List of Top, Prestigious Awards

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1021

I believe United States Academic Decathlon should be added to this list but discriminated by state and division. A friend of mine recently was accepted to Princeton and Stanford for class of 2020 (planning on picking Princeton) did nothing other than AcDec and AMC/AIME. He earned a total of about 14 golds at AZ state and was top 3 in state for four consecutive years as Honors (the highest division). Texas/AZ/Massachusetts/Wisconsin state top 3 is probably a 5, California is probably a 6. I do USACO and am in Silver along with some state sci fair stuff, and AcDec is much, much more effort. However, variation by state is MASSIVE. A D1 school that didn’t QUALIFY for Cali state could win New York or Connecticut. Individual golds probably a 5 in Cali state, 4 in TX/AZ/MA/WI. Nationals are honestly easier than Cali state or LAUSD Regionals, so all nationals are equal to TX/AZ/MA/WI.

TL;DR: added academic decathlon, but only states in which it matters.

10: Congrats

D1 athlete
IMO/IPHO/ICHO/IBO medals
Intel STS Top 10; Siemens Finalist; ISEF Top 3 Grand Prize; Google Science Fair age group winner
History Day National Winner
Single/First Author in High Impact Factor Journal

9: Almost a ticket to a prestigious school

Siemens Westinghouse finalists; Google Science Fair Finalist; MOP; Intel STS Finalist; ISEF Best of Category
FL Nationals winner
RSI (Research Science Institute)
Published in a relatively prestigious journal

8: Amazing accomplishment; Large boost

TASP, USPhO/USChO/USABO/USACO National Finalist
Google Science Fair Semifinalist; Siemens Semi-finalists; Intel ISEF 1st-4th place category; Intel STS semifinalist,
Running your own successful business
USAMO qualification
AMC 12 Perfect Score, Presidential Scholar, Davidson Fellow
Writing Portfolio Gold Award, Presidential Scholar of the Arts, Scholastic Art
FIRST Dean’s List winner, top 5 at FIRST World Championships,
Google Code Jam Round 2, 3 Qualifier (Vast majority of Competitors are College students and professionals)
Facebook Hacker Cup Round 2, 3 Qualifier (Vast majority of Competitors are College students and professionals)
MIT PRIMES Participant

7:

SSP, Simons, Clark Summer Program, NIH Research, and MITES and other selective programs
Science Olympiad national medals, EUCYS prizes
State governors schools with acceptance rate <15% (PGSS, NJGSS, most other science governor’s schools)
USACO Platinum Division
ARML Tiebreaker Round / Top Team, YES Competition (Young Epidemiology Scholarship), USAMTS Gold Medal
Intel ISEF Finalist, History Day National Level
Scholastic Art & Writing National Gold Medal. NFL Nationals (speech and debate) “breakers” (elimination rounds), Tournament of Champions (debate) “breakers,” Congressional Award Gold Medalist,

6:

USAPhO/USABO semifinals, Science Olympiad Nationals qualification
USACO Gold Division
AMC 10 Perfect Score
Less competitive governor’s schools (Acceptance rate between 15% and 25%), any other scholarship summer programs not aforementioned
Congressional Award Silver Medalist, NFL Nationals/Tournament of Champions Qualifier, FBLA Nationals
Science Bowl/Ocean Science Bowl/NAQT winners, Technology Student Association Nationals
FIRST Dean’s List finalist
Top 5 FIRST Super Regionals (FTC)
Scholastic Art & Writing National Silver Medal
Academic Decathlon State (CA) Honors Top 3
(6.5) Google Code Jam Qualifier (Vast majority of Competitors are College students and professionals)
(6.5) Facebook Hacker Cup Qualifier (Vast majority of Competitors are College students and professionals)

5: Pretty good; will complement an already-strong record

USAAAO
USNCO semifinals
AIME
National Latin Convention 1st Places Academic Contests,
All-Eastern/all-regional music, State History Day top 3 place
Top 5 FIRST State Championship (or Regionals for FRC), JETS TEAMS National Finalist, Skills USA Nationals
State Science Fair Winner/Top Award
Academic Decathlon State (AZ/TX/MA/WI), Nationals Top 3 Honors & California Event Golds

4:

USACO Silver Division
Science Fair Regional winner
Science Olympiad state medals (depending on what state you’re from)
Science Bowl national qualification
Perfect Score (Multiple Years) on National Latin Exam
State awards (all-state music, etc)
Academic Decathlon State (AZ/TX/MA/WI) Event Golds
MUN Gavel
AMC 10/12 school winner (depends on your school)
Art and Writing Regional Gold award
Top 5 FIRST Regional (FTC)

