question for medal winners

<p>could you advise on the nomination process...i know the high school has to nominate you in junior year but when during the year? and when did you receive notification of the award?. My son's high school is on the list and he is a junior now, dont want to miss any deadlines.</p>

<p>As far as I know, most high schools don't have a nomination process. They sometimes choose the best math student, sometimes the best science student, sometimes the best math/science student. Sometimes they choose the best student who is interested in attending RPI and will be likely to use the medal. </p>

<p>At our kids' HS, the best a student can do is go in and talk to their guidance counselor and express interest in RPI and in the medal, several times during junior year. </p>

<p>If you go to the RPI website, I think there's a page there for high schools that gives suggestions on choosing the medalist.</p>

<p>I emailed my counselar this summer and she nominated me earlier this month and I got the acceptance thing last week. I'm a senior now. Basically I told her I was applying to RPI and she was really enthusiastic about nominating me when I asked her to since I had 800's on my Chem, Math2, and SAT Math and was clearly the best in math and science in my school with 5's on all APs blah blah blah</p>

<p>yeah most schools don't even tell the person who gets nominated...until they get the actual award...</p>

<p>Really you should just go and tell your guidance counselor that you really want to go to RPI...</p>

<p>I got the medal too, but I ended up getting more of a scholarship than the medal offered :)</p>

<p>aikomidori - My daughter was nominated and just visited on Saturday and really liked the school. Did you get significantly more money than offered with the medal. Would you mind sharing your stats?</p>

<p>well I got $10,000 more in scholarships than the medal offered...so yeah $25,000 a year.</p>

<p>Here are my stats...</p>

<p>Gender: F
College Class Year: 2012
High School: Public
High School Type: sends some grads to top schools</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 96.5
Class Rank: 11/480
Class Size: 480</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>SAT I Math: 730
SAT I Critical Reading: 800
SAT I Writing: 800
SAT II Math Level 2 (IIC): 770
SAT II Biology - E: 780
SAT II Physics: 790
SAT II Chemistry: 800</p>

<p>12 APs with 5's on 7 of them (the rest 4)...</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Significant Extracurriculars: some leadership positions and a few clubs
Volunteer/Service Work: temple, library - nothing significant
Honors and Awards: a ton of academic awards and some professional certificates
College Summer programs: none :(</p>

<p>aikomidori -- Wow you sound like an amazing student! I'm surprised they didn't offer you a full scholarship! I suppose you received at least a year of AP credits?</p>

<p>My daughter has very good stats but not quite as high as yours. She really enjoyed her visit to RPI. She's visited other schools and RPI is her favorite so far.</p>

<p>I have 50 credits (before entering college), but I'm not graduating early :) <-- not good for med school</p>

<p>I had no idea about the award until my annual school awards night, where the medal was awarded to me. Basically, I had nothing to do with the nomination, so I wouldn't see why you would have to contact the guidance counselor about it.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I have 50 credits (before entering college), but I'm not graduating early <-- not good for med school

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Interesting...that's a lot of credits. Does it make sense for you to get a BS and an MS in 4 years....or just take lots of extra BA courses?</p>

<p>actually I was planning on getting a BS and MS in 4 years (since I have so much room), it really all depends on how well I do on the MCAT in the beginning of my junior year...if I do well, I will go ahead and take that option, if I don't then I'm going to instead work on retaking the MCAT and only triple minor</p>

<p>I have enough space to do either :)</p>

<p>aikomidori -- Sounds like a good idea and if your past performance is any indication of your future you have it made! I predict you will do well in anything you try.....probably not a difficult prediction to make.</p>

<p>haha
thanks :)</p>

<p>parent56,
I'm sure each high school has a different process. A few years ago(he's now a junior in college), I had my son contact his Guidance Counselor and ask to be nominated, sometime late in his Junior year of high school(he went to a very small school & the school was not on the list of schools that had medalist at the time.) She contacted RPI and got his high school on the list for medalist and nominated my son and he was notified he'd received the award early in his senior year. I'm sure it would be worth at least telling the counselor that your son is interested in RPI and asking if they have a process for nomination.</p>

<p>thanks oaklandmom!</p>