Make USAMO in 11th grade. I qualified in 10th grade, then blew a really difficult AIME in 11th grade. Got waitlisted at Caltech, making USAMO in 11th grade might have made the difference (idk though, hard to say).
I don’t think that got you waitlisted, rspence, truly I don’t. I don’t know why you were waitlisted but making USAMO in 10th seems very impressive to me!
FWIW, I know of 4 kids, including my son, who were accepted at Caltech and none of them were USAMO. (My son was a 3 time physics olympiad semi-finalist but never got past AIME)
dont worry, tons of people with awesome awards and stuff get rejected from caltech…
<— this person here was rejected with siemens semifinalist, phys team semifinalist, and bio olympiad semifinalist…
my best advice is: do not pride yourself on a school you got into, but on your personal achievements and accomplishments (i only qualified to AIME…so I too am impressed by your achievements! Who cares if some dude got into caltech…you and i both know you are very smart :P)