We had the same experience. The student and/or the school is notified. Our school did a big profile of the student who received a perfect score on his AP Art portfolio. I can’t remember who many there were with him but it was very few. This is not a 5, it is getting maximum score for every piece/category of the portfolio evaluation.
A perfect score is RARE, if often in the single digits and most often it does not happen. There is a table here.
By that reasoning how can National Merit Semi Finalist or AP Scholar make the list? I thought the discussion was if and where it should be included on this Awards List.
Fair point. I would categorize it with other AP awards. I also wonder if AOs even care about the distinction between the perfect score 5 and the “ordinary” 5.
In other words, a perfect score AP CSA is more common than getting a single-sitting 36 on the ACT, and much more common than getting a single-sitting 1600 on the SAT.
Since neither of those move the needle much among highly selective colleges, you shouldn’t expect your perfect AP score to do so either. But also nothing wrong with putting it down under awards.
The thing with patents: its a lengthy process, can take up to 2 years in most cases (unless the invention qualifies for expedited and filer spends more - rare in most cases). So for a high school student to have actually patent “approved” and be used for college admission, the invention should have happened in freshman/sophomore - rare and would be impressive. “BUT”
What most high school students that I know did was that they used a backdoor - the so-called “patent pending” status. I may sound extreme, but If you have an ok idea (even if its not proven yet) and can spend couple thousands, you can easily get this. All one has to do is file for a provisional patent which give 12month time to prep and submit a non-provisional all or walk-away (guess what, many walk away after a thorough patent search and research). Many people abuse this ‘patent pending’ status. In short, an approved patent can be very high 8-9; while a ‘patent pending’ - I personally give 3.
Is AP Scholar on the list? I scanned post 1220 (most recent list, I think) and I didn’t see it. I may have missed it, though.
I don’t think it should be on the list, or be very high, if it is. It’s pretty achievable for students from competitive high schools and probably never even makes the Honors/Awards list for most kids who get into the most rejective schools.
I definitely see your point. I could be very biased, but I still think AIME is a 4. I also don’t think it should be added with the other semifinal olympiads, as those require post-AP knowledge in their respective topics. You don’t really need to be committed to get into AIME — it will probably be just a good add-on for people whose main focus isn’t math. AMC 10 DHR is definitely more impressive and it’s currently a 5.
However, if most people disagree with me then it should be moved back up to a 5.
Also, I think an IMO bronze medal, honorable mention, qualification should be a 9, 8.5, and 8 respectively. This is more applicable to international students from less competitive countries.
I think National AP Scholar was discontinued, and AP Scholar doesn’t mean much.
I’ve also added the YoungArts things, but I have zero experience with that so I just placed them somewhat arbitrarily. Somebody with experience should probably check their placements.
Newest list:
10: Congrats
Putnam Fellow
Fields Medal
Nobel Prize Medalist
D1 athlete
IMO/IPHO/ICHO/IBO/IOI/IOAA/IOL
gold/silver medals
Regeneron STS Top 10; ISEF Top 3 Grand Prize;
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
RSI (Research Science Institute)
9: Almost a ticket to a prestigious school
IMO Bronze Medal
Regeneron STS Finalist; ISEF Best of Category
MOP
NSDA Nationals winner
Tournament of Champions Winner