3: Some effort involved, but not uncommon

Winning at local/regional science fairs
All-County music,
Eagle Scout, National Merit Finalist
Head of a competitive club that you did not found (ex: Mock Trial, Model UN, Science Olympiad)

2: Your average go-getter

Bank of America Awards
Local awards/trophies
Essay Contests
Regional History Day

1 : Common activities

National Honor Society
Beta Club
School Departmental Awards
School Honor Roll
Key Club, CSF, Interact Club
National Merit Commended
Member of a club with no distinctions earned

0: A dime in a dozen; meaningless

Who’s Who, National Honor Roll, National Society of High School Scholars

1022

Also on AIME vs USACO: Have only looked at USACO gold/plat problems and AIME problems after competition with friends, but in terms of mathematical difficulty, they’re roughly the same. However, USACO also requires you to master programming rather than just the mathematical aspect of those problems, so should be slightly higher simply because it requires more effort. Just my two cents though.

1023

Additionally, is IOI supposed to be missing? Pretty sure that it should definitely be a 10 but not sure if I’m missing something.

1024

Also on AcDec Medals: Scholastic Top 3 in any of the aforementioned states is probably a 4 with individual golds being probably 3s. To be fair though, Scholastics probably won’t be applying to Ivies because their GPA has to be less than 3.75 :stuck_out_tongue: and is excluded from the list for that reason.

1025

Carnegie Mellon SAMS should be ranked at 7 because it’s basically like MITES. It’s a free 6 week program for the top 40 minority students in STEM

1026

Does anyone know where National Brain Bee would be ranked?

1027

nerdy01 probably a 4…most of the good neuroscience kids should be doing research and ISEF. Looking into the recent nationals winners, they don’t seem to traditionally go to exceptional schools unless they also have something else that’s rather big or important.

1028

@korunic Haha, I was just wondering because I know a guy who got third in the National Brain Bee a couple of years ago and he’s going to Stanford next year. He has a lot of other awards such as ISEF category prizes, ISWEEP category prizes, Science Olympiad national medals, Science Bowl National Qualifications, etc, though. So yeah… he’s got a lot of big and important things going on.

1029

-Added IOI, IOAA, IOL
-Renamed USPhO to USAPhO, USChO to USNCO

10: Congrats

D1 athlete
IMO/IPHO/ICHO/IBO/IOI/IOAA/IOL medals
Intel STS Top 10; Siemens Finalist; ISEF Top 3 Grand Prize; Google Science Fair age group winner
History Day National Winner
Single/First Author in High Impact Factor Journal

9: Almost a ticket to a prestigious school

Siemens Westinghouse finalists; Google Science Fair Finalist; MOP; Intel STS Finalist; ISEF Best of Category
FL Nationals winner
RSI (Research Science Institute)
Published in a relatively prestigious journal

8: Amazing accomplishment; Large boost

TASP, USAPhO/USNCO/USABO/USACO National Finalist
Google Science Fair Semifinalist; Siemens Semi-finalists; Intel ISEF 1st-4th place category; Intel STS semifinalist,
Running your own successful business
USAMO qualification
AMC 12 Perfect Score, Presidential Scholar, Davidson Fellow
Writing Portfolio Gold Award, Presidential Scholar of the Arts, Scholastic Art
FIRST Dean’s List winner, top 5 at FIRST World Championships,
Google Code Jam Round 2, 3 Qualifier (Vast majority of Competitors are College students and professionals)
Facebook Hacker Cup Round 2, 3 Qualifier (Vast majority of Competitors are College students and professionals)
MIT PRIMES Participant

7:

SSP, Simons, Clark Summer Program, NIH Research, and MITES and other selective programs
Science Olympiad national medals, EUCYS prizes
State governors schools with acceptance rate <15% (PGSS, NJGSS, most other science governor’s schools)
USACO Platinum Division
ARML Tiebreaker Round / Top Team, YES Competition (Young Epidemiology Scholarship), USAMTS Gold Medal
Intel ISEF Finalist, History Day National Level
Scholastic Art & Writing National Gold Medal. NFL Nationals (speech and debate) “breakers” (elimination rounds), Tournament of Champions (debate) “breakers,” Congressional Award Gold Medalist,

6:

