<p>I'd think that a lot of those 245 are probably international admits, who will likely have reached high levels of competition in their own countries.</p>
<p>haha, I hear you. my school is known to be a liberal arts school. I know this sounds too good to be true, but the best thing that will help you get in is to do what you like to do. I dropped two activities that I had participated in since freshman year during my senior year in order to work on things that mattered more.</p>
<p>uh oh
international....(an MIT student told me all Taiwanese students admitted to MIT have won gold/silver medals in International Olympiads..at least all current Taiwanese undergrads. And most other east asians have too.)
I go to school in the US though, so I can't represent US in Math olympiads and I can't represent Taiwan either.
What can I do?</p>
<p>If internationals, who number about 9 percent of students, win these awards at 3 times the US rate (i.e. account for 27 percent of the awards) it is still hard to see where 200 US national winners come from. Maybe they get the awards at more than 3 times the American rate, I don't know. But I suspect that Schmill might have in some cases meant qualifier for national level if not the outright award winner.</p>
<p>international is about 8%, there's a strict quota.
but I wonder if the yield is too high and it gets above 8%, what'll happen?
or if the yield is too low, are there any international waitlists?</p>
<p>siserune:</p>
<p>These were discussed as part of the domestic admit pool only. You are probably right that he was referring to national level final stage qualifiers not necessarily winners.</p>
<p>mea culpa then =)</p>
<p>"So I think "national award" may have meant reaching the national level of competition (national math/physics qualifier) rather than being on the list of winners. Either that, or there are many more national competitions than I have heard of."</p>
<p>The national math/science awards I have heard of: Math:ARML, Math Olympics (AMC/USMO/IMO), Mandelbrot, International Modeling Contest.
Science: Science Olympiad, Intel, doing research at RSI, physics/math/chemistry international olympiads, International Bridge Building Contest</p>
<p>Obviously, these are not equal in importance. I don't know which they would consider for "academic superstar status". My guess is Intel, the national physics/math/chemistry olympiads (maybe USAMO level or equivalent), ARML, and a few ones that are not as well-known such as a national robotics competition or International Bridge Building</p>
<p>i did and got owned because the judges didnt get my paper lol. i didnt place in any competition, though i got some random math award haha.</p>