<p>My son doesn't have any international or national awards, and he is a Senior. When I looked through CC, I see people who participated in well-known competitions like USAPhO, USABO, IMO, ISEF, etc.
My son only has school awards, and very interesting ECs that included research in UCLA. He is highly ranked, great in every other stats like SAT scores (2260), AP tests, Character, teacher recs, etc.
He just doesn't have the USABO type of awards. He has everything else (I am judging without fillial love). He is just great. But he just doesn't have the "great" and "clinching" awards/competitions. </p>
<p>Yep, if I were you, I'd be worried indeed. 2260 isn't all that high. Also, he didn't win a place in the Siemens Competition or anything, which shows that his research may be more like volunteering at a lab than actual research. </p>
<p>Also, I am just wondering, does winning semifinalist at the Siemens Competition equal in prestige as USAPhO, USABO, IMO, ISEF, etc.?</p>
<p>WorrieMom, please listen to molliebatmit and not to zipper. 2260 is certainly within MIT range, and as Mollie says, most students admitted to MIT do not have national or international awards. As I have shared before, I know roughly 30 students my from sons' high school who were accepted at MIT in the past 3 years, and only about 5 of them had any such awards to their credit. All of them, however, had interesting ECs and strong academic records.</p>
<p>Be reassured, it is not necessary to have these awards to be accepted. And having earned them is no guarantee of being accepted. Your son will have a reasonable chance at admission (but not a guarantee) and should certainly apply.</p>
<p>2260 is a good score. The math and verbal scores are far more important than the writing since MIT admissions doesn't have a high opinion of the writing SATI. </p>
<p>There aren't that many people with USABO,USAMO, Siemens, etc, so I wouldn't worry about not having it. Plus, only a subset of these guys will even apply to MIT.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone! I used to have thought that ISEF awards mattered so much. Even regional awards. I think having all these ISEF and AIME awards make other people think "Oh my god, you have all these cool awards! You're so smart!" type of thing.
MIT seems to not follow into those people's shoes. What does MIT use for selecting their freshman applicant pool?
Thanks everyone.</p>
<p>You can learn much about what the MIT Admissions Committee looks for by reviewing "The</a> Match Between You and MIT" from the Admissions website. There is a "grades and scores" link on that page which will give you some admissions statistics on applicants accepted for Fall 2007.</p>
<p>Thank youe everyone. I just talked seriously to him a while ago. Same talk I had with him during freshman/sophomore year.
I urged him to participate in the Synopsis science fair in the Silicon Valley. He just flatly refused and continued his research in UCLA. </p>
<p>I just got worried, but now I seem assured. Thanks CC, especially mootmom. Thanks!</p>
<p>Also, I looked into the web you gave me mootmom. I just want to confirm that MIT isn't exaggerating about the match . . . right? I mean, I remember, during 8th grade a peculiar incident that happened.</p>
<p>Bellarmine is a greatly respected school, and they had their expectations listed in their website. One of them was that they accepted "C" students. My son was rejected, and so I went to the admissions officer and talked to him. I got the stats for Bellarmine admission, and I saw just one applicant who got in with Cs. The rest were As and a few Bs and combinations. </p>
<p>Well, I mean, don't get me wrong, awards are helpful in an MIT application, and kids with great, national-level awards often do quite well. But there just aren't enough of those kids to fill a class.</p>
<p>MIT isn't exaggerating about the match, but since the applicant pool is so talented, it's difficult for anyone to get in, superstar or no.</p>
<p>I know of one applicant in the class of 2003 who <em>didn't</em> get into MIT and he at least made the Chemistry Olympics Training Camp (or whatever they call it.) So he was in the top 50 in the country. He apparently was extremely disappointed even though he ended up at Harvard.</p>
<p>I don't know what else he had; I heard about that through another guy at the camp who ended up at MIT. </p>
<p>So as Mollie said, these awards don't make admission automatic.</p>