If you are a Intel ISEF finalist that means you qualified for competition, Siemens semi/regional finalist, Google Science Fair… I beg you can you post which colleges you got into, where you went , and your other stats that got you in. Please!! Also if you know someone who did one of these things please comment!!
Also whats considered an “academic star” like what MIT and Harvard say… Is a Siemens semifinalist considered an acamic star for example?
Comment if you have thoughts and know any info. Thanks!
They definitely help as long as your other stats are solid enough to keep you competitive.
My brother was a Siemens Semifinalist with a 3.85 gpa and 2220/35. He was rejected at MIT, Caltech, Stanford (SCEA), Berkeley EECS, and most of the ivies. He ended up getting into Cornell, Harvey Mudd, and CMU. He now attends CMU. Maybe if he had become a regional finalist he would’ve had a better shot at some of the schools that rejected him, but his low GPA (especially for an Asian male) really weighed him down.
As for Academic Superstars, an MIT admissions officer wrote somewhere in the MIT forum that the list may include honors such as winning ISEF, qualifying for USAMO, or some mind-blowing award in the arts. It really depends on the school though. Harvard and Yale, for example, don’t give too big of an advantage to these Academic Superstars compared to MIT and Caltech.
@AnEpicIndian, what I’ve seen is if you do well enough, Harvard does (even more than MIT).
Also, is that GPA weighted or UW? In any it, it likely isn’t what hurt him.
@PurpleTitan it was unweighted, but I based my hypothesis off the fact that it was significantly lower than Asians on this forum who were accepted to HYPSM and most tier 2 schools.
If you are good at school GPA and get into ISEF, that is auto-in Cornell, CMU, UPenn, other lower Ivies. However, it is not automatic MIT, Stanford, CIT, or Harvard.
I am that rare student who is good at these research science competitions but has relatively bad academics (2130 on 11th grade PSAT and a B+ in 10th grade Honours English). But do what you like, and you will be good at it!
I do find it shocking sometimes what people here think is bad. First, your score will go up if you study unless you are really bad at something (more of a problem for people who are bad at math than English from what I have seen, you can get to about 600-650 but no more). If you were in a lower SAT state a 213 will at least get you commended. You may want to try ACT, English can be learned. I know people (who are not minorities (over or under) at HYPS who had gotten a couple of Bs first and second year
the admissions success a lot of students have after winning these honors (ie semifinalist, ISEF qualifier) is a lot more correlation than causation (except being a finalist, that’s a legit boost). These awards legitimize one’s research pursuits for sure, but I don’t think they boost much more than doing research itself. Academic ‘stars’ are the intel finalists, usamo qualifiers, etc.as someone mentioned above
for what it’s worth i was a siemens semifinalist w/ good academics but the best schools i got into were lower ivy level (think dartmouth, duke, etc.)
I think @dblazer says it best with the fact that it’s more correlation than causation.
Kids with experience in science fairs get into fantastic schools because their honors help to accentuate their passion for science, not simply because being honored at a science fair boosts one’s gpa (though that is also the case).
Chances are, if you’ve made it to ISEF, you’re a student with genuinely good research, who has also performed well at other science fairs, and has a true passion for science that is reflected in grades and other EC activities.
@dblazer Gonna have to disagree with you there. Qualifying for USAMO doesn’t hold a candle to STS finalist. Siemens winners/top ISEF awards/STS Finalists all get a ‘legit boost’ from the awards. Granted, this is coming from what an MIT adcom said this year at ISEF and it may be less of a boost for non-sciency schools. I can tell you, though, that most of us in the first place/best in facebook group have gotten legit letters from HYPSM adcoms as a direct result of the recent ISEF results.
@berkinit2021 looks like you didn’t read my post carefully.
There’s no doubt that winning some of the most prestigious science competitions in the world will independently boost your chances of admissions. I was referring more to the ‘lesser’ distinctions that more individuals receive.
Pm me if you want to discuss this privately, but this year(at least among my friends) I did not see Intel and Siemens being a huge boost to our applications.
