Top National EC/Awards
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Anonymous
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I know Stanford really likes nationally ranked applicants with national-level individual awards /ECs.
Which other selective schools highly prioritize the “national” caliber of an applicant’s awards & ECs, often in exchange for some other applicant weakness, like a weaker transcript (a B/a few B+)? How can I find out? |
Anonymous
| The common data set tells you which category of things schools value. You'd want to find a school that says activities are important. But every school says that transcript and rigor are the most important. |
Anonymous
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This is an incomplete list:
National Award Levels 10: Congrats, this is your ticket D1 athlete IMO/IPHO/ICHO/IBO/IOI/IOAA/IOL medals Intel STS Top 10; Siemens Finalist; ISEF Top 3 Grand Prize; Google Science Fair age group winner History Day National Winner Single/First Author in High Impact Factor Journal 9: Almost a ticket to a prestigious school Siemens Westinghouse finalists; Google Science Fair Finalist; MOP; Intel STS Finalist; ISEF Best of Category FL Nationals winner RSI (Research Science Institute) Published in a relatively prestigious journal 8: Amazing accomplishment; Large boost TASP, USAPhO/USNCO/USABO/USACO National Finalist Google Science Fair Semifinalist; Siemens Semi-finalists; Intel ISEF 1st-4th place category; Intel STS semifinalist, Running your own successful business USAMO qualification AMC 12 Perfect Score, Presidential Scholar, Davidson Fellow Writing Portfolio Gold Award, Presidential Scholar of the Arts, Scholastic Art FIRST Dean's List winner, top 5 at FIRST World Championships, Google Code Jam Round 2, 3 Qualifier (Vast majority of Competitors are College students and professionals) Facebook Hacker Cup Round 2, 3 Qualifier (Vast majority of Competitors are College students and professionals) MIT PRIMES Participant 7: SSP, Simons, Clark Summer Program, NIH Research, and MITES and other selective programs Science Olympiad national medals, EUCYS prizes State governors schools with acceptance rate <15% (PGSS, NJGSS, most other science governor's schools) USACO Platinum Division ARML Tiebreaker Round / Top Team, YES Competition (Young Epidemiology Scholarship), USAMTS Gold Medal Intel ISEF Finalist, History Day National Level Scholastic Art & Writing National Gold Medal. NFL Nationals (speech and debate) "breakers" (elimination rounds), Tournament of Champions (debate) "breakers," Congressional Award Gold Medalist, 6: USAPhO/USABO semifinals, Science Olympiad Nationals qualification USACO Gold Division AMC 10 Perfect Score Less competitive governor's schools (Acceptance rate between 15% and 25%), any other scholarship summer programs not aforementioned Congressional Award Silver Medalist, NFL Nationals/Tournament of Champions Qualifier, FBLA Nationals Science Bowl/Ocean Science Bowl/NAQT winners, Technology Student Association Nationals FIRST Dean's List finalist Top 5 FIRST Super Regionals (FTC) Scholastic Art & Writing National Silver Medal Academic Decathlon State (CA) Honors Top 3 (6.5) Google Code Jam Qualifier (Vast majority of Competitors are College students and professionals) (6.5) Facebook Hacker Cup Qualifier (Vast majority of Competitors are College students and professionals) 5: Pretty good; will complement an already strong record USAAAO USNCO semifinals AIME National Latin Convention 1st Places Academic Contests, All-Eastern/all-regional music, State History Day top 3 place Top 5 FIRST State Championship (or Regionals for FRC), JETS TEAMS National Finalist, Skills USA Nationals State Science Fair Winner/Top Award Academic Decathlon State (AZ/TX/MA/WI), Nationals Top 3 Honors & California Event Golds 4: USACO Silver Division Science Fair Regional winner Science Olympiad state medals (depending on what state you're from) Science Bowl national qualification Perfect Score (Multiple Years) on National Latin Exam State awards (all-state music, etc) Academic Decathlon State (AZ/TX/MA/WI) Event Golds MUN Gavel AMC 10/12 school winner (depends on your school) Art and Writing Regional Gold award Top 5 FIRST Regional (FTC) 3: Some effort involved, but not uncommon Winning at local/regional science fairs All-County music, Eagle Scout, National Merit Finalist Head of a competitive club that you did not found (ex: Mock Trial, Model UN, Science Olympiad) 2: Your average go-getter Bank of America Awards Local awards/trophies Essay Contests Regional History Day 1 : Common activities National Honor Society Beta Club School Departmental Awards School Honor Roll Key Club, CSF, Interact Club National Merit Commended Member of a club with no distinctions earned 0: A dime in a dozen; meaningless Who's Who, National Honor Roll, National Society of High School Scholars |
Anonymous
| RSI is actually at the top of the national/international EC list. It has under 5% acceptance rate and the most selective universities track these students if they become applicants to their schools. |
Anonymous
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What category does being a nationally ranked athlete in a niche sport (not available as recruit for vast majority of schools)? What if combined with something like: US Senate Page and YYGS?
#6? And does that help with how top schools "score" ECs and awards (see this article: https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/vxeqri/how_top_schools_actually_score_your/) |
Anonymous
| National awards that are more straightforward: National Merit Semifinalist, College Board Recognition Programs for URMs, various AP Scholar awards. |
Anonymous
This is not accurate.... |
Anonymous
sure but those aren't "top" awards |
Anonymous
| How about VA Governor's Academy - where does that fall in this list? |
Anonymous
Wow - most I’ve learned in days. |
Anonymous
| Not trying to highjack the thread, but I noticed published research on the list of top ECs. What are considered prestigious research journals for high schoolers? |
Anonymous
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So…I believe any reference to Westinghouse or Intel is actually now the Regeneron contest.
Also, the FIRST World championships top 5 would only apply to team captains. Many of those teams have 50+ kids on them, of which only 5-10 are really competing (the rest are enjoying the atmosphere and cheering and in theory taking notes on competitors). |
Anonymous
I always wondered why those 45+ kids stayed there... It's even worse than team sports in which benched members at least went through the same training. In robotics, the experience could be extremely boring. They are more like cheerleaders in robotics. |
Anonymous
Because all 45 will say they were a member of a robotics team that finished top 5 in Worlds…which is factually correct. |
Anonymous
That's why my child chose FTC over FRC. It's a totally different experience, being on an 8 person team. Everyone has to be involved. It's also much harder to get to worlds in ftc. |