that. MIT rejected at least one IMO medalist, I think a couple of years ago.</p>
<p>I am kind of surprised at the responses in the beginning of the thread. IChO is a huge honor and I am almost completely certain that the adcoms at the big tech/science schools would have heard about it. </p>
<p>Just to give you some scope on the emphasis of international olympiads that other countries place on it - in Taiwan, if you qualify for a gold medal at an international olympiad (the real ones, not the fake ones) - like IPhO, IChO, IMO, IBO, and the computer one (don't know the abbreviation) - you qualify for a $10,000 USD national scholarship and guaranteed admission to the corresponding major at any national university in Taiwan (bear in mind that in Asia, higher education is completely different to that of America - Asian national universities are significantly more competitive (and better) than most private universities).</p>
<p>Of course there is always the individual cases of winning international olympiads and not getting into every single school, but the odds are very largely in your son's favor.</p>
<p>Intl. Chem Olympiad gold? That's amazing. Call it a hook.</p>
<p>
[quote]
My son just got a gold medal for 39th IChO in Russia.
Is it a big booster for university admissions like MIT, Caltech, Stanford, princeton ?
Of course he need good score on SAT, SAT subject, AP test, High GPA,
challenging coures he took, excellent extra activities, volunteer, good essay, etc.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>It is a guaranteed admission to any good school. I think most don't realize how difficult it is to qualify to represent the US national team. Winning at the international level is the utmost thing. Even making it to the camp itself is a big hook. Some time on this forum people make fun of serious achievments.</p>
<p>No school will reject such a candidate unless there is some serious flaw. So consider your son in.</p>
<p>"ICHO? no idea what that is. I wouldn't expect adcoms to either."</p>
<p>-roflmao, you've got to be kidding me. every adcom knows what it is and it's basically guaranteed acceptance to any school.</p>
<p>Yes, I don't think you can be assured your son will get in everywhere. After all, the kid who invented a way in which to find the age of crocodile teeth was only accepted at Yale. On the other hand, he had pretty crappy SATs.</p>
<p>^ look at the chances thread that the OP posted, the list of her son's awards is very impressive.</p>
<p>1MX, don't be so....Just cuz she didn't explain it on a friggin CC thread doesn't mean her son won't on the actual application. And adcom's should most certainly know what the IChO is.</p>
<p>IMHO, if your son has even decent EC's, good grades (A's mostly), and a good enough SAT score, he should have a very good shot at every school. From people I've met, those who were really good in one subject like mathematics typically neglected some other area like English so they only got C's in lit classes, which was the basis for their rejections to otherwise match schools.</p>
<p>IChO as a junior? And winning? unheard of. congratulations to your son</p>
<p>
[quote]
^ look at the chances thread that the OP posted, the list of her son's awards is very impressive.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>No not really. As a Canadian, I can tell that most of his awards and activities aren't really that exceptional (except maybe for the AMC 10...maybe). The OP's off-the-wall redeeming quality is his IChO gold medal. Without it, he would be "just another" applicant. But who needs anything else?</p>
<p>Take a look at the NYtimes Magazine 'Swarm of Super Applicants.' It may be instructive.</p>
<p><a href="http://nymag.com/news/features/24398/%5B/url%5D">http://nymag.com/news/features/24398/</a></p>
<p><a href="http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/26299/%5B/url%5D">http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/26299/</a></p>
<p>Applying ED may be helpful. Unfortunately, that rules out Harvard and Princeton.</p>
<p>IChO You are in at any of those schools.
There was a junior IChO silver medalist at my school. He also was selected for the IMO and USABO team (math & bio olympics but chose chem). Got in everywhere.</p>
<p>^is that medalist Greg Brockmann...or someone else?</p>
<p>Wow, that is amazing. That is definitely a HUGE boost to the application. And if your son is ok is all other areas, consider him in.</p>
<p>err be careful, people. </p>
<p>there have been international olympiad medalists who have been rejected in the past. i'm going to MIT next year, and my roommate and I both went to IPhO for the United States and we both got medals (he won gold, i won silver) and were both rejected from harvard... i personally know IMO and IOI medalists (<em>repeat</em> gold medalists, no less) who have also been rejected from harvard and other prestigious places.</p>
<p>i won't lie: it helps a lot. harvard was the only place i didn't get into. just don't get too much hubris.</p>
<p>One of my friends won TOP gold medal in IChO</p>
<p>and he actually received an invitation letter from MIT</p>
<p>that's how prestigious international olympiads are</p>
<p>iostream, i might know your friend! is he from oklahoma? congratulations on your medals too!</p>
<p>Iostream, I bet if you'd gotten your medals before decisions were made you'd have gotten in. BTW, I heard if you are a domestic applicant and you medal at some international olympiad(before admissions), then you are basically guaranteed to get in. International admissions are so competitive that if you're coming from China, Korea, India, etc., you need a medal just to be competitive.</p>
<p>pretty good, but I think going to RSI would be better</p>