My EC's lack contests - anyone have any good ones?

Applying to College
1

<p>I'm a freshman, and looking at posts from others, determined that my EC's are slightly weak. A main category I'm lacking is demonstrating proficiency at my ec's (boy scouts, soccer, piano, policy debate, quiz bowl) through awards. I lack the skill and suck too much at piano, debate, soccer, and quiz bowl to earn any type of award in.</p>

<p>So i was wondering if you guys knew about any individual academic contests that I could enter, and are worth it. All fields are welcome (my strength is english, my personal interest history, and like a true asian i'm hoping to be premed so science is my focus LOL)</p>

<p>So list any academic contests you may know of !! What was your experience with it? Ultra-competitive?
Thanks for all your help!</p>

2

<p>Do research. Start early then eventually enter your project in ISEF and Intel STS when you’re a senior.</p>

3

<p>-------------bump</p>

4

<p>There are opportunities for awards and honors in every single one of your current ECs.
Get to work.</p>

5

<p>for science, one of the best is the intel competition
debate–there are national competitions if you are good enough and your school has a debate team
there are plenty of essay contests, but I don’t know which are the most competitive, or which look the best to colleges. I do know that the UN has one every year</p>

6

<p>If you want lots of medals, join science olympiad. I’ve probably won about 30, and I never really started studying for events until a few weeks ago because of state. Just pay attention in science classes, get paired up with geniuses in events, and you can easily rack up medals. The competition is minimal, and most tourneys give out medals to five or six places! I know some guy whose science knowledge was very minimal but still won like seven medals just by being paired up with the right people. Being asian, you should at least be able to double that.</p>

<p>Quiz Bowl is probably the worst club for individual awards. Unless you are the best in tournaments or make the all-tournament team, there are no individual awards to be won.</p>

7

<p>Go get this book and pour over it:
“What High Schools Don’t Tell You: 300+ Secrets to Make Your Kid Irresistible to Colleges by Senior Year” by Elizabeth Wissner-Gross
Some people think it’s a bit over the top, but it does have some worthwhile suggestions.
Good Luck!</p>