USAPhO/USABO semifinals, Science Olympiad Nationals qualification
USACO Gold Division
AMC 10 Perfect Score
Less competitive governor’s schools (Acceptance rate between 15% and 25%), any other scholarship summer programs not aforementioned
Congressional Award Silver Medalist, NFL Nationals/Tournament of Champions Qualifier, FBLA Nationals
Science Bowl/Ocean Science Bowl/NAQT winners, Technology Student Association Nationals
FIRST Dean’s List finalist
Top 5 FIRST Super Regionals (FTC)
Scholastic Art & Writing National Silver Medal
Academic Decathlon State (CA) Honors Top 3
(6.5) Google Code Jam Qualifier (Vast majority of Competitors are College students and professionals)
(6.5) Facebook Hacker Cup Qualifier (Vast majority of Competitors are College students and professionals)

5: Pretty good; will complement an already strong record

USAAAO
USNCO semifinals
AIME
National Latin Convention 1st Places Academic Contests,
All-Eastern/all-regional music, State History Day top 3 place
Top 5 FIRST State Championship (or Regionals for FRC), JETS TEAMS National Finalist, Skills USA Nationals
State Science Fair Winner/Top Award
Academic Decathlon State (AZ/TX/MA/WI), Nationals Top 3 Honors & California Event Golds

4:

USACO Silver Division
Science Fair Regional winner
Science Olympiad state medals (depending on what state you’re from)
Science Bowl national qualification
Perfect Score (Multiple Years) on National Latin Exam
State awards (all-state music, etc)
Academic Decathlon State (AZ/TX/MA/WI) Event Golds
MUN Gavel
AMC 10/12 school winner (depends on your school)
Art and Writing Regional Gold award
Top 5 FIRST Regional (FTC)

3: Some effort involved, but not uncommon

Winning at local/regional science fairs
All-County music,
Eagle Scout, National Merit Finalist
Head of a competitive club that you did not found (ex: Mock Trial, Model UN, Science Olympiad)

2: Your average go-getter

Bank of America Awards
Local awards/trophies
Essay Contests
Regional History Day

1 : Common activities

National Honor Society
Beta Club
School Departmental Awards
School Honor Roll
Key Club, CSF, Interact Club
National Merit Commended
Member of a club with no distinctions earned

0: A dime in a dozen; meaningless

Who’s Who, National Honor Roll, National Society of High School Scholars

1030

Couple of questions:

  1. Where would USAJMO qualification go?
  2. Are IOAA/IOL considered (10) since they are relatively less known?
  3. What does FL stand for in "FL Nationals Winner" (9)?
  4. Why is TASP so prestigious?
1031

Why are USNCO semifinals ranked so low compared to other semis?

1032

@ParadoxChem126 the prestige of USNCO semis qualification depends a lot on your region. For some regions its way less prestigious than other semis, but for some regions it’s more prestigious depending on the competitiveness of where you live

1033

Where does USNCO Top 50 stand? For example, how prestigious is it compared to USAMO?

1034

Curious about being class president, and or a district school board member? What ranking would you guys give? I’ve heard that being a school board member is extremely rare and represents a high level of dedication to shaping ones community.

1035

What about MIT/NASA Zero Robotics?

1036

Just remember that while this is a great, list if things that are on it interest you. However my DD (at UChicago) and her friend (at Harvard) had nothing on this list in categories 2-10. No hooks either. Having said that, having things on this list will no doubt increase your chances.

1037

TASP is so prestigious because the acceptance rate is 3%. Further than that, the reason the rate is so low is because the admissions committee specifically looks for candidates who they believe are, essentially, special snowflakes. They go beyond looking at grades and test scores (though most who get in are stellar in these areas) to choose students who they believe are passionate and, above all, interesting human beings. Colleges want people like this, so they consider TASPers to have been already vetted, beyond what university admissions committees can already ascertain from their transcripts.

1038

speaking to someone earlier about CMU SAMS, I got in but I ended up turning it down. Should I still list it on my app? This is obviously a hard program to get into, especially because I am an Asian male and its a minority program lol

1039

Is it possible to add USSYP, Girls/Boys Nation, and Henry Clay Center for Statesmanship Student Congress in here?
They’re all government/politics related, *prestigious, and are nation-wide for their acceptance. I’d like to know where in general these three programs would be.

*Personally, I wouldn’t put them all on the exact same level, (I put them in descending order from what I’ve experienced)

1040

Can someone add NYO, NSO SMI, and National Young Arts? I think this was mentioned before but I might as well bring this up again.