Hi, 9th grader here. I go to an elite prep school in NYC, have 3.8-3.9 GPA, AIME Qual this year, and missed USABO semis by one point(Honorable Mention instead). I do varsity sports as well.
If I qualify for USABO Finalist in 10th or 11th grade will that have a big impact on my application? Aiming for ivies + Stanford.
Also, if I make USAJMO next year, will that have a big impact as well? I only scored a 4 on the AIME this year, so it would take some work.
Thoughts?
Thanks in advance for your time and response.
Your prep school should have strong college counseling. My advice is to speak with the counselor, ask your questions and learn more about where the students accepted from your school attend college with your interests. They will be the best ones to guide you through this process.
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Your prep school guidance office will likely have good suggestions for colleges applications for you.
I am going to give you some free advice.
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You sound like an ambitious student…but really, there are tons of excellent colleges out there that are not Ivies or Stanford. I would suggest you make a list of characteristics you might like in a college (keeping in mind that you could likely change your POV before your applications are sent). Keep you mind open to a variety of colleges.
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If you do choose to apply to the Ivies and Stanford, please understand that if you don’t get accepted you really won’t know why. These schools have many thousands of well qualified applicants who do not get accepted every year simply because the schools only have so many seats in their freshmen classes…and can’t accept everyone.
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Build your college application list from the bottom up. This means…find some sure things for admission that you would be happy to attend, and are affordable. Start there. It’s easy to find reach schools. But you need a variety in terms of competitiveness for admission. Not just reach schools.
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At this point, you don’t have enough information to really make an informed decision about your chances at any college. You don’t have a junior year GPA. You haven’t taken the SAT or ACT yet…or if you did, you didn’t say so here.
Colleges accept a class of students…and this isn’t based solely on getting national awards. There are many many accepted students who get accepted to the Ivies and Stanford without the things you listed in your first post. Adcoms don’t just look at those things and put applicants in the accept pile. They will also be looking at your essays, and letters of reference as well. And other things you might bring to the college community.
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I agree with everything that @thumper1 said.
But to address your specific question, making USAJMO (or USAMO) is no longer the automatic admission ticket it used to be (particularly at MIT). However, it is still a very notable achievement, and if the rest of your application is strong, then USAJMO could be something that tips you into the the admit column.
Re USABO finalist, if that is being in the top 20 nationwide, then that too would make admission officers notice.