<p>I'm a relatively introspective Korean girl from Alabama. I hope that the people on this website can help me by answering some questions, because I am applying to college next year. On the common application, I've noticed that on the Honors Section, there are four circles to choose from to bubble in, school, regional/state, national, and international. Does that mean state wins are seen as the same as regional wins? For example, I won a Math tournament at state 1st place, and so if I choose to put it on the honors section, I would be writing, so and so math tournament, 1st place, and bubble in the regional/state circle. But another person who has won first place at the regional level, will also be putting the same description and bubbling in the same bubble. I'm worried that even though I placed a lot higher than the regional kid, me and him/her will still have that particular thing counted as the same level of accomplishment.</p>
<p>In my perspective, although a state win is better than a regional win, it’s not really that much that it could influence your admissions drastically. On the other hand, there is a very big difference between a national award and an international award, which is why they’re probably separate options. </p>
<p>Don’t think too much about it, because in the end when they’re looking at your application I doubt they’re going to make their decisions based on a few competitions. It seems rather that they place much more weight on test scores, research, ECs and volunteer work.</p>
<p>Also, how have you seen the common app yet? It’s launching August 1st…</p>