List of Top, Prestigious Awards

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1041

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
Special performance/Solo at Carnegie Hall
International Competitor in a Sport
Boys Nation President

9: Almost a ticket to a prestigious school

Siemens Westinghouse finalists; Google Science Fair Finalist; MOP; Intel STS Finalist; ISEF Best of Category
NFL Nationals winner
NCFL 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
International Public Policy Forum Top 32 team
All National Band or Orchestra performer
Boys Nation Participant
7:

SSP, Simons, CMU SAMS, 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,
International Public Policy Forum Top 64 team

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

1 Like
1042

I think someone asked this way back, but how do we quantify the awards that we have? For instance, I have a solo performance at Carnegie Hall (10), TASP (8), and a Scholastic Art & Writing National Gold Medal (7). Do we add them up (10+8+7=25) and the higher a score, the better?

1043

Honestly guys, the list created above is just filled with bunch of bias. It’s not legit. Stop using this list to determine your self-worth in the admission process. College admission officers don’t see your achievements in numbers… they prefer the passion you bring to the table from your achievements and you unique personality.

I wouldn’t be really saying these things if the list was 100% legit made by Ivy Leagues or Stanford but these are made by high school students who don’t know the exacts in the admission process. LIke really though… All Nationals Orchestra and Band shouldn’t be compared to Google Science Fair Semifinalists. Not all the talented musicians try out for All Nationals due to its expensive fees.

In addition, state awards (in music, athletic, and etc) should be placed at 5 or 6. I don’t get why it is stuck at 4 because placing at state shouldn’t be comparable to winning regional in Science Fair. Students participating at state competitions already won their regional competition. Not to mention that more students participate in those music and sports competition compared to science fairs, making those competitions more competitive.

Thirdly, SSP should not be considered a “7” because its prestige is compared to that of RSI. Although RSI is more selective, SSP is the second most selective summer program in the United States.

As a conclusion, students who are applying to colleges should not deem their self-worth in the admission process based on this list. Admission Officers from Ivy Leagues do like these achievements but without any characters, the officers won’t pick you. This list contains numerous amounts of errors that I didn’t specifically call out and it’s really based off of bias from people. For example, a male student who was a president for like 4-5 clubs, was in a swim team, was in an orchestra (both school and youth orchestra), and organized many public events went to Harvard. He didn’t have any of those crazy prestigious awards (Research paper getting accepted to high impact factor journal… which is unlikely unless you are literally a Tony Stark) or have those big accomplishment by winning these National science competitions. He simply just loved the passion of helping and leading people in those clubs + events. Another scenario is that a guy who participated in crazy amounts of clubs such as FIRST Robotics, DECA, FBLA, Speech and Debate, and etc. He went to State for FIRST Robotics and participated at Nationals for DECA, FBLA, and Speech and Debate. Crazy right? He even had insane test scores (bunch of perfects) to back up his accomplished extracurricular and honors. However, he got rejected from all of the schools he applied to… except for a state university. To summarize the whole thing, this list is inaccurate as it underrates and overrates many of the items… just stop using this list.

1044

I agree with gkdudtlffj in that extracurriculars aren’t everything in college admissions and that some of the activities listed above are misplaced. However, I think that it’s in general a well-crafted list (most things are probably within 1 category of where they actually are) made with good intentions and a lot of experience.

1045

I had a handful of 3’s and 1’s, rejected from every prestigious national summer program I applied to, didn’t even pass the AMC, never played sports or instruments (can’t swim or ride a bike), and I was accepted REA to Stanford and received a full ride merit scholarship to Duke just for being myself. Stop worrying about college because it’s all the same at the end of the day. Be amazing for yourself not your university.

1046

It depends on what major you are going into. If you are going into STEM, then a national olympiad or major science fair will drastically increase your chances of admission. That is why you see probably half of the STEM students that attend the top schools such as Stanford, CMU, Caltech, and MIT are USAMO, USACO, IMO, Intel ISEF Finalist, etc. These extracurriculars play a larger role in admissions in STEM, focused schools.

1047

Where would awards at slightly less prestigious international science fairs go (a bronze medal at ISWEEEP)?

1048

Also, where would a presentation about your research at a prestigious mobile technology conference be placed (ACM Mobicom)? What about less common honors like if our representative (from the house of representatives) gave a speech to Congress about our research? I don’t see JSEHS or NSHS (the science honor symposiums) on there either.

1049

Where would Vex robotics go, like getting to world’s

1050

How prestigious is getting a patent?

It would depend on what region your from and how common it is to get into VEX.

1051

@kj2002 A design patent or utility patent? I would say it’s definitely something that distinguishes you, but I’m not sure where it would rank on the scale.

1052

Does anyone know anything about iGEM? Where would that probably rank? If you were to start your own team or such and place, would that count as anything “prestigious”? I was just wondering b/c I heard about it somewhere, but I didn’t have much info on it. Thoughts on this would be appreciated!

1053

Does anyone know where making it to UIL State would rank?

1054

ayyyy igem previous participant here it’s so much fun and it’s a unique extracurricular, it’s international so an award would be a pretty big deal. highly recommend doing it

1055

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
Special performance/Solo at Carnegie Hall
International Competitor in a Sport
Boys Nation President

9: Almost a ticket to a prestigious school

Siemens Westinghouse finalists; Google Science Fair Finalist; MOP; Intel STS Finalist; ISEF Best of Category
NSDA Nationals winner
Tournament of Champions Winner
NCFL 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
International Public Policy Forum Top 32 team
All National Band or Orchestra performer
Boys Nation Participant
7:

SSP, Simons, CMU SAMS, NIH Research, and MITES and other selective programs
SUMAC, ROSS, PROMYS, Mathcamp
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,
International Public Policy Forum Top 64 team

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
Perfect Score (Multiple Years) on National Spanish Exam
Perfect Score (Multiple Years) on National Fresh 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

1056

How do multiple awards in same/different level count? If you are a USAMO qualifier as well as a USAPho national finalist and USACO Platinum, does that bump you up to 9?

1057

Intel ISEF 1st-2nd place category winners should be at the same level as Intel STS Finalist, both receive MIT Lincoln Lab Ceres Connection Honor, with a minor planet named after them. Intel ISEF 3rd-4th place category and Intel STS Semi-Finalist etc are at the same level as they do not receive that honor.

So far less than 15000 people have received that honor, including Einstein.

1058

Published in a relatively prestigious journal should be lower, nowadays it is so easy to publish and many HSs have published, for a publication.

1059

How in the world would a perfect score on the NSE (National Spanish Exam) multiple years only be a 4? Do you know how few people get a perfect score? In level 3 this year, there were 2 people, nationwide (obviously). In level 4, 3 people. In levels 5 and 6, only 1 person in the country had a perfect score, and it’s likely that these people have plenty of outside experience.

I’m guessing this means that a gold award on the NSE wouldn’t even be a “4” on this scale.

1060

Does anyone know where the BU RISE summer program would rank?