@cognizance Agreed. The pool of national and international competitions that are regeneron (N/A for the app cycle since results come late), other that are shut down before '18 like siemens and for USAMO types are way too less. I’d say a total of 750-1k kids (being ultra ultra generous in estimating) at max applying to top 30 ish colleges. Dividing them up gives like 25-35 kids a college, and yet a good amount dont get in. Yes, it elevates ur app, gives uniqueness, gives a purpose for the adcom to pick the kid (mostly for their intercollegiate national/intl level subject competitions as a college team is formed off them) , but its still not guaranteed, or even almost guaranteed.
2 friends of mine didnt get in this round for MIT applied EA, who were USAMO and USACO qualifiers each. Now the story is different for IMO, IChO and such winners (the very top level of these competitions), but they have a high admit chance, not definite again. Again, these kids are like 5ish (at most being very generous) in the app pool for a school in particular.
For such competitions at intl and nat lvls, not any other intl/nat competitions, the adcom sees the ‘use’ of such apps differently, one hinted above. Especially in tech-schools like MIT, Caltech and such, these kids bring a different and established value fo forming that intercollegiate team that is very rare to come by. Other abilities that are rare to come by arent that sought after since there no such intercollegiate or college spec. tradition for it. I know thats a bit confusing, but im happy to clarify a few things to the best of my ability.
THe rest accomplishments i feel, and by the verdict of many is a debatable value addition scheme to each college in specific… as the adcom determines its worth in context of the full class … all else constant, theyll admit u in this case if they really need that kind of talent or skillsets or achievements to be SHOWCASED on their campus.