Saturday my S won a gold medal at the Florida science olympiad state competition at UCF. Is this worth mentioning on a college app or not such a big deal? Unfortunately, as a team, his school did not qualify overall to go to nationals. There was mention of science olympiad allowing state gold medal winners forming an “all- star” team to compete at nationals but the idea has since been shot down.
Of course. If he dedicated his time to it and he enjoyed it, it’s worth mentioning.
Of course it is!! I am a Science Olympiad student myself, and earning first at a state-wide tournament is definitely worth mentioning. He’s the best in that event in the entire state! 
Why not?
It does not mean an achievement only, it shows that your son put a great effort on it. Why not, no harm!
Of course he should? Why in the world would you think he shouldn’t? State level accomplishments are relevant for every school.
I don’t recall the thread here on CC but it basically stated that unless it is something national it wouldn’t be very impressive. They said most hadn’t even heard of science olympiad.
Believe me, I know how it feels when the team doesn’t qualify overall even though you receive a gold medal. It feels somewhat unfair because often wealthier schools can afford to do better in events such as building with high class materials.
But that is beyond the point. The answer is yes. Science Olympiad is a nice extra-curricular to put down, and achievement even the better.
If I am not wrong, science olympiad is worldwide recognized. My son participated in International Junior Science Olympiad held every year.
I say yes. My older daughter has done Sci oly since 6th grade. She learned so much (aside from the obvious science stuff) that helped form the kind of person she is now in 9th grade. This year she is still competing at the middle school level and is also coaching an event (so teaching 6-9 graders). I would expect her to note what events she medals in and definitely also her experience coaching an event. I don’t expect her team to go past the state levels as they will be competing against teams that only have paid teacher coaches for events. I would think there is a great chance that her experiences could make for some great essays as well.
twosonspa: there are different Olympiads and the “Science Olympiad” is not related to the international one you mention. But Science Olympiad is recognized as a valuable activity. It is an EC like most. For serious teams. it involves a huge amount of time. I disagree with this comment “It feels somewhat unfair because often wealthier schools can afford to do better in events such as building with high class materials.” for a number of reasons. There are many wealthy communities whose schools tank-it takes a huge sustained commitment by every single member of the team for a team to do well at (most) State and National levels. There are many teams in less wealthy areas that do very well. It is like many other competitions, including sports. Having adequate resources helps. Above that, more money won’t bring more wins.
The value of a medal (1-6–not 10) falls into the “it depends” category. If from Nationals, it says you have a good understanding, can compete/perform successfully under stressful conditions. It does not say you are the best at X in the country, since obviously not everyone chooses to compete in that particular competition. But you would have to be very good. A state medal in states that typically win at nationals means a lot. Regional medals, less so. A huge number of students compete in Science Olympiad. With about 24 events at each level, a lot of students have medals. They are achievements but the value is dependent on the level. National medal for 1st, 2nd or third is impressive as there are fewer than 75 of those (each year) for the entire country.
Wherever you read that, it is BS. For HYPS, a lot of the students admitted DO have national or international success. But not all of them, and they don’t leave off the “lesser” successes anyway. Science Olympiad is well known to colleges, but even if it wasn’t, sometimes you can make MORE splash with something that isn’t what everyone else is doing.
Here is how my kids approached awards and activities. They put everything on, unless they didn’t do it past sophomore year, didn’t have any award type accomplishments, and it wasn’t related to their major (if it met any of those 3 criteria, they left it on). If they had a lot of related stuff (say, Music), they would create an activity called Music, and say “see Additional Information” in the description. Then in Additional Info, they would have a header for Music, and bullet out their activities and accomplishments.
Example of list:
- Concert Band, 9-12. First chair saxaphone (11-12).
- Marching Band, 9-12. Saxaphone section lead (12)
- Most improved marcher award (10)
- Jazz Band, 10-11
- Gave saxaphone lessons to middle school students as part time job, 10-12
- All-State Band (11-12)
- National High School Honors Band (12)
etc, etc.
Even so, my kids ended up with more than 10 activities. And that is fine. They organized them so they were easy for admissions to follow, and put the most important activities first.
While the very top colleges place the most weight on the highest level of accomplishment, you shouldn’t leave anything off that shows you are a busy, productive, accomplished person.
Thanks for the examples. He is a freshman now and this school will no longer be participating in science olympiad past this year unfortunately. He did however qualify for TSA nationals earlier this year and his school will continue its association with TSA.
Yes, he should include it – unless he has so many other awards to list by the time that he’s a senior that this one seems less significant. A gold medal at a state sci oly is a notable award and you will have space on most college apps to note such accomplishments. Why leave those spaces blank?