<p>I am an ISEF fianlist for the 2008 competition which will be held in Atlanta, Georgia</p>
<p>and I would like to know how this is going to boost my chances in college admissions </p>
<p>especially in science oriented schools like MIT and Caltech, or Stanford engineering ( hopefully assuming that I win a good prize too )</p>
<p>It will certainly be helpful. It won't guarantee you admission.</p>
<p>how r u a finalist already? Are you international?</p>
<p>I am surprised too. We dont have our regional qualifier fair for ISEF until the end of March.</p>
<p>Siemens Finalist > ISEF Finalist. MIT Admission > Siemens Finalist ==> MIT Admission > ISEF Finalist.</p>
<p>ISEF is cool. Winning something there is even cooler. I think my 4th prize there helped me get in, but it was by no means a guarantee. You will need other things too, but it's big.</p>
<p>Edit: Yeah, and how do you know already? I didn't find out until mid-march.</p>
<p>Best of fairs from regional area fairs get to advance directly to ISEF, bypassing the state qualification.</p>
<p>Your regional area fair must be extremely early O_o Ours isn't until February, and then our state qualification is late March.</p>
<p>yup i'm international</p>