a) It depends on the subject, USAMO is probably a lot more competitive than some of the other olympiads because many more people take the AMCs than the first rounds of the other competitions. I was a USChO semifinalist in Florida last year and barely remember any chemistry now. (And the local round wasn’t that much harder than the AP exam, by the way. It was multiple-choice, and they gave you a LOT of time.)
b) For some of the olympiads (at least USChO) qualification is region-dependent, so it’s much harder to be a semifinalist in New York than Wyoming.
^^ Really? You must go to Miami Palmetto then? Hehe, cause no other Floridian school compares in terms of science education.
^^lol no, I go to a magnet school a bit farther north.
USACO semifinalist = top 12-15 in the US after five programming competitions (of 3-4 hours each) over the course of the school year and the USACO Open. USACO Finalist = top 4 in the US, determined after eight days of competitions in June, and you get to attend the IOI.
To even have a shot at semifinalist status, you have to be competing at the Gold Level – which means you’ve already advanced through Novice (optional), Bronze, and Silver. USACO problems <em>start</em> where AP Java ends.
USACO is definitely prestigious, although it seems only MIT truly recognizes its significance. Same goes for USAMO. If I’m not mistaken Anders Kaseorg and Erice Price, both members of the IMO and IOI team as well as gold medalists, bot got rejected from Harvard. At least I do know they’re both at MIT right now.
From personal experience with the USABO, the AP Bio exam is a joke compared to even the open round exam. The Semifinals one… don’t get me started. Here’s a good comparison:
AP Bio- “Here, know this fact, and spit it back out on the test.”
USABO- “Here, know this minute fact from a photo caption in your book. Now, do a cartwheel, whistle Dixie, stand on your head, and apply that fact to this situation. Now give us the answer.”
They’re not even comparable. I explained it to a friend this way- “It’s like being asked to memorize the dictionary and then recite it backwards in pig latin.”
But it’s all good because I <3 Bio!
This is just what I heard, but I think that Eric Price wasn’t really serious about applying to Harvard, and they realized that and rejected him.
I only have experience with USAMO and USACO, but the USAMO and all the contests leading up to that don’t require any knowledge of Calculus, and USACO goes a LOT more in depth with algorithms than the AP Java exam, and doesn’t test knowledge of OOP at all.
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I’ve taken the second round tests for both the Physics/Chem in the past, and I believe that the problems require less advanced thinking than the USAMO problems do. While the USAMO problems doesn’t require calculus, the fact is that 99.5% of the AP Calculus BC students in the nation would not be able to score over a point or two on the USAMO. You could not say the same about the Physics or Chemistry Olympiad for AP Physics or Chemstry students.
As for prestige, I am pretty sure that colleges such as HYPS all recognize the significance of the USAMO. In fact, Yale’s application even has a spot where one can report his scores on the AMC 12, AIME, etc. So it is not only MIT/Caltech
I took the USNCO (qualified for second round), and it was a LOT harder than the AP test! Our midterm was literally composed entirely of old AP questions… and I got a 98 on it. Compare that to the USNCO test, which I barely qualified for. I think that the USNCO/USAMO/etc. are definitely harder than their respective AP exams.
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i DEFF just tried starting a thread like this woops! sorry!
I love your analogy, ducktape! Not to mention there are some USABO questions that no one would ever “know”… rather, you have to make an educated guess about it based on a convoluted train of logic derived from said “minute facts from a photo caption in your book.” 
Haven’t I said this before? The USABO turns boys into men.
And women into men.
What about governor’s school…
Specifically the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Sciences,
Would be categorized with 6 selective summer programs or higher
Out of 530 kids who applied, 100 got accepted… 20%
where would attending a professional symphony go?
depends on the symphony and what you actually do
10 - D1 athlete, IMO/IPHO/ICHO/IBO gold medals, Intel (top 10), Siemens National Winner/National Finalists, ISEF top 3 Grand Prize
9 - ISEF(1st places), Siemens Westinghouse (finalists), MOP, Intel Finalist, Presidential Scholar, Davidson Fellow
8 - TASP/RSI/NIH Research, USPhO/USChO/USABO/USAMO/USACO national finalist, Siemens Semi-finalists/ISEF(2-4 places), Intel semifinalist, Scholastic Writing and Art, Running your own <em>successful</em> business
7 - Perfect SAT scores, USPhO/USChO/USABO/USAMO/USACO semifinalist, Eagle Scout
6 - Selective summer programs or competitions, such as SSP, Clark Summer Program
5 - National Latin Convention 1st Places Academic Contests, All-Eastern/all-regional music, National Merit Finalist, National AP Scholar AFTER Junior Year
4- Perfect Score (Multiple Years) on National Latin Exam, or other languages, AP Scholar, some state awards (all-state music, etc), Science Olympiad state medals (depending on what state you’re from)
3 - All-County music, winning at local/regional science fairs
2 - Bank of America Awards, most local awards/trophies (art, music, community - although they will say something about your character), Essay Contests
1 - National Honor Society, Beta Club, School Departmental Awards, School Honor Roll
0 - Who’s Who, National Honor Roll
-1 -
-2 -
-3 -
-4 - School suspension
-5 -
-6 -
-7 - Crack cocaine dealer
-8 - Imprisonment
-9 -
-10 - Belonging to a species other than Homo sapiens
Wow…Scholastic Art and Writing is an 8…I didn’t realize they were such a big deal. Could someone elaborate?
I’m not sure belonging to a species other than Homo sapiens would quite deserve a -10. I believe that if an organism has the capabilities to otherwise be a competitive applicant to a prestigious school, belonging to a species other than Homo sapiens would actually prove a great advantage as they would be in the far minority and greatly help the diversity of the campus.
Yeah, Scholastic Writing seems a bit overrated on this list.