NCFL Nationals Winner
Published in a relatively prestigious journal
TASP
National Student Poet
Jimmy Awards (musical theatre)
8: Amazing accomplishment; Large boost
(8.5) IMO Honorable Mention
IMO qualification
USAMO qualification; AMC 12 Perfect Score; USAPhO/USNCO/USABO/USACO National Finalist
Regeneron ISEF 1st-4th place category; Regeneron STS semifinalist; Davidson Fellow; Presidential Scholar; MIT PRIMES; MITES
Concord Review Publication
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)
International Public Policy Forum Top 32 team
Writing Portfolio Gold Award; Presidential Scholar of the Arts; Scholastic Art;
All National Band or Orchestra performer
Boys Nation Participant
SIMR
Clark Scholars
7:
Young Arts Finalist
ARML Tiebreaker Round; USAMTS Gold Medal; HMMT top 50
CMU SAMS; NIH Research ; Iowa Writer’s Workshop; SUMAC; ROSS; SSP; Simons; PROMYS; Mathcamp; Garcia
State governors schools with acceptance rate <15% (PGSS, NJGSS, most other science governor’s schools)
USACO Platinum Division
ISEF Finalist
Top Team, YES Competition (Young Epidemiology Scholarship)
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
Foyle Young Poet
US Senate Page
AMC 10 Perfect Score
USAJMO qualification
6:
(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)
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
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
State Science Fair Winner/Top Award (Depends on state)
Academic Decathlon State (CA) Honors Top 3
University-run poetry contests (Patricia Grodd Prize, Lewis Center at Princeton Prize, etc)
Very selective summer programs (acceptance rate 10-15%: TASS, UC Davis YSP, IOWA SSTP, BU RISE, UCSB RMP, HCSSiM, BOA Student Leaders, HSMC, Rockefeller SSRP, EFL, M&TSI…)
AMC 12 DHR
5: Pretty good; will complement an already strong record
Young Arts Honorable Mention
FBLA Nationals
USAPhO/USNCO/USABO/NAO semifinals
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
Academic Decathlon State (AZ/TX/MA/WI), Nationals Top 3 Honors & California Event Golds
Selective summer academic programs (acceptance rate 15-25%: UC COSMOS, UF SSTP, Wharton LBW, MIT Launch…)
USACO Gold Division qualification
AMC 10 DHR
4: Fairly difficult
YoungArts Merit
AIME qualification
Science Fair Regional winner
Science Bowl national qualification
Perfect Score (Multiple Years) on National Latin/Spanish/French Exam
State awards (all-state music, etc)
Academic Decathlon State (AZ/TX/MA/WI) Event Golds
National Merit Finalist
MUN Gavel
AMC 10/12 school winner (depends on your school)
Art and Writing Regional Gold award
Top 5 FIRST Regional (FTC)
Position in Local Government
National AP Scholar at Junior Year
3: Some effort involved, but not uncommon
USACO Silver Division qualification
Student Body
Winning at local/regional science fairs
All-County music
Eagle Scout Gold Award (with prior Silver and Bronze Awards)
Head of a competitive club that you did not found (ex: Mock Trial, Model UN, Science Olympiad)
Editor in chief of award-winning school newspaper
Head of a club with large membership and substantial activities (Interact Club)
2: Your average go-getter
Bank of America Awards
Presidential Service Award Volunteering Gold
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
You should change the scouting rank / award descriptions (“Eagle Scout Gold Award”) to be more clear, as in post #1230.
“D1 athlete” should be changed to “recruited athlete” and probably ranges anywhere from 4 to 10 at the college doing the recruiting, depending on the college, sport, and athlete. At colleges other than those doing the recruiting, being a good enough athlete to be recruited as such somewhere probably ranges from 3 to 6.
Fields Medal and Nobel Prize are extremely unlikely to be achieved by a high school student, as discussed above. So is “Single/First Author in High Impact Factor Journal”.
