@NotVerySmart That’s slightly reassuring. Though I feel left out when it comes to national/international awards. I don’t exactly live in a big city with endless competition. Our school doesn’t have a science fair and when I found out that Google had a science fair, I had already missed the deadline. How terribly am I lacking? Can you give me a few examples of national/international awards?
Off the top of my head, I can think of the Intel ISEF, the International Physics Olympiad, and the AMC (if you’re wondering about STEM awards specifically). These are all über-competitive, and so they carry real weight.
I think the deadlines may be past, or winners are announced after university decisions, but I could be wrong. If you’re a senior, there isn’t all that much you can do at this point, except showcase your accomplishments and write essays that really speak to your personality (and continue to get good grades, of course)
Whatever happens, you’ll end up at a good college, and as long as you do well at the school you attend grad schools will be happy to have you as an applicant. Almost everyone loves the school they end up attending, so there’s no real cause for worry. You’ve accomplished a lot in the last 4 years, colleges will be fickle no matter what, and I wouldn’t worry too much about admissions decisions. In the long term, grad school matters far more than undergrad. After 2 or 3 years of work your research will be far more important than your alma mater or your grad school anyway, except to a group sociologists have dubbed (to use the vernacular) ‘snobs,’ who probably regard MIT as Harvard’s accounting department anyway.