MOP (Math Olympiad Program) Qualification

Applying to College
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How good of a hook is qualifying for MOP if you’re the average competitive student in most other ways?

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You’re conflating achievement with hook.

A hook is something a college desperately needs or greatly wants. The main hooks are recruited athletes, URM, legacy, donor child. And each college determines which hooks are important to them

MOP qualification is an achievement. And likely no achievement offsets being “the average competitive student in most other ways.”

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What is MOP?

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Math Olympiad

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Okay, then would a better question be, “how much of an impact does it make?” Or more quantitatively, if a MOP qualification were to be added to the students that many top schools reject, what percentage would now be accepted? Less than 10%, or more than 50%? 10 years ago, a USAMO qualification would’ve definitely improved most people’s chances to at least a 50% for MIT, but now times have changed.

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It will help a stellar application. It won’t make up for deficiencies in an application

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Tagging @hebegebe in case he’s available to weigh in.

(Edited my post based on hebegebe’s response, to avoid any confusion).

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Thanks @DadOfJerseyGirl for bringing me in.

For everyone else’s benefit, a senior with a MOP qualifier makes them one of the strongest contest math students in the nation. Only about 60 students qualify each year nationwide, but half of them are in grades 10 or lower and therefore are not applying to college this year. The purpose of the three week MOP training program is to select 6 students that will represent the USA in the International Math Olympiad.

MOP is a major honor. To put MOP into perspective, consider that students who are selected for both RSI and MOP often choose MOP, particularly if they think they have a shot at the IMO team. Students who are accepted into RSI usually end up with multiple HYPSM acceptances.

@solasky, I read your “average competitive student” to mean that you have an overall strong application with no glaring deficiencies, and that MOP would be your spike. If so, your chances are particularly good at MIT and CalTech, and quite strong at other top-20 schools.

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