Not everybody is a rich brat trying to pay and make someonelse write their SAT exams.This is not why some kid would spend more than 5 hours of their life every weekend to be ridiculed this way. Science fairs are very subjective, we dont know how many good projects did not see the light of day. Do you think only Regenerone 300 or Intel prize winners are the best ? I dont think Tesla or Einstein had a Regenerone prize. If we start seeing everything from that lens then nothing is true or great. Let me tell you out of 300 projects that REgenrone selects please see how many of the students were children of PHds or doctors. So I can say what is so great about science fair. You got a chance to work with a Harvard professor this is not your idea. But that is not the case with Patent.If kids sees a problem in society and want to solve it i find it admirable. The kid I am talking about got USPTO worker to help him file Pro bono. And they were ready to help him as he saw this guys passion. YES if colleges start suspecting True students and believing only Regenerone kids then God SAVE the WORLD.If we see Patent pending and hit somoene and say it is back door it is not nice. LEGACY , SPORTS, RICH KIDS is back door. These are educational institution let every Ivy league open a sister college for athletes let educational institutions be just that for education.We can say GReta thunberg did nothing. Because of her the earth didnt restore itself to past glory. To tell a kid who has worked hard that you are false and you just submitted a provisional patent for the heck of it ,is very painful to anyone who has worked. Obviously you have no clue how patents work. You cannot file a patent without a proper design. I cannot send a face of monkey call it the next big think, this happens only in TIK TOK
Out of general curiosity – for an unhooked student, what would count as “strong” in ECs and awards? I keep seeing admitted students describing themselves or being described as having “strong” “good” or “great” ECs/awards, but they give no specifics. Do admitted unhooked kids at top schools nearly all have a smattering of 7+ awards? Or are 3-4 tier awards more of the norm? And what on earth are some examples of these mysterious “strong” ECs?
I’d be interested to know everyone’s thoughts, although I’m sure there’ll be differences of opinion.
The top awards are not necessary for admission to elite colleges, and unhooked kids do get admitted to the top schools without them. My daughter is one example. She did have multiple years of research, which became part of her story, but no publications.
On the other hand, getting a top award (8 and above) makes admission to elite colleges much more likely. My son is one example, as are his numerous peers with similar awards.
I don’t think NMSF will move the needle by itself for T5. There is some large gap between 7 and 8. In our state, the Gov school takes about 50 (Science) + 80 (Engg) + 50(Humanities) kids, and atleast the Sciences school used to place 50% of the kids in HYPSM and 80% of the kids in T20. Results from the Engg Gov school were half as good. I would place NJ Gov School definitely below ISEF – so somewhere between 7 and 8 – more relevant than NMSF. I am sure there are other such recognitions around the country that matter modestly. For example, NC has a Gov School that takes 600 kids a year, and I think likely matters less than the NJ Gov school from anecdotal observation. And I don’t think it is the award per se that matters at this level, as opposed to something like ISEF. It is likely just correlated with a Txx school placement rather than being causative. And I agree with @hebegebe – plenty of kids get into T5 without one of these recognitions. Research is often helpful, properly presented and framed.
Agree! Especially since NMSF is “accomplished” based on widely variable state cutoffs (207-223, correlating roughly to anywhere between a 1380 and 1590 SAT). Many of these awards on this list depend on context and impact, and many many unhooked kids get in to T10s with impactful ECs that just are not on this list, but may be more meaningful depending on how the student expresses their EC in the app/essays/interviews.
Fewer than 360 get a 36 or 1600 in a given yearHow many times a year is the AP CS exam given?
It’s more common, percentage-wise. If 360 students get a perfect score on AP CSA, that’s 0.51%.
About 0.36% of students get a 36 on the ACT. About 0.07% of students get a 1600 on the SAT.
Far fewer take the CS AP exam. It’s a more select group.
Still doesn’t move the needle much unless the applicant is from an under resourced school. Then a perfect test score will be celebrated as well….hopefully.
i am shocked it is that low
By 36 ACT, does this mean the composite (which could mean 1-2 section scores of 35, or 1 section score of 34, with 36 in other sections), or 36 in all sections?
What percentage of SAT takers got 1570-1600, the range that is concordant with 36 ACT due to the higher resolution of SAT scores than ACT scores (each ACT score is concordant with 3-4 SAT scores)?
Keep in mind that this thread is in High School Life, so was started by high schoolers for high schoolers. While anyone, including parents, can post, can we keep the OT conversation and debate to a minimum?
Apologies for continuing off-topic, but a factual correction is needed.
5,579 tests received a 36 composite score on the ACT in 2020, not 360. This corresponds to the ~0.35% mentioned above. Most estimates for the number of SAT 1600s are in the 500-800 range
Unsurprisingly, approximately the same 0.35% scored 1570-1600 on the SAT, the scores that map to 36 on the official concordance. That’s the point of the concordance.