ZooeyKing sounds a little bitter to me. So perhaps awards don’t matter for most kids, but for applicants at the very top schools (think HYPS), these will definitely make a difference in their application. I mean, nearly everyone applying will have 3.9+ UW GPA’s and 2300+ SAT scores, so the only way to find out who will be accepted lies in these awards - and essays, of course.
Sounds pretty legitimate to me. I love the essay topics! Anyway, seeing as it seems presitigious, I would put it somewhat high. However, top 1000 out of 50000 isn’t really that much, so I would estimate that it’s about a 4. The higher you advance, the better it’ll be, obviously.
ZooeyKing - Nobody (well, few people) does these awards just to put in on their apps.
How many of these 8/9/10 awards do y’all think the average HYPSM student has?
I would hope HYPSM chasers don’t think it’s necessary to be Intel semifinalist + TASP + own business + Presidential Scholar in order to get in. Even some of the mid-lower stuff (state Sci Olympiad awards, all-county musician, state science fairs - all only 5s/4s ?) seems quite impressive for HYPSM. Are these mid-range accomplishments, coupled with high grades and high test scores, not enough for HYPSM? I would think most of the admits @ these schools are accomplished but not insanely so (multiple 8s/9/s/10s) …
Sorry, but are you people reading fledgling’s post right? It’s top 1000 out of 50000. Not 5000, 50000. That’s 2%, higher than both Intel and Siemens Semifinalist, etc. I think it should certainly be higher than a 4…
When we talk about
We’re talking about National Finalists right?
Well, maybe it is higher (the numbers aren’t well-defined anyway), but there are a few things keeping it from being a lot higher, in my opinion:
- It’s an essay competition, and it isn’t well known in the U.S.
- It may be the top 2%, but it’s still 1000 people.
- There are still many higher levels of advancement in the competition.
I mean, for Intel and Siemens semifinalist, even the fact that you’ve done research at all is impressive!
science olympiad national medal is only 6? i think it should be at least 7-8.
“Science olympiad” is not a legitimate and rigorous competition compared to the international olympiads. The REAL olympiads such as USABO USNCO, etc. are merely qualifying competitions for making the US team. Science olympiad, the kind that you have high school teams that compete against each other in random events, is 4th grade science. Sure you may argue that scioly has more engineering than the USAPhO etc., but if you wanted engineering, go do ISEF or a similar competition. Lulz.
how high is boys’ state up there?
BEST…THREAD…EVER!!!
scholastic art and writing awards shouldn’t be on par with intel semi…should get a 6 or 7
and what would ISEF qualification (w/o getting awards at all) be at? maybe a 7? (what is it, like 1000 ppl in the world?)
Unfortunately, I’d have to say that ISEF qualification alone may not do too much good. It depends on how you got there. Eg: Best of fair at NWSE in physical science(state fair) to qual for ISEF is much better than best of fair at your regional fair.
I know a team who’s project won 1st place in electrical and mechanical engineering at a regional fair and at the state fair + ISEF alternate but ultimately didn’t make ISEF, while the 2nd place project in Engineering E&M at the same regional fair (an individual) ended up going to ISEF because he got best of fair at regionals for physical science (individuals).
Simply put, the team’s project was better than the individual’s, but didn’t end up making ISEF because individual competition at regionals was weak and team competition was really tough.
what about United States Senate Page and
National Security Language Initiative (full boat paid by State Department to learn a critical language, ie. arabic, russian, turkish, chinese etc in full immersion progam in that country?
Never made ISEF, but that’s what I thought. At my region, only two individuals make ISEF…it seems like the judging is really random. One year, a person who got Davidson fellows…intel finalist, and bunch, didn’t make it, while people who had seemingly pointless projects made it. They didn’t get awards @ISEF though.
moral of the story: siemens/intel are more legit than isef quals (well, unless ya win a grand award there), since they don’t have to go through the annoying regionals process
where would YESS fall in?
I know many many many many many many many people who got into HYPSM but none of them have 6+ on those. I think these rankings are too harsh and inaccurate. At the end, stats are what matters the most.
Disagree. Especially for the Portfolio Gold (which, in case you didn’t know, includes a 10K scholarship), which should be about a 9 or 10. NOT a 6.
^^Has no idea what they are talking about. Stats do not matter if you have a 9 or 10.
^Okay, but I’d say it’s about equal to the 10K Davidson, or Presidential Scholar of the Arts in writing. So I’d think around a 9 would be appropriate. I would assert that YOU probably don’t know anything about it.
And, yes, stats still do matter if you have a 9: someone with a Davidson last year got deferred from Yale EA (ultimately accepted, but still) and rejected from Brown. She had over a 2100 on the SAT.
are you kidding? those are amazing stats…what a shock.