<p>I've been looking at a few 'chance me' threads, and some of their awards are incredible. Gold metal in this, national finalist in that, Nobel Peace Prize... these people have everything.</p>
<p>How do you become recognized for such incredible awards and achievements?</p>
<p>Do well on the PSAT (national merit awards available)
Compete in something you’re good at (robootics, debate, science, sports, music, etc.). Usually at state level before national. </p>
<p>Basically those are main areas to get rewards in. I’m not sure if that answered your question…</p>
<p>Duh. You participate in the contests and tournaments and whatnot.</p>
<p>Look them up on google. There are a bajillion contests and tourneys/stuff you can enter. Just study/practice hard, and you’ll eventually win at something.</p>
<p>I swear. People are so incompetent these days, anything is possible if you work hard enough. Hard work is everything. It trumps talent and intelligence :D</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>CollegeCookie, I meant once you have the capability of doing something amazing, do you send off writing samples, works of art, science research to a bunch of programs that offer awards, and hope that you’ll be recognized by some?
I didn’t mean “how can I do nothing and get gold metals?”</p>
<p>I just didn’t realize that these different programs and contests were so widespread and easy to enter. </p>
<p>I assumed you had to be INCREDIBLY talented before you could even enter a competition, and entering a competition would make you incredibly talented.</p>
<p>It was a bit of a catch-22 in my mind.</p>
<p>Knowing that these competitions exist is half the battle -[ul]
[<em>]you can submit projects to Intel/Siemens
[</em>]prepare for the AMC, AIME through Art of problem solving
[li]practice for the USABO and USNCO and USAPhO[/li][/ul]</p>
<p>Haha, you think people in the results thread are amazing? Well they are… but if you really want to feel like complete garbage, google “united states physics team 2011.”</p>
<p>These kids have like 4x USAMO, 3x USAMO, USABO Gold, Intel Finalist, RSI. ****ing insane.</p>
<p>find activities -------> work ass off --------> get free stuff ------> use cred from earlier wins to find more activities -------> rinse & repeat</p>
<p>At least, that’s what I do. It’s amazing how much easier it is to find a lab position if you’ve placed @ ISEF, STS, and have published research.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>To be honest, most winners of the big competitions are fairly talented. At one fairly well-known national science competition I attended, for instance, it was a bit of a joke that literally everyone seemed to have a 2300+ SAT score.</p>
<p>I was wondering this too…</p>
<p>build on your natural talents, OP. I took classical asian and capitalized on it by entering national competitions and winning 2nd/3rd nationally, which I think really stood out. try to find a niche and excel. if you’re not supernaturally gifted at a hard science, music, or math, don’t expect too much through preparation-the kids who excel in the usamo, usabo, and sciences, for example, either devote their entire lives or are ridiculously gifted.</p>
<p>you can capitalize on something less known, but that you’re talented at. does wonders. </p>
<p>scholarships should also be seeked out…e.g. coca cola schoalrs.</p>
<p>good luck, OP. you’ll do fine.</p>
<p>A teacher can nominate you .</p>